Is the God of the Old Testament Different From the God of the New?
I often speak with Christians who tell me they prefer the New Testament over the God of the Old Testament. They usually support it with comments like “The God of the Old Testament is all wrath and law, but the God of the New Testament is love and mercy.”
Folks, if that is the way you think, you need to re-read the Bible and re-think your God.
Firstly, there is only one God.
Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! Deuteronomy 6:4 NET
There is only one true God and He never changes.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever! Hebrews 13:8 NET
That means if the God you worship is different from the God in another part of the Bible you are not worshipping the God of the Bible.
Secondly, both wrath and grace can be found in each Testament. Let me give you an example of each picked at random.
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sin has been your downfall! Return to the Lord and repent! Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods’ to what our own hands have made. For only you will show compassion to Orphan Israel!” “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger will turn away from them. Hosea 14:1-4 NET
If there was ever a people deserving of God’s wrath, it was the nations of Israel and Judah in the time of Hosea. They were as wicked and rebellious as any people at any time in history. What was God’s requirement for their redemption?
He asked them to repent and turn to Him, confess their sins, and receive His forgiveness. That sounds suspiciously like grace and love to me.
Finally the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying: “It is done!” Then there were flashes of lightning, roaring, and crashes of thunder, and there was a tremendous earthquake – an earthquake unequaled since humanity has been on the earth, so tremendous was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed. So Babylon the great was remembered before God, and was given the cup filled with the wine made of God’s furious wrath. Every island fled away, and no mountains could be found. And gigantic hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people, but they blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, since it was so horrendous. Revelation 16:17-21 NET
The Scriptures tell us that the huge hailstones fell because of God’s furious wrath. Personally, I cannot imagine being hit by a hundred-pound hailstone, but it must have done incredible damage.
I could wade through Scripture and show you dozens more similar examples, but do your own research.
God’s nature is both wrath and mercy. He brings His wrath to bear on sin, and justifiably so. How could a holy God let sin go unpunished? Yet, He also loves us so much that through Jesus Christ, He made provision for us to be saved.
God did not suddenly change His character in the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. The God of the Old Testament is NOT different from the God of the New Testament, and the God of the New Covenant is NOT different from the God of the Old. If He were to change, He would not be much of a God.
If the God you serve changes, what hope do you have? What is to keep Him from changing His character again? If He changes, you have no hope at all.
Until next time, hold fast to our unchanging God.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.