Sharing the New Testament by Using the Old

I am reading through the Old Testament these days and I have been struck by how often and clearly I see the New Testament in it (or how I see the Old in the New:). For example, check out Jeremiah 2:22 (NASB): "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God." I think the New Living Translation says it more effectively: "No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. You are stained with guilt that cannot be washed away. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"

Isaiah 64:6 (ESV) is similar to Jer. 2:22: "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." I like the imagery of "filthy rags" in the New King James Version: "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." It makes me think of how counter-productive it is to try to clean up a big mess with a dirty cloth; it only makes the problem worse.