What you see depends on what you're looking for

A recent comment suggesting that there is “progression from Old to New, but not reinterpretation.” – asserting that the NT texts do not reinterpret the OT, but “compliment” them, led me to expound on the subject a bit more in this post.

Prophets of the Old Testament anticipated a time when Israel would be restored to her former greatness.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a future restoration of Israel in these terms: “But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant,’ I have chosen you and have not rejected you.” (41:8-9) The same promise is reiterated in 42:6 when the Lord declared of his servant, “I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.”

Dispensationalists, who interpret such passages literally, assign the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies to a future earthly millennium in which Israel will coexist the Gentiles under the reign of the Davidic king. Is this how the NT authors interpreted these messianic prophecies regarding the servant of the Lord? And Who is this servant of the Lord – the nation of Israel or Jesus, Israel’s true King?

Matthew saw in Jesus' casting out of demons and healing the sick the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies of a suffering servant who would take upon himself our infirmities and carry our diseases. Luke spoke in Acts 3:13 of Jesus as the servant of God. When the Ethiopian eunuch read Isaiah 53 and asked Philip about whom this prophecy referred, Philip told him that this passage was about Jesus (Acts 8:34-35).

The prophet Hosea quoted God as saying, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son,” (11:1) but Matthew told us that Hosea’s prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus’ parents took him to Egypt for a time to protect him from Herod. It was Matthew, not an “overspiritualizing amillenarian” who took a passage from Hosea that referred to Israel and told his readers that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Peter told of how “the prophets, who spoke…searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.” (1 Peter 1:10-12)

According to many New Testament writers, Jesus was the true servant, the true Son, and the true Israel of God. Insomuch as we are “in Christ,” we too are the Israel of God. We are His chosen. We are His servants whom He has called from the farthest corners of the earth, and His kingdom is expanding with new souls each day.

Reinterpreting the OT? No. The NT authors did not “re”interpret, but properly interpreted prophetic passages pointing to Christ – our Savior who spoke most often in spiritual terms to people desiring an earthly kingdom.