IS GOD’S CHARACTER CONSISTENT IN BOTH TESTAMENTS?
The first 39 books of the Bible lay the foundation for the teachings and events found in the final 27 books.
If you are reading any book with 66 chapters and decide to skip over or eliminate the first 39 chapters of that book and just read the last 27 chapters, you will have a hard time understanding the storyline, the characters and the ending. It will be disjointed.
We hear people say things like “We don’t need the Old Testament anymore because we are New Testament believers.”
Some even go as far as saying all we need are the Epistles to the Churches today because everything else was under the OT and primarily about Israel.
But the Bible is an unfolding revelation of the character and plans of God in all 66 books from Genesis to Revelation.
There are 433 direct quotations from the Old Testament in the New. 'It is written' appears 73 times.If you eliminate 75% of the bible, your theology will only be 25% correct. That is not acceptable.
Our question today is: Is the character of God consistent throughout the Bible?
Some contrast what they read in the OT with what they read in the NT and think there are two different versions of God.
Old Testament God? New Testament God? Are they the same?
They don’t know how to reconcile what they read in both testaments. Understand this truth...
“The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed;
the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”
The Bible is a revelation of God’s redemptive love for all of humanity.
He carefully crafted, over 1600 years, one book with 66 essential books, and 40 different authors, that invite us into His story.
Yet western culture pushes back on the Bible with...
The Bible is just a book.
Its hard to understand.
Not for today.
FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH
Let’s begin by viewing scripture as we would a growing child through various stages of life:
Genesis: conception
Genesis shows God at the center of life. He is humanity’s foundation for living. Without getting this right, we will never get life right.
Jesus said your life is either built on sand or rock.
If sand, then it will eventually fall to pieces.
If rock, then it is being built on all He has put in place and will not fall.
The OT is filled with stories not abstract truths. Characters, names, imperfect people who loved, quarreled, believed and doubted. Marriages and lives that failed often but lives that experienced both sin and His amazing grace.
Adam & Eve - God could have destroyed them after they sinned but grace was given and He put His plan in place that enabled them to be restored with dignity.
This pattern is all through scripture. Human beings are not spectators to life. Whether we acknowledge Him or not He is still the center of life.
God is willing to work with whatever we can or want to give Him.
He is merciful and His mercies are new every morning to those who repent of their sin. This pattern is throughout the bible.
God made a covenant promise to one man, Abraham, that in and through him all the families/nations of the earth would be blessed. God loves the world.
As the child grows in the ‘womb of promise’ it takes on people details in the likes of Sarah, Isaac & Rebekah; Jacob & Esau; Rachel; Joseph and his brothers who will become the 10 tribes of Israel.
The bible is not a history story, but the unfolding of God’s plan to redeem everyone so they can become part of His forever family.
Exodus: birth and infancy
The story in Exodus is one that is repeated until the end of scripture is ‘salvation’.
God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
The scripture makes it clear that God will draw His people out of the mess they are in. He asks us to believe Him - that is called faith.
Israel was living in slavery but God’s plan was to bring them into freedom.
After a long gestation, birth pangs begin.
400 years of painful slavery in Egypt acts like contractions.
The ten plagues bring the travail to completion.
The water breaks at the Red Sea and the ‘People of God’ tumble out on dry ground and learn to crawl in the wilderness of Sinai.
God feeds them and He reveals Himself to them as any good parent would.
They learn the new language of freedom - 10 words to begin. The commandments.
God is the Parent and He trains them in family life, worship, prayer, priesthood and construction of the tabernacle.
He is moulding them as His sons and daughters with lessons on the need for trust and obedience. Today we call that faith.
Leviticus: schooling
Leviticus reminds us that we are always trying to domesticate God. It is why various regions of the world love ‘their’ religion.
God cannot be fit into our plans, we must fit into His. He reveals Himself as holy which disqualifies everyone else.
This is a period in Israel’s history, a timeout, where they went to Bible School and were trained on how to be in relationship with God.
Canaan, the promised land is coming and with it all types of religions and teachings. They needed to know the way, the truth and the life they shared together as God’s people.
Every little detail shows how God is present in virtually every part of our lives. The sacrifices show us the way out of sin and the way in to His holy presence. The apostle Paul calls this type of life ‘a living sacrifice’.
Their curriculum is about growing in their relationship with God .
When their relationship is broken, God calls it sin. We try to call it something else but He calls it sin.
They are taught about the consequences of sin and the need for a substitutionary sacrifice that He has outlined for them.
Numbers: adolescence
THINKING. A precious gift God gives each of us that we alone control.
Numbers is going from individuals to community life. This part is really messy as people are added to our lives. Spouse, children, neighbours, friends, co-workers, strangers etc. Community requires work.
