2025 Week 04

Hello, Springers!

We often discuss how Christ fulfills Scripture, especially the Old Testament. I often tell people to “read the Bible forward,” which means to see how something is established in the Old Testament and finds fulfillment in Christ in the New Testament. Our emphasis on this way of reading Scripture makes the preaching and teaching at Valley Springs unique among other churches.

Seeing Christ fulfill the Old Testament in the New Testament is not a new idea. Valley Springs did not invent it, and the Protestant Reformation did not. However, putting the emphasis on this in our teaching and working to apply it in our lives in our place and time seems to me to be unique.

Keep this in mind, and after you ponder it for a while, let me know if you also find Valley Springs a church that emphasizes this central biblical idea uniquely.

In the meantime, let me give you an example of this fulfillment idea. Proverbs 16:1-9 is a great set of Proverbs that can be shown to hang together by the finished work of Christ in his death and resurrection. But let’s focus on one verse there for now.

Proverbs 16:6 – By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.

Steadfast love comes from the Hebrew word “hesed,” which is the term in the Old Testament for God’s gracious love. Throughout the Old Testament, it is often paired with faithfulness, righteousness, and justice, pointing to God’s character.

Proverbs are typically things that we read as sage advice that we ourselves should carry out. If you were to do that with this proverb, it would imply that you are supposed to atone for your sin with steadfast love and justice, which none of us does perfectly.

But when you consider Christ, that he was faithful in carrying out his work of going to the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sin, that he did this because of his steadfast love for you, then you can see the fulfillment. Christ has atoned for your iniquity by steadfast love and faithfulness. Christ has atoned for your missing the moral mark.

Receiving and resting on Christ alone for your salvation is what it means to have a fear of the LORD. Taking God at his word, that he promised you forgiveness in Christ, is what it is to exercise faith. Fear of the LORD doesn’t mean being scared as much as it means having awe and respect for God above all else. God has given you his son in the ultimate act of steadfast love and faithfulness.

The more you know this to be true, the more it changes the direction of how you live your life. My prayer for you today is that God will grant you to see the fulfillment of Proverbs 16:6 in Christ and that in seeing it you will be pointed away from evil.

in Christ,

Pastor Tag