Apologetics33

There is often a completely wrong perception about God that is based 'apparently' on the Old Testament, which almost leads to Him being seen as a completely different God from that seen in the New Testament.

On this page we examine the truth about this. For those of us who are Christians it is important that we are clear on what the Bible does genuinely teach. For those who are seekers it is important to get a balance in what is often a biased and uninformed opinion.

1. What is the accusation that is made?

Answer:

The Accusation

There is an accusation that is voiced by crusading atheists that God is a cold, heartless, vicious murderer. It hinges on the whole question of the judgment of God. Atheists, and a lot of other people as well, don't like the thought of being held accountable and, even more, that that accountability may involve punishment.

The Biblical Reality

Without any doubt the Old Testament (and the New) does reveal God bringing both words of condemnation and destruction, and words of instruction to bring destruction. In that sense He does seem at the outset to be a bloodthirsty God, but is that a true picture?

How does the God of judgment of the Old Testament square with the God of love of the New Testament? To give a satisfactory answer requires some time and effort.

2. What is the Nature of God described in the Bible?

Answer:

It is important to observe how God is described in the Bible:

“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Ex 34:6).

God who is compassionate is also referred to in: Ex 22:27 Ex 34:6, 2Ch 30:9, Neh 9:17, Ps 86:15, Ps 103:8, Ps 111:4, Ps 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2

God who is gracious is also referred to in: 2Ch 30:9, Neh 9:17,31, Ps 86:15, 103:8, 111:4, 116:5, 145:8, Joel 2:13, and Jonah 4:2, with many other references to His gracious acts.

God who is slow to anger is also referred to in: Num 14:18, Neh 9:17, Psa 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, and Nah 1:3

God who is abounding in love is referred to in: Num 14:18 , Neh 9:17 , Psa 86:5,15, 103:8, Joel 2:13 , and Jonah 4:2 with multitudinous other references to God's love.

Now the point is that these descriptions are repeated by many different writers in the Old Testament, and yes the above words often go together and are often repeats of the original, but they go to show that the writers at least had this opinion of God.

The above references are strictly those with those exact phrases but the sense of each is repeated many, many more times, right the way throughout the Old Testament.

We need to examine what happened and what was said in the light of these descriptions.

3. What are the General Principles of Discipline, Correction & Judgment?

Answer:

These three concepts occur many times in the Old Testament, and it is these, I suspect, that make many of us uncomfortable.

1. Discipline

Discipline means training that develops self-control and character.

Reminding Israel what had happened to them, Moses said:

“You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you.” (Deut 4:35,36).

In other words God's intention, through speaking to Israel, was to train them to become His people who lived according to His design-laws.

Indeed later in Deuteronomy He reminded them that part of their training was observing how He had moved in power on their behalf to save them out of Egypt (Deut 11:2-7).

We often think of discipline as punishment, but God always views it as training. It is not destructive but formative.

In the New Testament, the writer to the Hebrews was to comment about God's discipline:

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Heb 12;11)

Note God trains for an outcome.

Such self-discipline or training is common throughout life and we would be most unhappy if it was absent, e.g. soldiers, pilots, doctors etc.

2. Correction

The concept of correction is very similar – action taken to bring about change of behaviour.

“The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.” (Prov 29:15)

The whole point of God's relationship with Israel was so that He could train them, correct them, and bring them into a place of understanding where they could see that God had designed the world in a particular way and that He had designed us to ‘work' in a particular way.

When we ‘worked' or lived like that then blessing flowed, partly because God brought blessings, but more simply because we were operating or working (if you will excuse the mechanical sense) as we were meant to. Because God is good and God is love, that way meant it is enjoyable and for our pleasure and benefit.

Yet the truth is that Israel displayed the same sinfulness that is seen in all of mankind and foolishly turned away from God, rejecting all the goodness that is available when we live as designed!

In Leviticus we find God challenging Israel:

“in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me.” (Lev 26:23).