We learn you can’t be a Christian alone. That is spirituality divorced from reality. God brings others into our lives to show us ourselves - every blame others when things don’t go your way?
We need lots of help learning to live by faith and sacrificial love. Organizational help as Israel grew numerically. They needed leaders, assignments, accountability. They needed to learn to pray, then act justly with one another.
We need relational help. Why? Because we quarrel, grumble, rebel, fornicate, steal, gossip. You name it, we do it. Becoming the People of God is not easy.
At this stage the People of God make lots of mistakes and start learning some serious lessons.
They push back against the only parent they know - God.
Maturity for them is not about amputation of their past but integration of all that has been invested in them since birth.
It takes them 40 years in the wilderness to wrestle with growing up and even in this they fail miserably.
There are always consequences to disobeying God.
Deuteronomy: adults
Maturity is complex. It takes time to know and grow in God.
At this stage, they will, as free men and women, finally enter the Promised Land. Remember this point.
They are now ready to grow up, to mature. They are identified as God’s holy people. His remnant.
This period is about a loving God leading His people into His eternal purposes which will eventually include our generation and those of our children and grandchildren.
He watches over them and protects them as every good parent does their children.
He has their best interests at heart.
All this is foundational to knowing the God we serve.
In the next 61 chapters, we anticipate with excitement, the outworking of God’s plan that all the families of the earth will be blessed through the covenant promise He gave to one man, Abraham and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
He promised a Messiah and seals it with over 300 prophecies in those 39 chapters.
What to look for? Where He will be born? What He will do and say? How He will die and why? That He will be raised to life and ascend into heaven ahead of us.
If we are ignorant of the OT, then when someone mentions Jesus, we say so what? A good teacher maybe. What does that have to do with my life today? Yet scripture says this to us...
“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another - showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.” 2 Timothy 3:16
Our question today is: Is the character of God consistent throughout the Bible?
So far so good...God has spoken creation into being; laid the foundations for a life of faith; saved a people from extinction and slavery; started shaping and moulding them into His people.
From Joshua to Malachi they will see the graciousness of God to them while undeserving. They will do their thing and He will not forsake them; He will show them that Gentiles like Ruth have a part in His plan; the books of wisdom show us how dumb we really are and how His ways are always higher than ours; the prophets will bring us face to face with the living God, judgment and hope.
God’s character is questioned in the drowning of ‘innocent’ people in the Flood.
Noah took 100 years to build the ark and was called a preacher of righteousness.
The people listened, laughed and rejected the message he shared. What was God’s reaction?
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5
Was God’s mercy not present for everyone 100 years before judgment?
Did He spare Noah’s family because they chose to obey and follow His commands? Yes!
Would He have spared any family that chose to obey Him? Yes!
God’s character is questioned and He is accused of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.
Genesis 13 shows the wickedness of these cities long before judgment comes and says it this way...
“Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.”
In the midst of all this there are righteousness men and women who choose to serve the Lord.
God is seen blessing the land as Abraham and Lot dwell in the region. Common grace for all.
War breaks out and Lot is taken in battle.
Abraham takes up arms and brings him back.
We are introduced to Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High in Sodom. He brings out bread and wine from Sodom along with the King.
Melchizedek blesses Abraham.
Abraham gives him a tithe, 10% of his belongings as a gesture of worship to God.
Do you think the people of Sodom were exposed to God’s truth through these men?
Genesis shows total depravity has taken hold as the men of the city want to have sex with the two visitors at Lot’s house as night falls. Scripture says they are angels in human form.
“But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may ‘know’ them.” Genesis 19:4-5
These few stories are authenticated in the New Testament book of 2 Peter this way...
“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.” 2 Peter 2:6
God’s character is questioned and He is accused of evicting the Canaanites as Israel entered the Promised Land.
“Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Deuteronomy 9:5
God is providing protection.
Dt 18:9 ““When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.
Israel chose to disobey God.
They did not destroy the peoples, as the LORD commanded them, but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds. Psalm 106:34-39
God is merciful, all the time.
All the time, God is merciful.
The only ones saved in Jericho were the prostitute Rahab and her household. This is an interesting point in that Rahab knew of Israel’s victories and the blessings of God upon the nation. If she knew of Israel’s fame, then it is reasonable to assume the rest of the city knew it as well.
God is working to fulfill His promise to Abraham so He must serve and protect him and his seed after him which has now become the People of God - Israel.
God’s character is questioned and He is accused of wiping out Amalek through KING Saul.
