Seeing God Accurately Through the Eyes of Christ
by David Gibson
An unworthy God?
Some people are repelled by the God of the Old Testament, finding Him to be unreasonably demanding and harshly vindictive—therefore, unworthy of our respect and worship. Jesus, according to this view, provides us with a refreshing corrective to the wrathful, distant deity of the Old Testament. A careful, unbiased reading of both Testaments, however, should dispel any such dichotomy between God and Jesus.
Like a parent
In Old Testament times, God dealt with mankind much as a parent does with a young child. His many prohibitions are designed to prevent harm. Because He loves us, He wants us to avoid unnecessary suffering from poor choices that bring us great harm.
But so often His people were self-willed, stubborn, and rebellious. Because they would not listen to the God who wanted only to bless them, they not only forfeited what He was so willing to give them, but they brought many avoidable hardships on themselves, just as children do who can’t seem to learn except the hard way—if even then.
Anyone who thinks ill of the God of the Old Testament would do well to study Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, which make it clear how God would bless Israel richly if they listened and obeyed, but also how He would discipline them severely if necessary to help them realize His way is best.
You can sense God’s frustration when He says so poignantly, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me” (Isaiah 48:17-19).
A balanced view of God
”... I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep my commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:9-10; see Exodus 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:8-10; 7:9-10; Jonah 3:10; 4:1-2).
Because God is holy and just, He cannot tolerate sin and must punish offenders. And yet He shows mercy to the truly penitent, as illustrated by countless examples in the Old Testament.
A balanced view of Jesus
The same Jesus who welcomed the little children (Mark 10:13-16) also took a whip and drove the moneychangers out of the temple (John 2:14-17).
The same Jesus who said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28) also told the Pharisees, “... you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:33).
The same Jesus who said from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NASB) will someday come “in flaming fire, dealing our retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (II Thessalonians 1:8 NASB).
Like Father, like Son
“He who has seen Me” Jesus said, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9 NASB). “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30 NASB).
After all, wasn’t it the Father who loved the world so much that He sent His Son (John 3:16)?
