(remember, these are unedited/draft show notes, not a transcript — listening is always better…and if you listen AND follow along below, you’ll see why)
Focus Question:
Is the “God of the OT” mean?
Intro:
I had the good fortune of having a phone call recently with a client of mine, and when she found out I’m in seminary, I got an earful of struggles. One of those is actually common — Why does the God of the OT seem mean compared to the Jesus in the NT?
To be fair, I won’t get a chance to full unpack that, but our OT reading in Ezekiel today will give us a clue.
New Testament segment:
For our NT segment, I’m going to encourage you to just listen closely. We’ll be journeying through a section that scholars struggle to agree on exactly. But that doesn’t mean we can’t observe something really important.
Passage: Revelation 20
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 15
Words: ~342
I’ll save additional comment for our Bottom Line segment, and you’ll see how we can observe something where we can be comfortable that even normal people like us can benefit by just reading the Bible.
Old Testament segment:
Our OT segment today is going to be short as we’re going to spend extra time in Proverbs today. But listen to the tone of this section that’s describing the reunification of Israel…it’ll play into our Bottom Line discussion about how we might respond to someone’s assertion that God seems different in the Old and New Testaments.
Passage: Ezekiel 37:15-28
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 14
Words: ~409
Wisdom segment:
Passage: Proverbs 27:13-28.28
Translation: CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
Verses: 43
Words: ~682
The bottom line:
So, is the God of the OT mean? Doesn’t it seem weird that this is in apparent conflict with the Jesus of love in the NT?
Well, consider this, my friends: If we think about the nature of God, God is unchanging, by definition both theologically and philosophically. As James writes,
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. Jas 1:17, CSB.
So if God doesn’t change, in fact cannot change, is the God of the OT different from the God of the NT? No.
But there is an argument I find even more convincing, it’s this: who did Jesus, in His humanity, worship? Yup…the God of the OT.
So besides the fact that this came up in a conversation I just had, I’ll leave you with the evidence just from today’s reading. In Revelation we heard that of judgment and those whose names are not written in the Book of Life being sent into eternal torment by Jesus as judge. And by contrast, in Ezekiel we read of God’s promise to bring blessing and a permanent covenant of peace. But there are oodles of places in the OT where God’s love is on display. And a fave — remember why Jonah was angry at God?
I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. Jon 4:2, CSB
So, in the OT there’s the promise of what God will do to bring us into something beautiful, whereas in the NT we heard of a God of judgment. We love a God of love, but we sometimes fail to see that there are consequences to the violation of that love. So the issue isn’t OT vs NT…unless you’re reading selectively.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
(1) Kendell H. Easley, Revelation, vol. 12, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 379.