God’s command to King Saul in the Old Testament to wipe out the people of Amalek: “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." 1 Sam. 15:3
Only a complete removal would do, with even the animals needing to be killed, due to the practice of bestiality which Israel was forbidden to do.
Although God commanded Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites, he disobeyed and did not completely do as he was told.
Some were allowed to live, an outcome that ultimately resulted in another attempt of genocide upon Israel while in Babylon under captivity. Modern day Iran but then Persia.
Human beings, in our pride, think we know better than God who alone sees the end from the beginning.
The book of Esther records that a man named Haman – who was of Amalek descent – tried to have all the Jews killed in the land of Persia, but he was ultimately stopped by Queen Esther.
What if every Jew had been killed? Then the promise made to Abraham and his seed would have perished.
God always has His people who will obey Him.
In all these instances, every person capable of making a moral decision was accountable for their own decision.
The children who perished were unable to make moral decisions so heaven would be their home.
If allowed to grow up they would have been corrupted by their immoral parents and culture and thus be judged as sinners worthy of separation from God.
Fathers, mothers, your responsibility before God is to raise your sons and daughters to put Him first in everything and to model that in all you do.
Your children will eventually do what you, do not what you say. Where you put your priorities, is what you are really teaching them.
The history of this violent period and understanding the redemptive love of God must also have justice at the center or God would be viewed as uncaring and unrighteous.
Rahab, who was spared in Jericho would understand the conversation between Abraham and God regarding Sodom. What if there are 50/40/30/20/10 righteous there?
God replies, “I will spare the city.”
God helps Israel grow through the different stages of their relationship with Him. The older they become, the more responsible they must be.
We do it with our 2 year olds and our 20 year olds.
As parents, we limit their exposure to danger.
2 year old - stay off the street.
20 year old - are you having fun playing street hockey?
Israel is in the formation stage.
They are slowly becoming His people in the Promise Land.
Jericho was destroyed one time.
God did not give them the liberty to do this to whomever they pleased.
This action was limited to one specific period in Israel’s history.
It was an infant nation. Not a warring people but slaves from Egypt needing to be trained to defend themselves and dispossess the Canaanites.
God made a promise to Abraham that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
Israel, as a people, was protected because God was entrusting her to bring forth His Word and ultimately His Messiah.
For the entire world to be saved, Israel’s survival was essential.
This is where we see His sovereignty in full force.
He gave Israel a special measure of protection in the establishing of the land of Canaan.
This is consistent with His character.
Israel was developing but still very immature, they had a new God given religious system, they needed to be sheltered from the idolatry of the Canaanite nations around them who would have corrupted the true worship of God and garbled its message to the rest of the world.
When Israel rebelled, God applied justice through Assyria and Babylon to bring her back to Himself.
Israel became the prodigal son.
God’s justice and punishment on sin, whether inside Israel or amongst the pagan nations is necessary to show His love for all.
Punishment is not out of character with His mercy and love.
If God let evil do as evil does, then we would consider Him to be unrighteous and uncaring.
He is a righteous judge. He will punish the unrepentant and the wicked. This is consistent throughout the scriptures.
The very last book in the Bible called Revelation shows God’s judgment on the sheep and goat nations in how they treated Israel as well as upon those who have rejected Him.
It leaves Him no choice but to reject them. Remember Adam & Eve?
God, throughout scripture, reached out to sinful nations, gave them grace or time to repent.
The prophet Jonah and the city of Nineveh are fine examples of the chance to repent even though their deeds were wicked.
Is He consistent in both testaments?
Judgment is preceded by warnings and long periods of exposure to truth which gives everyone time to repent.
Innocent ones whether young or old are given a way of escape.
Repentance protects you from wrath.
He is consistent.
He will forgive you if you repent.
It is true that the Bible talks about stories that contains graphic examples of sin, evil, and death.
But it also includes the overarching grand story of love, redemption, and grace. The gospel is the greatest story every told and all God desires is for you to Enter His Story.
The cow we are tipping over today is the one of ignorance about the consistency of the God revealed from Genesis to Malachi and from Matthew to Revelation.
Isaiah sums it up this way...
My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9
Our question today is: Is the character of God consistent throughout the Bible?
Answer: YES!
Let us all respond to the voice of God as He reaches out to us today.
Where are you living outside His will?
Remember, what was an accepted and tolerated and sometime even celebrated lifestyle amongst the pagan nations was unacceptable to God and forbidden in His people.
I want to be like Noah today, as a preacher of righteousness, and plead with you to repent.
I want to be like Abraham today, and interceded on your behalf.
I want to be like Jesus and remind you that the character of God is consistent from Genesis to Revelation.
I want to acknowledge The Message Bible for the basic themes outlined here. Thank you Eugene Peterson.
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