When Jesus professed to be the Son of God, some people persecuted and sought to kill Him. His challenge to them was, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39.)
The scriptures to which the Master referred on that occasion were in essence the books of the Old Testament as they were known among the Jews in the meridian of time, and possibly other writings which are lost today. (For a list of lost books cited in the Bible, see Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 454.) The Savior's statement to the Jews of His day is an affirmation that the Old Testament testifies of Him, and that its teachings can lead to eternal life."Properly understood, the Scripture is all full of Christ, and all intended to point to Christ as our only Saviour," wrote Alfred Edersheim in Old Testament Bible History. (pp. 2-3.) "It is not only the law, which is a schoolmaster unto Christ, nor the types which are shadows of Christ, nor yet the prophecies, which are predictions of Christ; but the whole Old Testament history is full of Christ."
A Church News editorial of Jan. 22, 1966, stated: "If we had the Old Testament as it was originally written, mankind would have a most powerful - an infallible - witness that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Christ, that He gave the Law to Moses, that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that His coming into mortality was plainly foretold. . . ."
Thus, the New Testament is a logical continuation of the gospel message presented in the Old Testament. Like Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Old Testament writers justifiably could have declared: "We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies . . . . (2 Ne. 25:26.)"
The title Old Testament is a misnomer, according to the Bible Dictionary in the 1979 LDS edition of the King James Bible, "since all the prophets beginning with Adam, had the fullness of the gospel of Christ, with its ordinances and blessings. However, a lesser law was given to Moses for the children of Israel. When the Savior came in the meridian of time, he restored the gospel to the Jews in Palestine. Since they had strayed, even from the law of Moses, it was a new covenant to them. Thus we have the record called the Old and the New Testaments."
New Testament writers - particularly Matthew - seemed eager to demonstrate that the coming of Jesus was a fulfillment of the prophecies and teachings in some Old Testament books.
For example, Matthew referred to a prophecy in Micah 5:2 that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. (See Matt. 2:5-6.) Also, Matthew pointed out that Jesus was preceded by a forerunner, John the Baptist, as prophesied in Isa. 40:3. (See Matt. 3:1-3.) John cited a prophecy in Zech. 12:10, "and they shall look upon him whom they pierced," showing how it foretold the crucifixion of Jesus. (See John 19:37.)
Sidney B. Sperry, in The Spirit of the Old Testament (p. 13), pointed out that quotations are made in the New Testament of every Old Testament book except Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.
Psalms, in particular, is quoted 115 times. (See Old Testament: Genesis-2 Samuel (Religion 301) Student Manual prepared by the Church Educational System, p. 314-315.)
The Old Testament, Sperry wrote, "provides an indispensable foundation for the New Testament and furnishes much preparatory material needful for that record's proper understanding. In fact, apart from the Old Testament the New Testament loses much of its meaning." (The Spirit of the Old Testament, p. 1.)