- Is the God of the Old Testament different from the New?
- Are there two Gods in the Bible, Jehovah and Jesus? Jehovah seems like a vicious lion in the Old Testament and Jesus seems like a gentle lamb in the new. Is this true?
Was God mean from the beginning?
Where are we going first? The book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. If we quickly read chapters 1-2, what do you think? Is God mean or not? How do you know? Put your answer in this box or write it down. My answers are at the end.2. Next, let’s go to the account of the world-wide flood.
Was God justified in destroying the whole world with a flood?
What were the conditions of the people on the earth at that time (Genesis 6). Do a quick reading of the chapter and then answer the questions in this box . My answers are at the end
3. Ready to move on? Let’s go to Israel’s bondage in slavery to the Egyptians for 430 years. Why so long? What was God waiting for? Why didn’t he deliver them earlier? Didn’t he care?
Was God Compassionate?
Read Genesis 15:12-16 and Exodus 2:22-3:22. According to these Scripture passages, why did God wait so long? Did God care? List some things in the box that tell you how concerned he was over his people. My answer is at the end.
4. These next Scriptiures are admittedly tough to handle, even if you understand the context.
Why did God act with Vengeance?
Read these passages Exodus 23:31-33; Exodus 34:11-16; Dueteronomy 7:2-4; 20:10-18; Joshua 6:17-21; 1Samuel 15:1-23. Be honest. What are your reactions to these Scriptures? Why did God give these instructions? My answer is at the end.
5. Do you still think the God of the Old Testament is mean and cruel? This might drastically change your mind.
God is patient
Read God’s revelation of himself to Moses in Exodus 34:4-8. Then read a summary of the history of Israel in Nehemiah 9:5-35. How do you feel about the God of the Old Testament now? If you wish, you can read my response to this fifth passage
6. Now let’s move to the New Testament to see if the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New.
Is Jesus God?
Look at Luke 1:35, record what it says, and tell me what that means to you. If you want, you can also look up these verses that use the same phrase about Jesus. My response is at the end.
2.the flood: The conditions of the people in that day is that their thoughts and actions were continually evil and corrupt all the time, and it was filled with violence. This was no small crime rate; it was epidemic. However, God was gracious to Noah and his family. They were the only righteous human beings on the planet. Use browser arrow to return to previous spot.
3. Israel’s bondage to Egypt: When God made a covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15), he promised his descendants would live in the land of Canaan and have it as their own possession. The reason God gives for waiting so long before he delivered his people from slavery is that he was giving the Amorites more time to repent. He gave the Amorites or Canaanites 400 more years before he judged them by having Israel drive them out of the land. They were evil and idol worshipping pagans. They even offered their children in child sacrifices to their god, Molech. Still God withheld his hand.
So was God mean or merciful to the Canaanites? He was merciful. We need to remember this for our next question.
But, God also cared about the condition of his people in slavery. It grieved him. “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; “And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land.” (Exodus 3:7-8, emphasis mine) to go to a prosperous land, the land of Canaan. This is the land God would call their own. He did wait until the Israelites cried out to him. God wants to be needed. Use browser arrow to return to previous spot.
4. God’s vengeance: God seems mean, harsh, and unfair doesn’t he? But it was for the benefit of Israel that he did it. For a full explanation, see this Bible study that I wrote about God’s vengeance, and you will understand better.
When our parents tried to restrict our relationships with certain friends who might hurt us or lead us into a destructive path, sometimes they refused to let us spend any time with them. Perhaps at that time, we didn’t understand. But if we have children or grandchildren, we understand perfectly. I think we need to understand God’s vengeance in this light.
The LORD loves us and doesn’t want us to be harmed by evil people or have to punish us for sinning. God is holy, and he wants us to be holy.
Having said that, God doesn’t give us any license to carry on a holy war today. We are to love our enemies, but still not participate in anything evil. We are to be holy as he is holy. Okay, enough preaching. Our next text is more encouraging. Use browser arrow to return to previous spot.
5. God’s nature: God is very, very, very patient before he judges. He doesn’t have to be that way, but aren’t you glad he is? I mess up every day, so wow, praise the Lord for his patience.
He finally does act, usually after all attempts at turning us from evil are exhausted. However, we shouldn’t keep testing his patience. We don’t know when enough is enough for God. For our next Scripture, we are going to the New Testament to see if the God of the New Testament, Jesus, is the same as Jehovah of the Old Testament. Hang-on, this is good. Use browser arrow to return to previous spot.
6. Jesus is called the Son of God. That means he is of God in a similar way that we are a son or daughter of our natural father. We are human and not inferior to our father. Because Jesus is the Son of God, he also is not inferior to God his father. Yet, Jesus was also human because he took on flesh and was born of the virgin Mary. Jesus was both God and man. Theologians call this the hypostatic union. Use your browser arrow to return to previous spot.
7. Matthew 9:27-30 Jesus was patient with people as they thronged him.
Matthew 11:1-6 Jesus was patient with John the Baptist who doubted him
Matthew12:22-25 Jesus was patient with the Pharisees
Luke 4:40 Jesus healed every kind of sickness or disease and raised the dead
John 2:13-17 Jesus was angry. He used a whip to drive out the merchant and overturned their tables in the temple
Luke24:25 Jesus is not patient with the unbelief of people after his resurrection
Revelation 19:11-21 Jesus will wage war on Satan”s earthly army and the beast and false prophet who will deceive the world. This “meek and mild” Jesus will exercise God’s wrath against his enemies.
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Conclusion: Is your conclusion the same as mine? I conclude Jesus and God are one and the same, although they are separate entities.
The Old Testament encompasses more than 2,000 years of history, while the New Testament encompasses less than 100. God was often patient in the Old Testament for hundreds of years before he acted with wrath (remember Nehemiah 9).
Once He told the prophet Jonah to preach to the Ninevites in Assyria, Israel’s enemies. Jonah fled away from God. You have probably heard about the great fish that swallowed Jonah. He almost died by drowing and as he lay in the fish.
When Jonah repents and preaches to Nineveh, they repent. This is Jonah’s response and God’s reply:
But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”
Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city.
Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered.
When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
“I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”
But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4, NIV)
Unfortunately, Nineveh’s repentance didn’t last long. Just one hundred years later, God destroyed them. You can read about that in the book of Nahum.
The point I see in all this is that the LORD gives us opportunities to repent and know him, but if we suppress the truth and reject his Son Jesus, the only way to restore our relationship with God, the LORD acts with wrath and judgment.
It is not because he is mean. If he never punished sinners, would we say he is a holy and just God? No one could enter heaven, because Jesus would not have suffered God’s wrath for our sins. But God is gracious and loving, and he offers us salvation. Praise God! Think about it and let me know your thoughts. Thank you. Rod
For further study about God’s nature, here are some other posts:
https://rodneyharrier.com/reasons-to-believe-in-creation/?
The Work of The Holy Spirit; 3 Simple Ways to Recognize it
swcfpc=1https://rodneyharrier.com/7-characteristics-of-the-one-true-god/?
swcfpc=1https://rodneyharrier.com/what-is-love-3-descriptions-of-love-from-jesus/?swcfpc=1