The God of the Old Testament
OK...true confession: I've had a hard time with a lot of the Old Testament passages where God commands the destruction of entire groups of people. We're talking men, women, children, and even infants. This "vengeful, eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth, stone the sinner" kind of God bewilders me sometimes. There seems to be such a disparity between the God I read about in the Old Testament and the grace-filled God I see in the New Testament.
I don't have a lot of air-tight explanations but I would like to offer some random observations.
1. The O.T. world was very different. It was brutally violent. The "one" with the biggest muscles was in charge. How was God to get the attention of these barbaric people? Only one way--by speaking their language. By flexing his muscles and showing the world (by force) that HE was God.
2. Those God commands Israel to utterly destroy were utterly evil. They were guilty of gross sexual sin, as well as a boatload of others. How would God's greater plan of using Israel to bless the world be accomplished if God didn't eliminate and "clear an area" for the Israelites to thrive? What would happen if the Israelites became corrupted by these sin-infested people? People like the Canaanites who sacrificed babies by burning them alive...or who celebrated their victories by smashing the heads of their subjects' infants against rocks? Maybe some had to die so that others could live.
3. God never changes, so maybe the problem is MY ability to understand the God of the O.T. What we do know is that Jesus came to reveal to us God's character. In John 14 Jesus makes it clear that he is the spitting image of the Father. That if you know him (Jesus) you know the Father.
The principle that encourages me is is this: IT'S ALWAYS BEST TO WORK FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN. Since Jesus came and lived among us in clear view...since Jesus is the person in whom God is fully known...we should start with Jesus when asking what God is like. I define God from Jesus.
As John Killinger once said, "Jesus is God's way of getting rid of a bad reputation."
The question for us all is, "Can we trust a God like that (Jesus)?" I don't have to hesitate on that one. The answer is YES!
I don't have a lot of air-tight explanations but I would like to offer some random observations.
1. The O.T. world was very different. It was brutally violent. The "one" with the biggest muscles was in charge. How was God to get the attention of these barbaric people? Only one way--by speaking their language. By flexing his muscles and showing the world (by force) that HE was God.
2. Those God commands Israel to utterly destroy were utterly evil. They were guilty of gross sexual sin, as well as a boatload of others. How would God's greater plan of using Israel to bless the world be accomplished if God didn't eliminate and "clear an area" for the Israelites to thrive? What would happen if the Israelites became corrupted by these sin-infested people? People like the Canaanites who sacrificed babies by burning them alive...or who celebrated their victories by smashing the heads of their subjects' infants against rocks? Maybe some had to die so that others could live.
3. God never changes, so maybe the problem is MY ability to understand the God of the O.T. What we do know is that Jesus came to reveal to us God's character. In John 14 Jesus makes it clear that he is the spitting image of the Father. That if you know him (Jesus) you know the Father.
The principle that encourages me is is this: IT'S ALWAYS BEST TO WORK FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN. Since Jesus came and lived among us in clear view...since Jesus is the person in whom God is fully known...we should start with Jesus when asking what God is like. I define God from Jesus.
As John Killinger once said, "Jesus is God's way of getting rid of a bad reputation."
The question for us all is, "Can we trust a God like that (Jesus)?" I don't have to hesitate on that one. The answer is YES!
posted by Pastor Phil Print at 1:55 PM
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