The Bible is made up of many stories. God's love and care, God’s anger with those who don't follow His laws, and His forgiveness for those who are in need. We hear of God’s great acts of judgment, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood, wars fought in the name of the Lord, slavery, and rivers of blood.
Like far-away memories of an ancient story, the highlights from the Old Testament that we remember seem like death and doom by the hand of God. Commands and judgment. An angry God who wreaked havoc on his disobedient people. We all know that God is capable of great wrath and destruction, and these are the Old Testament stories that haunt our memory.
And then we read the story of Christ. A baby was finally born to still the wrath of God. And He was successful. God gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. The wages of sin have been paid for by the blood of Jesus. God’s wrath will not endure. But now, this is the new and improved God of the New Testament, right?
With the birth of God’s Son, the epic story takes an unexpected turn. So much, so that Christians today don’t seem to need the beginning of the Bible nearly as much as the stories centered around Christ. Sinners are welcomed into the house of the Lord. Blind are restored, dead are raised. The rigor of God's law has been challenged by God himself, calling a new kingdom into existence. There are stories of compassion, forgiveness, Pharisees and white-washed tombs. So Jesus is the star of the New Testament. God, reimagined. Gospel goes out to the nations and God’s love, through Christ, explodes.
So the question must be asked. Did God change?
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