Crumbs from the Table

It's that time of year again. I am planning preaching texts for the Advent season.  This year, my idea for the first three Sundays in Advent is to have preaching on each of the three main parts of the Old Testament, namely the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.  Here are some texts from the five books of Moses (Torah) that are relevant to Advent/Christmas Genesis 49 - Jacob blessing his sons, and singling out his fourth son, Judah, as the one from whom the "sceptre will not depart" Numbers 24 - Balaam prophetically "sees" the Star that will defeat Moab.  Deuteronomy 18 - Moses predicts "another prophet like me Arguably, most of the favourite Advent/Christmas texts/passages are taken from the Latter Prophets, such as Isaiah and Micah. One example not always included in the list of advent texts would be Isaiah 11 .  In terms of the "Writings", in the Hebrew division of the Old Testament this includes 11 books/scrolls (corresponds to 13 books in Chr...

The coming of Christ changes everything. The Old Testament is not to be discarded; it remains God's word for us. But we read the Old Testament, and obey the Old Testament laws, through the prism of Christ and the New Testament.  As Christians, we are not "under" the law , that is to say we are *not* bound to keep ("do") the Old Testament laws in the Old Testament way (Gal. 5:3). Rather, we "fulfil" the law in a New Testament way (Romans 8:4; 13:8,10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8). Not only are we "not under law" in respect of the detailed laws (e.g. Exodus 21-23); we are also "not under law" in relation to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). The Ten Commandments do not constitute a timeless universal moral code, but rather represent specific commandments given to the people of Israel in the context of the Exodus from Egypt (20:2), and future life in the promised land of Canaan (20:12).   Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, "To thos...