Hello everyone,

I was speaking at a Sunday School class in front of 60 or so adults about how each book made it into the Bible when a gentlemen raises a question a bit off topic. He asked why the God of the Old Testament was, in his mind, portrayed as angry and disappointed, while the God of the New Testament seemed loving and graceful. Perhaps you’ve asked yourself that question as well. I know many pastors that only focus on the New Testament, some that even want to “unhitch” the Old Testament from the gospel. I understand the sentiment, in that often times we read the odd, almost barbaric stories from the Old Testament and are left befuddled. However; Jesus would have none of that, in fact, He preached from the Old Testament (Mk. 2:23-28) and even chastised his followers for not believing the prophets about His ministry. For instance, Luke records Jesus saying, “ O Foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk. 24:25-26) So what do we do with the God of judgement and wrath in comparison with Jesus, full of love and mercy?

First of all, Jesus was God, so He is just and displays plenty of anger toward sin. He called the Pharisees vipers, turned over tables in the temple, and required that we learn to die if we are going to follow Him. Secondly, anger and wrath against injustice and the destruction of sin shows us that God loves His creation. If He didn’t show emotion about what He loves, that’s indifference, which is the opposite of love. Third, the vision throughout the Old Testament God was that a shepherd would come to gather His people back to His love. The shepherds the people of Israel were given were not loving when they diminished God’s anger toward their disobedience. This shepherd God would send would truly lead them to green grass, and still waters. But how would we respond? Zechariah 13 reveals both the depth of sin’s impact in our lives, and the solution to that problem. This Sunday we will be shown how we need not just another program, pill, or therapy to deal with what ails us, but a person; the true Shepherd who leads us back to God. How will this all happen? What will that look like? Come let us behold the loving Fathers merciful plan to make us His people.

Ben Melli

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