1. The New Testament interprets the Old Testament. Just quoting a text from the Old Testament only tells us what things were like under the old covenant, not how they are in the new. People have quoted Old Testament texts such as "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live", or to justify killing blasphemers but all these must be seen as part of the old covenant. Even commands that sound as if they will never be "abolished" or "fulfilled" we know are no longer binding for the Christian, e.g. for the Feast of Weeks, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles it says "this is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live" (Lev 23:21,31,41) but they all stopped at Christ. Similarly Isaiah ends with a description of the new heavens and the new earth, "from one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me." (Is 66:23-24) but this again must be read as an imperfect revelation whose reality is only clearly explained in the New Testament. Adventism uses the Old Testament to explain what the seal of the living God mentioned in Revelation is (Rev 7:3,4): "my Sabbath is a sign between us" Ez 20:12; "you must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you" Ex 31:13 (see Uriah Smith's "Daniel and Revelation", chapter 7 of "The Prophecies of Revelation", "The Seal of the Living God"). But the New Testament says that the seal of God is his Spirit: "and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30); "He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come" (2 Cor 1:22). Similarly the Old Testament commands circumcision, eating special foods etc., but the New Testament shows their reality is spiritual. Hence the New Testament explains the Old.

2. 2. The epistles of the New Testament explain the gospels. The Gospels are a "between time" when the old covenant is finishing and the new beginning. Hence in the gospels Jesus is circumcised, celebrates Passover and teaches in the synagogue on Sabbath, these are part of the old covenant and in the epistles Paul explains Christians do not have to keep these Jewish customs. Paul shows that justification by faith has abolished the barrier of Judaism that stood between the Jew and Gentile, and that Gentiles do not have to observe Jewish customs (Gal 2:14). Also the parables can be unclear and their interpretation has to be matched with what is said clearly in the letters. Adventists always point this out with reference to the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) but ignore the rule when it doesn't suit them, for example their imaginative interpretation for the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13) which they claim is directly about the Great Disappointment of 1844 !

3. 3. The clear passages of scripture explain the difficult, particularly in prophecy. So many different groups have put forward far-fetched and wholly unchristian interpretations of Daniel and Revelation that it has to be stated clearly: Christ is the revelation of God's mystery. There is no new revelation of be revealed, no "extra" teachings. Paul clearly says "he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ" (Eph 1:9), "God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27). In Daniel the angel says to Daniel "go your way Daniel, because the words are closed up until the time of the end" (Dan 12:9), yet Christ says of Daniel "let the reader understand" (Matt 24:15), and at the beginning of revelation we read "blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near" (Rev 1:3). It is Christ who reveals the Old Testament, which has remained veiled- "the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away" (2 Cor 3:14), "these are the Scriptures that testify about me" (Jn 5:39). Thus because of the clear testimony of the New Testament we can see that Rev 5 is not just about Isaiah 29:11-12, but "the scroll" is the whole Old Testament which only Christ can unroll and read. He is what God has always been trying to tell us. Clearly then, Revelation is not about World History or the Papacy or the Lisbon Earthquake or the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but is going to explain the Old Testament. The "Revelation" is wholly concerned with the Old Testament and Christ the fulfilment of the Old Testament. Adventists with their list of historical events after the resurrection misunderstand that history stops at Christ; the book of Revelation is almost wholly composed of quotes from the Old Testament, showing how the prophecies are fulfilled in Christ. The exact meaning of some of the passages might remain unclear, but we need not worry that there is something important hidden there. God's "hidden mystery" is not about events in the last days that will only be revealed by the SDA church, it is Christ- God's Final Revelation.  

© John Mann 1983