Old God vs New

I've heard it said (since my youth) that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. Now, you understand this is manifest nonsense, right? I mean, the God who said, "I, YHWH, do not change" (Mal 3:6) cannot be different (changed). So what's going on? First, let's agree ... we're not going with "The Old Testament is wrong" in any way. So ...?

There is a lot of "smiting" going on in the Old Testament. Sin introduced death and judgment. People look to the judgments on Israel's enemies where they "smote them until no survivor was left" (Deut 3:3), "utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city" (Deut 3:6). God commanded Saul to totally annihilate a group of Amalekites (1 Sam 15:2-3) including the explicit instruction to "put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." That's pretty brutal ... to us. Some have tried to ascribe this to Israel making excuses for their bad behavior, but don't let them do that. It was God who consumed Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-2). It was God who struck down Uzzah for touching the Ark (2 Sam 6:6-7). It was God who wiped out all but 8 humans in the Flood. He does that. But that's not a completely accurate representation of the Old Testament God. He is also listed as "a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exo 34:6; Num 14:18; Deut 4:31; Neh 9:17; Psa 86:5, 15; Psa 108:4; Psa 145:8; Joel 2:13). He saves Israel over and over. And the New Testament does not erase the God of the Old Testament ... the "angry God." Paul writes of the time when "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thess 1:7-8). Read Revelation. The "angry God" is still there at the end. Jesus spoke more about Hell than Heaven. (Some of our best known imagery of Hell are from Jesus's descriptions.) So don't buy that "He's a different God" argument.

Yes, there is a lot more grace and mercy going on in the New Testament. That doesn't mean there wasn't any in the Old. Yes, there is a lot more about love in the New Testament. That doesn't mean that God was less loving in the Old. What do we learn, then? The Old Testament sets out God as Creator and God as Law-giver. It lays out clearly the rules and consequences and shows over and over the universality of sin. God makes the point at the beginning ... He really hates sin. It's there in the New, too. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). God is perfectly willing to "demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known" on "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" (Rom 9:22). In an episode of Happy Days, Ritchie finds himself in trouble with some tough gang members. Fonzie tells him to act tough and they'll back down. It doesn't work. "Oh, yeah," the Fonz says. "You had to hit someone once." God demonstrated His wrath toward sin graphically and repeatedly. He left no doubt ... He's not in favor of it. The effect was to make the Jews clearly aware of the wrath of God ... so that when His grace was made equally manifest, it was ... well ... amazing. Like Paul laying out Man's sin condition (Rom 1:18-3:20) followed by the good news of "saved by grace apart from works," it only serves to magnify grace. The problem is that too many shortsighted people today have lost sight of the God who hates sin and find themselves enamored with the "nice Jesus." They conclude, "Sin isn't such a big deal." Jesus thought otherwise. And since God does not change, we ought not discount God's wrath against sin in favor of a "loving God" because that God of wrath still exists and we desperately need Jesus's "propitiation" (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10), His appeasement of that angry God.