A study of the Old Testament helps us to establish our faith in Jesus as the Son of God (Mt. 25) and to understand the Christian religion (Heb. 9:8-9,23,24:10:1). Such words as: figure, shadow, copy are an indication to us that the Old Testament was a precursor to the New Testament. It is filled, for us, with many valuable moral lessons and examples of godly people who did the will of God. For example: David, Moses, Joseph, and Abraham. We are told in Romans 15:4 and Corinthians 10:11 that these things were written for our benefit. In reading the Old Testament we will see that its primary purpose was to trace the development of Jehovah God in 3 stages, or periods: These periods are called Dispensations, a time when God dealt with His creatures in various ways.

The Patriarchal Dispensation was a period when God spoke to His people through the fathers, or Patriarchs. This period lasted until the giving of the Law of Moses.

The Mosaic Dispensation was the period when God spoke to the people through Moses, his prophet. This period lasted until Christ "nailed the Law to the cross" (Col. 2:14-16)

The final Dispensation is the Christian dispensation. This is the period in which we are now when God speaks to us through His Son, Jesus, (Ref. Heb. 1:1-2). This period covers the time from the day of Pentecost until the final judgement. This is the New Testament, or New Covenant, for which we will have more to say when we consider our study of the New Testament. .