Today we’re going to confront head on the terribly misleading and faulty doctrine that has been the mainstay of the modern gentile church for centuries now.
What doctrine am I referring to?
I’m talking about the teaching that in the Old Testament we get an angry, legalistic, vengeful and bloodthirsty God…
….but in the New Testament we encounter a God with the opposite qualities of peace, love, and mercy.
When one reads the first four books of the Torah, one finds that that notion is simply not true.
However, when one goes deep into Deuteronomy this idea is completely obliterated for all time.
Here’s the BIG SURPRISE folks.
Next to MONOTHEISM, one of the other major themes introduced in Deuteronomy is LOVE.
The “love” introduced in Deuteronomy mainly deals with HASHEM’s love for Israel and then His Love for all mankind.
Love is not only to be expressed in worship towards God but also reflected in God’s people as they show love to one another including foreigners who have enjoined themselves to Israel.
It’s important to remind you of how God views the people of Israel.
God created Israel.
He redeemed Israel.
He guided Israel through the wilderness.
He fought for them and even now protects them from their enemies.
He has chosen Israel among all the nations on the planet.
God has a special one-of-a-kind relationship with Israel that he does not have with any other nation on earth.
Hence, in Scripture, Israel is referred to as a “son” to God.
That’s right folks.
We’ve got the son of God who we’re introduced to in the apostolic Scriptures, but in the TANACH, we’ve also got a son of God who is called Israel.
And connected to God’s son Israel is the land of Israel, which is another theme Deuteronomy goes into at length.
One of the most fascinating topics that will be discussed in Deuteronomy are God’s instructions concerning making the place of sacrificial worship one place.
Up until now, people built sacrificial altars in their homes and in their neighborhoods, they were all over the place.
However, in Deuteronomy, God is going to command there be only one common and authorized place where all of Israel were to bring their sacrifices.
Onward…
…connected to the theme of love, we will encounter a very strong promotion of the ideal of Humanitarianism in Deuteronomy.
God instructs us to not be negligent in caring for those who don’t have the means to care for themselves.
The list He provides in Deuteronomy includes the foreigners living in Israel, the sick and elderly, slaves, the poor, and the orphans and widows.
To close, the stereotypical notion that the Old Testament God was an unloving God of vengeance and anger that somehow transformed into a God of love, peace and mercy in the New Testament is just flat-out WRONG.
Let’s not forget we’re taking about the SAME God here folks.
We’re not talking about two different deities and we’re not talking about a God suffering from schizophrenia.
The truth is God has many attributes which include mercy and love alongside anger and vengeance…
…and all of these attributes are on full display in BOTH the “Old” Testament and the New Testament.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“By this everyone will know
that you are my disciples,
if you love one another.”
-John 13:35
Leave a Reply