What the Old Testament Is — And Why It Is About Us, Now
The Old Testament is not a distant religious artifact. It is a mirror. Everything it reveals about Israel is meant to reveal something about us (Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11).
It records a covenant people who promise obedience, fall short, rationalize disobedience, harden their hearts, forget the God who saved them, and then—when broken enough—return (Exodus 19:8; Judges 2:10–13; Psalm 78). This is not merely ancient Israel’s story. It is the pattern of every covenant people, including us now. We covenant sincerely, we mean what we promise, and then we fail to keep it—sometimes loudly, sometimes quietly, sometimes by slow neglect rather than open rebellion (Mosiah 4:30; Doctrine and Covenants 58:43). The Old Testament does not exist to shame us for this reality; it exists to show us what God does next.
What it shows, relentlessly, is this: God does not reject His people when they fail. He withdraws only when they refuse to return (2 Chronicles 15:2; Isaiah 59:1–2). Israel is not scattered because they are weak; they are scattered because they will not repent, will not listen, will not renew (Jeremiah 25:4–7; Hosea 4:6). Failure is assumed. Return is required. The covenant was never designed to be sustained by perfection, but by repentance (Psalm 51; Ezekiel 18:30–32).
And repentance, in the Old Testament, is never merely emotional. It is movement. It is turning. It is returning. It is realignment of heart and will (Isaiah 55:6–7; Jeremiah 3:12–14). Every prophetic warning carries the same invitation—return unto me, and I will return unto you (Malachi 3:7; Zechariah 1:3). Jehovah never says, “Never fail again.” He says, “Come back.”
But here the Old Testament becomes quietly uncompromising, and painfully modern. Israel often intended to repent. They meant to change, planned to obey, promised future faithfulness while postponing present action (Jeremiah 7:8–10; Ezekiel 33:31). And the record makes something uncomfortably clear: good intentions do not renew covenants. Plans to repent later do not restore relationship. Sorrow without movement does not redeem (Proverbs 14:12; Ecclesiastes 5:4–5). The way to destruction is not paved with hatred of God, but with delayed obedience—repentance intended but never enacted, covenant renewal always scheduled for tomorrow (Isaiah 29:13). The way back is always open, but it must actually be walked.
This is where agency stands at the center of the record. God does not force repentance. He does not override the will. He does not redeem by whim (Joshua 24:15; Deuteronomy 30:19). Redemption is unlocked only when we choose to return, choose to change, choose to act (Isaiah 1:16–20). God provides the mercy, the sacrifice, the covenant path—but He will not compel our feet to walk it (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–28). To intend repentance is not to repent. To believe God is merciful is not the same as receiving mercy (James 1:22).
And still—this is not a story of despair. Because Israel breaks covenant again and again, and God renews it again and again. Not because they deserve it, but because He is faithful (Nehemiah 9:16–21; Lamentations 3:22–23). Renewal comes through humility, remembrance, sacrifice, obedience reborn through repentance (Leviticus 26:40–42; Psalm 78:34–38). This rhythm teaches us something essential about covenant living now: covenants are not sustained by a flawless past, but by a faithful present. Each return matters. Each renewal matters. Each choice to act matters (Ezekiel 18:21–23).
One of the quiet tragedies threaded through the Old Testament is not rebellion, but forgetfulness—forgetting who delivered them, why they covenanted, what obedience once cost and once gave (Deuteronomy 8:11–14; Psalm 106:7). So God calls them to remember, to let testimony burn again (Deuteronomy 6:12; Psalm 77:11–12). The same danger faces us. Testimony does not remain alive automatically. It must be chosen, fed, renewed (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77; Alma 32:37–43).
And this is why the Old Testament remains hopeful, despite all its failure. Because redemption never rested on Israel’s obedience. It rested—and still rests—on Jehovah’s faithfulness (Isaiah 43:1–3; Hosea 11:8–9). The God who covenanted with Abraham, who spoke to Moses, who endured Israel’s rebellion, is the same God revealed fully in Jesus Christ, still saying, without exhaustion or impatience, Return unto me (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58; 3 Nephi 15:5).
We may break covenants. We may wander. We may fail repeatedly. But God does not reject a repentant people. He waits for a choosing people (Isaiah 65:1–2). The Old Testament is not about them. It is about us, now, today, standing before the same covenant God, under the same law of agency, with the same open invitation—not merely to intend to return, but to actually do so.
Mosiah 26:29-32
29 Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye to the sins which he has committed; and if he his sins before thee and me, and in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye , and I will forgive him also.
30 Yea, and often as my people will I forgive them their trespasses against me.
31 And ye shall also one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation.
32 Now I say unto you, Go; and whosoever will of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people; and this shall be observed from this time forward.
For the Old Testament is Another Testament of Jesus Christ who is Jehovah - and should be considered as such not regulated to some set of books read only occasionally and without enthusiasm.
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