Have you ever heard anyone say, “We don’t need the Old Testament anymore, because the New Testament is all that matters in the modern age”? In Matthew 5:17–19, Jesus rejects the Pharisees’ charge that he is trying to nullify the law. He responds by saying he is the fulfillment of the law, not a destroyer of it. This passage serves as an example of the bridge that the Old Testament has to the New. There is no discontinuity between the two; the Old Testament is still valid and needed, when understood and practiced correctly. This passage shows us that Old Testament theology is at the heart of the New Testament, and the Bible needs to be read as a whole in order to understand the story of God, his people, and his plan. To help wrap your mind around this, think of an actual bridge. Bridges allow for us to cross over impassable obstacles. In the same manner, there is a bridge between the content of the Old Testament and the New; there was an impossible obstacle called sin that only the bridge of salvation offered through Jesus Christ could fix. And because of that, we have access to the other side of eternity.