God 2.0

Read: Ezekiel 7:1-9:11

It’s tempting to look at the “the God of the Old Testament” and “the God of the New Testament” as two different people, but God is the same yesterday, today and forever. 

Reading the words of Old Testament prophets, we see God clearly and unambiguously “angry with the wicked” (Psalm 7:11). In Ezekiel 8, God grabs Ezekiel by the hair, drags him into Jerusalem’s secret places and shows him where Israel’s leaders are worshiping darkness. These are the people who have been shown God’s special favor, entrusted with His sacred revelation, warned by centuries of prophets and witnessed one miraculous intervention after another. God is full of righteous indignation, and much of the book of Ezekiel is dedicated to His promise of judgment.

God in the New Testament seems to be a kinder, gentler person, a 2.0 version that is more compatible with the modern world. But Romans 11:22 says we should ‘“note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you.” God has not changed his mind about sin. Sin has and always will be an offense to God’s holiness. The power of the Gospel is that in the face of our great offense, God chose to redeem us anyway. He paid our price for our sins so we could be restored into a relationship with Him.