The “these things” had been a variety of punishments which were being used as forms of discipline to bring correction (change of behaviour)

3. Judgment

Judgment refers to an act of judging. When it is God bringing judgment there are always two aspects to it:

i) the act of assessing wrong or determining wrong and rendering a just verdict, and

ii) the act of bringing the decreed punishment.

Now there is nothing strange about this because we are very much aware of the law enforcement aspects of our own nations:

• lawmakers who decree the Law,

• police who apprehend apparent lawbreakers,

• judges who determine the truth of the situation and determine punishment, and

• prisons that implement the punishment (or whoever is involved in whatever other form of punishment is applied).

In respect of God He is lawmaker, judge and executioner.

Executioner is in fact NOT the right word but we use it for the moment because it is what many think!

We need to observe, therefore, that punishment can be one of two forms:

i) death – where God sees and knows the person or group are so set in their ways that nothing will change them,

ii) painful activity not involving death – where God sees that this will act in a corrective manner to bring about good change in them.

NB. God's Righteousness

Something to be noted along the way is the description of God that occurs again and again in the Bible: that God is righteous and everything He does is righteous.

This simply means that everything about God – His thoughts and His actions – are always exactly right. Because He has total knowledge and total wisdom He never ever makes a mistake.

Now obviously that is a faith statement which is in line with the Scriptural teaching and if you say, “Can you prove that?” I have to reply, “Yes, but only when you die and face God.”

Our difficulty is that we do not have total knowledge and we are so often motivated by self-centred emotions, so that our ‘judgment' is often wrong – but God's isn't!

If we don't understand the grounds on which God declares judgment (and He always does make it clear in Scripture WHY He is bringing punishment), it is simply that we don't understand the awfulness of an attitude or action of an individual or group. Instead we foolishly blame God for what we assume (wrongly) is injustice.

More often than not atheists object to judgement, NOT because it involves punishment (which they basically agree with), but because it involves God, a being superior to them!

4. What are the Reasons for God's Judgment?

Answer:

In thinking about Judgment we are considering God as both the Judge and the one who implements the judgment. Here first we consider His activity as Judge.

Contrary to the claims that God is hasty and unkind, we need to remind ourselves of the truth as revealed in the Bible.

We have observed so far that God is all-wise and all knowing, that He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and utterly committed to what is right .

Consider for a moment your own life:

• Not one of us can claim perfection, freedom from any wrong thought, wrong word or wrong deed.

• Most rational thinking people believe, ultimately, in right or wrong and, if we dare be honest, recognise our imperfection.

• Most rational thinking people also believe in accountability (which is why we berate the police for failing to catch criminals, or the teacher in our class when we were young, for wrongly blaming us and letting off little Peter or Judy who we knew were the real culprits!)

Now, at this point, there are two possibilities:

1. There is no God and life is unfair and unjust and right is only what I think – which may be different from what you think, or

2. There is a God, a Supreme Being as we have been describing according to the Bible and He has made clear:

• what is right and what is wrong (according to how He has designed us)

• what happens when we opt for either.

If we are talking about God – and this whole section is about Him – then it comes down to what this figure who is all-wise and all knowing, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and utterly committed to what is right, decrees.

I want to suggest that:

a) Such a person is the best one to make the rules (fitting in with the way He's designed us), and

b) He's the best person to implement them (I wouldn't want a harsh, changeable, picky individual to do it)

Rather than go into a list of ‘wrongs' that God is against may I suggest instead that you look in the Bible and see the specific things and see them as things which are stopping individuals or groups coming to a wonderful knowledge of this God and all the good things that He has for us.

Ask each time, what is it that is stopping this person or these people entering into a relationship with God and receiving all the good things that He desires for them?

In general terms it may be attitudes, e.g. pride, or it may be practices, e.g. occult activity, or a whole range of other things.

So the key issues are:

• what is it stopping that coming about and

• is there an implacableness in that person or individual that means they will never change (and thus hinder others in coming into that experience of God), or is there a hope of change in them.

5. What are the forms of God's Judgment?

Answer:

Remember we are considering God as both the Judge and the one who implements the judgement. We are now moving on to implementing the judgment.

