GOD’S WORD FOR NOVEMBER 9

liveinthelightofourlord November 9, 2023 Leave a Comment

GOD’S WORD FOR NOVEMBER 9 ~ ~ 2 Peter 3:5 ~ ~ “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,”

From the book, How to Read the Bible as if Your Life Depends on it, (because it does)

By Michael Youssef

In his book, “The God delusion,” atheist Richard Dawkins illustrates a common misunderstanding of the Bible: the notion that there is a “God of the Old Testament” and a different “God of the New Testament.” Dawkins writes, “the God of the Old testament is arguably the most unpleasant character of all fiction” and a “capriciously malevolent bully.”

(by the way, Dawkins might think calling the Bible “fiction” is a clever bit of mockery, but the inaccuracy of the statement only undermines his argument.)

Later in the book, Dawkins contrasts the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament. He calls Jesus “one of the great ethical innovators of history,” and adds, “The Sermon on the Mount is way ahead of its time. His ‘turn the other cheek’ anticipated Gandhi and Martin Luther King by two thousand years.” (To be accurate, Jesus didn’t “anticipate” the non violent views of Gandhi and King. HE INFLUENCED THEM!)

But are the New Testament teachings of Jesus at odds with the “God of the Old Testament”? Absolutely NOT! In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus INTENSIFIES the demands of the Old Testament Law, and says, in Matthew 5:17-18:

“Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished!”

And the love, grace, and mercy of God –which many people associate with God in the New testament – are deeply rooted concepts in the Old Testament. According to the Holman Bible dictionary, the Hebrew word for God’s mercy, “Chesed”, appears 245 times in the Old Testament, including 127 times in the psalms. “Chesed” is also translated, “steadfast love,” “constant love,” and “unfailing love” in various Bible versions.

Why then do so many people have a distorted perception of God? It comes from a superficial understanding of both the Old and New Testaments.

GOD’S OLD TESTAMENT MERCY AND COMPASSION:

If all we know of the Old Testament is a few isolated events, such as the flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we will probably have an incomplete and wildly distorted perspective on God. People who criticize the “God of the Old Testament” as a “bully” ignore such Old Testament passages as these in Psalm 78:38-39 and in Lamentations 3:22-26:

“But He, being compassionate, forgave their wrongdoing and did not destroy them;
And often He restrained His anger and did not stir up all His wrath.
So He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.”

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“The Lord’s (acts of mercy indeed do not end,
(For His compassions do not fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I wait for Him.”
The Lord is good to those who await Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.”

God’s wrath is righteous and just, but tempered with compassion. We see God patiently withholding judgment against sin throughout the Old Testament. The God of the Old and New Testaments is consistently merciful. In fact, His justice and anger are really facets of His compassion, because His anger is directed at wickedness, injustice, oppression, and murder. God judges wickedness out of His great compassion for the innocent and the oppressed, as this Old Testament passage in Proverbs 6:16-19 makes clear:

“There are six things that the Lord hates,
Seven that are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who declares lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.”

The book of Psalms describes God as a protector of widows, orphans and the oppressed in Psalm 10:17-18

“Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will strengthen their heart, You will make Your ear attentive
To vindicate the orphan and the oppressed,
So that mankind, which is of the earth, will no longer cause terror.”

Do these verses describe a “capriciously malevolent bully”—or a God who protects the weak and oppressed? The compassionate nature of our loving God drenches the Old Testament.

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Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.

Exodus 33:19

And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”

Exodus 34:6-7

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

Psalm 25:6

Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.

Psalm 40:11

You, Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.

Ps 72:13