Why is the God of the Old Testament so different from the God of the New Testament? The God of the Old Testament is harsh, angry, vengeful; a god of judgement. The God of the New Testament (as revealed in Jesus) is gentle, patient, merciful, forgiving. Look at Jesus’ compassion and mercy and compare that with the wrath and vengeance of God in the Old Testament.
Is this a fair question? Does it seem like God changed rather dramatically? Or, are there two Gods?
The question is based on a massive misunderstanding. There is no difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New. It is true that, in the Old Testament we see some horrifying things. There is terrible judgement. Cities are wiped out; nations are wiped out. There are numerous gory battles and many warnings of judgement. But the love and the grace and the mercy of God are also present and, in fact, are more central to the message of the Old Testament than the warnings of judgement.
Tell me which Testament this passage come from.
But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
That description of God is found in Exodus 34:6, Number 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Ps 86:15, Ps 103:8, Ps 145:8, Joel 2:13, and Nahum 1:3. The people of the Old Testament knew God to be compassionate… a God of grace and mercy… a God slow to be angry… overflowing with love and faithfulness. Some people think that the Old Testament God is always angry but the people of the Old Testament knew Him to be a God who is very patient; slow to anger. They knew Him as a God who waited and waited and gave opportunity after opportunity for people to turn away from their sin before He would judge them.
Jonah, you remember, did not want to go to Ninevah and call them to repent but eventually, he went; he preach; the whole city turned from their sins and God forgave them. Incredible! A revival!
Jonah 4:1-3 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah’s complaint was that God was too compassionate.
There are amazing expressions of love in the Old Testament. Think of the story of Hosea. Hosea was told to marry a woman who would be unfaithful to him. She had many lovers but Hosea found her and purchased her back to make her once again his wife. We can understand all of the hurt of betrayal and the disgust imagining her with other men and yet he loved her enough to buy her back. Of course, that was prophetic picture of God’s love for wayward and unfaithful Israel. READ Hosea 11:1-11.
Yes there is judgement in the Old Testament but the love and grace of God are immense. The prophets foretold judgement but that was always coupled with mercy. God offered forgiveness and restoration if they would only repent. Judgement and mercy, hand in hand.
It is the Old Testament that foretells the coming of a Messiah who would suffer for the sins of the people.
Which Testament do these words come from?
Matt 13:41-42 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Whose mouth did they come out of? Jesus’. The very Jesus that people think is “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”. Jesus talked about hell more, and more graphically, than anyone. Yes, the New Testament is full of the amazing love of God – grace, mercy, patience – but there is also a lot of judgement.
Ananias and Sapphira, struck down dead one after the other because they lied to God. Is that in the Old Testament or the New Testament? If you do not know the story, go and look it up.
Jesus repeatedly warned of judgement coming on Jerusalem, within 40 years, and on “the day of the Lord”. Other New Testament writers repeatedly warn about judgement coming. If anybody thinks the God of the New Testament doesn’t judge, they should read Revelation. Jesus Himself is the judge. He will execute terrible judgement.
The love of God and the judgement of God are held together in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. There is no difference. Those who think there is a difference, need to read their Bibles
But there must be a reason this perception persists. It has been around since the second century when a man named Marcion decided that the God of the Old Testament was evil and to be rejected. The New Testament God must be a different God. On the basis of his views, Marcion decided which books should be regarded as scripture. He rejected the whole of the Old Testament and accepted only 10 of Paul’s letter (He liked Paul) and Luke’s gospel (not the other gospels). But even then, he chopped out of Paul’s letters and out of Luke’s gospel, everything that didn’t agree with his beliefs. He ended up with a very small Bible. Not surprisingly, he was rejected by the church of his time and declared to be a heretic.
And yet, people today do exactly the same thing: reject the bits of the Bible that they do not like.