Dependant on the People

We noted just above that it will depend on:

• whether the person or group will not change (and death is the likely outcome), or

• whether they will change (and something lesser is more applicable to help bring about the change).

We also need to note God's desire in all this:

“Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” (Ezek 18:23)

Thus there may be instantaneous deaths (judgments) brought about by some catastrophe (e.g. Num 16:32) but mostly the form of the judgment means delay and opportunity for repentance.

Thus we find that often the judgment was another nation coming to attack apostate Israel. This meant that they had plenty of time to turn back to God and seek His help – which was ALWAYS forthcoming when that happened. The opportunity was ALWAYS there for repentance and judgement was ALWAYS averted when that repentance came.

Involvement of God

Now again the forms of judgement appear to be one of two kinds:

• Those involving freak weather conditions or earthquakes etc.

• Those involving other people.

The first kind, the atheist says is just Nature, but when they occur specifically after God has warned, then nature or not, I suggest it must have a divine motivation behind it!

The second kind, is the most common kind found in the Old Testament, and these fall into two groups:

• Those where God directs action to happen,

• Those where God lifts off His hand of restraint and the enemy are allowed to let their unrestrained hatred for others to rise up and cause them to attack.

An example of the former is God directing Israel to clear the people out of the Promised Land. These were primitive peoples who worshipped idols, sacrificed their children and so on. (Read your Bible and you'll see the ‘so-on'.)

Having said what we've just said, this particular example wasn't that clear cut. The options for the inhabitants were:

• flee the land and be saved,

• change and join Israel – as the Gibeonites did, or

• fight and possibly die (some did and some didn't in practice)

Our difficulty when considering those times is to appreciate

a) how primitive those societies were, and

b) how warlike they all tended to be.

The latter group observed above, where God lifts off His hand of restraint, reveals a reality that most of the time we don't think about, or even understand.

Yet the Bible does clearly indicate that this is how God often brings judgement – He simply lifts away any restraint and let's the warlike natures of individual kings and their people rise up against the nation that God is wanting to discipline. It is a complex subject but for the sake of space we recommend you simply read say chapters 9 to 21 of our Isaiah studies to see how it works in practice.

Very often, therefore, in fact the majority of times, God's so-called judgement comprises letting sinful kings and sinful peoples do what their hearts want to do, and that brings pressure to bear on the nation under scrutiny.

6. What is the Reality of God's Grace & Mercy seen in the Old Testament?

Answer:

What comes through to the careful Bible reader, but which of course is absent from the understanding of the person who never looks at the Bible or doesn't take time to carefully read it, is the fact that when God brings judgement He first brings warning after warning.

It is God's grace that allows a people to carry on rejecting Him while He sends His messengers to them again and again. I first saw this many years ago in my studies of Jeremiah where, before the Exile to Babylon , God pleaded with the kings and the people, through Jeremiah again and again.

In fact a study of that period of Israel 's history reveals that God was speaking to all parties through a variety of His prophets. Many years before he had warned of this through Isaiah , and these prophecies were in existence and known about in Israel already.

In Jerusalem Jeremiah was God's mouthpiece to the various kings and to the leaders and people in the years leading up to the exile which occurred over a decade culminating in Jerusalem 's destruction in 587BC.

With the early exiles in Babylon , Ezekiel was God's mouthpiece to the ordinary exiles and to the people still back in Israel .

With later exiles, Daniel was carried into Nebuchadnezzar's court where he was God's mouthpiece to him and to following kings.

In each of these situations, God was speaking into the situation to bring knowledge of Himself and pleading for the people to turn away from their idolatry. Thus He carried on speaking in the midst of the captivity in Exile which lasted for fifty years, and seventy years between the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the completion of the new one.

7. And so?

And So?

The picture is clearly seen in the Bible, of God seeking to bring mercy to bear on these foolish peoples.

Mercy and grace come through again and again.

NEVER say that God is hasty and harsh, for that is a complete contradiction of the Old Testament record!

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