Is God the same in the Old Testament and New Testament
Reflection: So often I hear someone say, “The God of the Old Testament seems much different than the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament seems to be a God of judgment, whereas the God of the New Testament seems to be a God of mercy.” And while there is a movement of revelation of God’s nature in the person of Jesus Christ, God does not change. In theological parlance we say, “God is immutable.”
For instance, we have seen numerous kings now in the Northern (Samaria) and Southern (Jerusalem) kingdoms who have repeatedly spurned God’s 1st commandment by worshipping other gods. Different kings have demonstrated different propensities in this, but since King David there has not been a king who has wholeheartedly worshipped God, or led the people of Israel to do so. Yet, God continues to give them second chance after second chance. He allows some correction and consequences to happen through foreign superpowers as a warning to them, but ultimately keeps showing them mercy. Today however in the Northern Kingdom, in chapter 17 of 2 Kings, we see finally the Assyrians invading Samaria, and the Jews are deported to Assyria. We call this the fall of the Northern Kingdom, which is dated 723-722 B.C. (Notice the years go in reverse 723,722,721 until the time of Christ!)
And someone might say, “See God is a God of judgment in the Old Testament!” But then let us read our New Testament passage in Acts 5. As the story goes Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property and rather than offering it at the apostle’s feet, as we have read the past few days was the norm, they kept some for themselves, lying to the community. But also more importantly it says, “They lied to God and the Holy Spirit”. As Peter discerns this and confronts Ananias it says, “Ananias fell down and died.” When his wife Sapphira came in Peter likewise says, “How could you conspire and test the Holy Spirit as well”. At that moment she died as well. It is not surprising that it says the community was seized with fear.
This is a challenging tension for us as believers today. The absolute overarching message of the bible is that we don’t get what we deserve for our sins, and we are offered undeserved grace through Jesus Christ which we receive by faith. But we also must remember God is a Holy God and God does not take sin lightly. As Paul says in Romans, “Should we go on sinning so that grace can abound! By no means!” Paul is saying, “Are you kidding me that you would receive grace, and use this as a permission to pursue sinful ways!” This is especially true in how we respond to the power of the Holy Spirit and as the passage says, “lying to the Holy Spirit”. Jesus says it in another way in Mark 3:29, “Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit.”
The challenge for us today is to completely rely on God’s grace by which we are saved, and also to fear and respect God and His power through His Holy Spirit, and never to use God’s name or power for deceitfulness or in vain.
Psalm 144:5-8
5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
8 whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
2 Kings 16:1-17:6
Ahaz King of Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. 5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day. 7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death. 10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings[a] on it. 13 He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. 14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. 17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy[b] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria. 19 As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
Hoshea Last King of Israel
17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. 5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
Acts 5:1-11
Ananias and Sapphira
5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death. Psalm 109:31
The one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11
O Christ, you stand among us, you direct our hands. You take our hands and clasp them to another: to the stranger who will save us, to the doctor who will heal us, to our sister and our brother. Amen.
For instance, we have seen numerous kings now in the Northern (Samaria) and Southern (Jerusalem) kingdoms who have repeatedly spurned God’s 1st commandment by worshipping other gods. Different kings have demonstrated different propensities in this, but since King David there has not been a king who has wholeheartedly worshipped God, or led the people of Israel to do so. Yet, God continues to give them second chance after second chance. He allows some correction and consequences to happen through foreign superpowers as a warning to them, but ultimately keeps showing them mercy. Today however in the Northern Kingdom, in chapter 17 of 2 Kings, we see finally the Assyrians invading Samaria, and the Jews are deported to Assyria. We call this the fall of the Northern Kingdom, which is dated 723-722 B.C. (Notice the years go in reverse 723,722,721 until the time of Christ!)
And someone might say, “See God is a God of judgment in the Old Testament!” But then let us read our New Testament passage in Acts 5. As the story goes Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property and rather than offering it at the apostle’s feet, as we have read the past few days was the norm, they kept some for themselves, lying to the community. But also more importantly it says, “They lied to God and the Holy Spirit”. As Peter discerns this and confronts Ananias it says, “Ananias fell down and died.” When his wife Sapphira came in Peter likewise says, “How could you conspire and test the Holy Spirit as well”. At that moment she died as well. It is not surprising that it says the community was seized with fear.
This is a challenging tension for us as believers today. The absolute overarching message of the bible is that we don’t get what we deserve for our sins, and we are offered undeserved grace through Jesus Christ which we receive by faith. But we also must remember God is a Holy God and God does not take sin lightly. As Paul says in Romans, “Should we go on sinning so that grace can abound! By no means!” Paul is saying, “Are you kidding me that you would receive grace, and use this as a permission to pursue sinful ways!” This is especially true in how we respond to the power of the Holy Spirit and as the passage says, “lying to the Holy Spirit”. Jesus says it in another way in Mark 3:29, “Do not blaspheme the Holy Spirit.”
The challenge for us today is to completely rely on God’s grace by which we are saved, and also to fear and respect God and His power through His Holy Spirit, and never to use God’s name or power for deceitfulness or in vain.
Psalm 144:5-8
5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
shoot your arrows and rout them.
7 Reach down your hand from on high;
deliver me and rescue me
from the mighty waters,
from the hands of foreigners
8 whose mouths are full of lies,
whose right hands are deceitful.
2 Kings 16:1-17:6
Ahaz King of Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree. 5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the people of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day. 7 Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death. 10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus and sent to Uriah the priest a sketch of the altar, with detailed plans for its construction. 11 So Uriah the priest built an altar in accordance with all the plans that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus and finished it before King Ahaz returned. 12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, he approached it and presented offerings[a] on it. 13 He offered up his burnt offering and grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his fellowship offerings against the altar. 14 As for the bronze altar that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.” 16 And Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had ordered. 17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and removed the basins from the movable stands. He removed the Sea from the bronze bulls that supported it and set it on a stone base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy[b] that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the Lord, in deference to the king of Assyria. 19 As for the other events of the reign of Ahaz, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
Hoshea Last King of Israel
17 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up to attack Hoshea, who had been Shalmaneser’s vassal and had paid him tribute. 4 But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor, for he had sent envoys to So king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison. 5 The king of Assyria invaded the entire land, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, in Gozan on the Habor River and in the towns of the Medes.
Acts 5:1-11
Ananias and Sapphira
5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death. Psalm 109:31
The one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11
O Christ, you stand among us, you direct our hands. You take our hands and clasp them to another: to the stranger who will save us, to the doctor who will heal us, to our sister and our brother. Amen.
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