Why does this view persist? It is probably true that although both the Old and the New Testaments reveal both the love and the judgement of God, God’s judgement does seem to be more pronounced in the Old Testament. There is a reason for that. The Old Testament reveals the holiness of God. The Jews, and we, need to understand that God is God. God is the Creator and the Lawgiver. He is to be obeyed. We are His creation. We are to honour and obey God. He is God; we are not. Defying God has consequences. God, because He is holy and pure and perfect, cannot compromise with sin. God hates sin. God loves us and wants us to love Him but, if we choose not to; if we choose sin instead of God, there are consequences. That is in both testaments but it is foundational so it was made very clear in the Old Testament.
Because He loves us, God gave us laws but, if we choose to go our own way, there will be consequences.
…because God is just. Justice in our courts requires that the laws be upheld and lawbreaking be punished. We want justice to be served. We want our courts to be just. Likewise with God only more so. Justice requires judgement. But God so regularly warns Israel (and us) because He loves us. He doesn’t want us going the wrong way and suffering the consequences. He wants us to choose life rather than death.
Ezekiel 33:11 11 Say to them, “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?”
Some people think that God loves punishing people and is vindictive and vengeful. Again, it is because they haven’t read their Bibles. He is just but He takes no pleasure in judging. He wants people to turn.
It is exactly the same in the New Testament. Because He loves us, Jesus, and the other apostles, warn us. The talk of judgement is always coupled with the offer of God’s mercy and God’s appeal that we experience His mercy rather than His judgement.
2 Peter 3 talks about people who say “Look, Jesus hasn’t returned and He will not return. There is no judgement”. Peter says they deliberately forget that God has judged in the past and “the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgement and destruction of ungodly people”
Why has it not happened already? Why is Jesus’ return delayed?
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Even the New Testament talks about end-of-the-world-scale, destructive judgement and links it to the Old Testament teaching but it also talks about the mercy of God. God does not want anyone to perish but to come to repentance. Judgement and mercy. The Old Testament passages that talk about God being gracious, slow to anger etc go on to also talk about the holiness of God.
Exodus 34:6 …The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished…
To contrast the angry God of the Old Testament with gentle Jesus is very bad theology. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament revealed. “The Father and I are one.” If we want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. He is also very clear about judgement. Make no mistake about that but He is merciful and compassion and forgiving. He will sacrifice Himself that we might be forgiven.
Jesus worshipped and served the God of the Old Testament. The compassionate Jesus had not moral difficulty loving and honouring His Father.
If we say that we do not like the God of the OT, we are saying we do not like the God of the New Testament and we do not like Jesus. If we reject the God of the Old Testament, we reject God.
What does this say about the Bible? It says that all scripture is God-inspired. All scripture is telling the consistent story of God. The Old Testament is as inspired and as authoritative as the New Testament.
What does it tells us about God? Throughout the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God is revealed as being both holy and just and a judge, and compassionate and merciful and gracious and forgiving.
Romans 11:22 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
What does it tell us about ourselves? In some instances, it tells us that we simply do not know our Bibles.
It also tells us how quick we can be to only listen to what we like. In our modern society, some people cringe at any talk of judgement and they reject those parts of the Bible that talk about the holiness of God. We can easily create a god that we approve of rather than the God revealed in the Bible. We can create false gods that we like and reject the God of the Bible. We can modify God. Or, we can read about the God of the Bible and decide we do not like Him at all and we reject Him.
The other option is to say, “I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. Therefore, I believe that God is both holy and merciful. Both the Old and the New Testaments talk about the holiness and the mercy of God. When I look at the Cross, I see the holiness of God. God executed judgement. God punished sin on that Cross. But, when I look at the Cross I also see the love of God. God took my sin and my punishment on Himself. Jesus received my judgement. I know I am a sinner and I fear the judgement of God. But I know also the grace of God and that I am forgiven and saved from the judgement of God.”
Which is it for us: modify God, reject God or receive the mercy of God? The Cross is where justice is done. The price for my sins and your sins is paid. And mercy is received. Jesus took our punishment on Himself.
M.P.C. Sermons 