The same God
I have heard it said by critics of the Bible that the God revealed in the first or 'old' testament is an angry God and the God revealed in the second or 'new' testament is a loving God.
I must disagree.
In fact, buried in the Torah, in the book of Exodus, we have the famous ten commandments in chapter 20, and look at the text of the second command:
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
-Exodus 20:4-6 (ESV)
So, from the beginning of the Hebrew nation's moral laws, God wanted them to know that His love-to-punishment ratio, as it were, was 1000:3! I rediscovered this in a book I read recently and have been pondering it ever since. A thousand to three. Did you ever think about? That's some really good news!
If I could take it a step further, there is a description of God that flows throughout the ancient Hebrew Scriptures that states unequivocally, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness!"
So we, as followers of Jesus, seek the Lord who is the same God - yesterday, today, and forever! He does not change, period.
Thanks be to God!
Pastor Ben
PS Sort of reminds me of a current worship song I really like called "Same God" you can listen to here:
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
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