Why Is The Old Testament So Hard to Read? 7 Things Christians Need to Understand
Many Christians struggle with the Old Testament. They read about laws, sacrifices, judgment, wars, and God’s anger toward sin. It can feel very different from the Jesus we see healing people, forgiving sinners, and welcoming the broken.
Here are seven things that make the Old Testament easier to understand.
1. God Did Not Change Between the Old and New Testament
Sometimes Christians speak as though the Old Testament reveals an angry God and the New Testament reveals a loving God. But that is not the story the Bible tells.
God is holy in both the Old and New Testaments. He hates sin in both. He is merciful in both. He judges sin in both. And He makes a way for sinners to be forgiven in both. Jesus did not come to make God kinder. Jesus came because God had always planned to rescue His people from sin.The God who judged sin in the Old Testament is the same God who sent His Son to die for sinners in the New Testament.
2. The Old Testament Shows How Serious Sin Really Is
The Old Testament shows that sin is not just making a mistake or breaking a random rule. Sin separates people from God. We see this clearly with Adam and Eve. Before they sinned, they enjoyed a pure relationship with God in the garden. After they sinned, they were sent out of Eden.
Sin also hurts other people. Cain’s sin led him to murder his brother Abel. David’s sin against Bathsheba led to the death of her husband, Uriah. Israel’s idolatry and rebellion affected families, communities, and generations after them.
Sin is never only private. It affects our relationship with God and it affects the people around us.
3. Sin Requires Atonement
Atonement means that a price must be paid for sin. In the Old Testament, God gave Israel a sacrificial system. Animals were offered as substitutes, teaching God’s people that sin brings death and that forgiveness is costly. Those sacrifices were not meaningless. God gave them to His people as a temporary provision and as a picture of what was coming.
But animal sacrifices could never permanently take away sin. They had to be repeated again and again because they were never the final answer. They pointed forward to the perfect sacrifice God would provide: Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He offered Himself once for all. He paid the price for sin fully and permanently for everyone who trusts in Him.
4. The Old Testament Shows That We Cannot Fix Sin Ourselves
Israel had God’s law. They had priests. They had sacrifices. They had prophets warning them. They had examples of what happened when people rebelled against God. And still, they kept sinning.
The problem was not that God’s law was bad. The problem was that people’s hearts were sinful. The Old Testament repeatedly shows that people cannot save themselves by trying harder, following enough rules, or offering enough sacrifices. We need more than better behavior. We need a Savior who can truly forgive sin and change our hearts. That Savior is Jesus.
5. The Old Testament Points Forward to Jesus
The promise of Jesus begins very early in the Bible. After Adam and Eve sinned, God spoke to the serpent and promised that the woman’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head, though the serpent would wound Him. Christians have long understood Genesis 3:15 as the first promise of the coming Savior.
From that point on, the Old Testament keeps pointing forward. When Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac, Isaac asked where the lamb for the offering was. Abraham answered, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” God stopped Abraham and provided a ram in Isaac’s place. But Abraham’s words pointed beyond that moment. God truly would provide the Lamb: Jesus Christ.
The story of Abraham and Isaac gives us a picture of substitution, sacrifice, and God providing what His people could not provide for themselves. Again and again, the Old Testament prepares us to understand Jesus.
6. The Old Testament Is Full of God’s Mercy
Many people remember the judgments in the Old Testament but miss how patient God was with His people. Israel sinned against God again and again. They worshiped idols. They ignored His commands. They hurt the vulnerable. They rejected His warnings. Yet God continued to call them back. He sent prophets to warn them. He gave them opportunities to repent. He preserved a people for Himself. He made promises He did not abandon.
Mercy is when we deserve punishment but God withholds it. Israel deserved judgment the first time they rebelled against God. Instead, they received warning after warning, opportunity after opportunity, and mercy after mercy.
And the same is true for us today. God is patient with sinners. He calls us to repent. He offers forgiveness through Christ.
7. Jesus Is the Key to Understanding the Old Testament
The Old Testament can feel confusing when we read it as a collection of disconnected stories, laws, and strange events. But when we understand that it is leading somewhere, it begins to make sense. From the fall in Genesis, God promised that a Savior would come. Through the law, sacrifices, covenant, kings, prophets, and promises, God prepared His people for Jesus. Jesus is the true sacrifice for sin. He is the greater High Priest. He is the promised King. He is the Savior God’s people had been waiting for from the very beginning.
Even after Jesus rose from the dead, the apostles used the Old Testament Scriptures to show that He was the promised Christ. The Old Testament is not a separate story from the New Testament. It is the beginning of the same story of redemption.
Want to Understand the Entire Story of the Bible?
You do not have to avoid the Old Testament or feel embarrassed when someone asks hard questions about it.
When you understand how creation, sin, sacrifice, covenant, Israel, and Jesus all fit together, the Old Testament stops feeling like a separate or confusing part of the Bible. You begin to see the same holy, merciful God carrying out one plan of redemption from beginning to end.
Bible 101 was created to help beginners understand that story.
With clear, structured lessons you can complete at your own pace, Bible 101 helps you see how the Old Testament points to Christ and how the entire Bible fits together.
Start with a free class and begin understanding Scripture with confidence.