The
world was shocked by the use of gas to kill an estimated 1400+ in Syria, many
of them babies and children. As I write this the U.S. Congress debates what, if
any, response the U.S. should make to such an atrocity. But, think about this -
Jehovah, God of the Israelites, is guilty of something very similar. He
commanded the Israelites to wipe out the nations completely. They were to kill
the men and women, the children and little babies, as well as the animals. The
babies were dashed against rocks or on the ground and they were just as dead as
those gassed in Syria.
On Wednesday evenings we have been
studying the books of Moses, and I have confessed to those present that I have
a difficult time with this God. I do believe that Jehovah of the Old Testament
and Jesus of the New Testament are God, and with the Holy Spirit comprise the
Trinity, the three in one, a concept difficult for people to comprehend. The July/August issue of Christianity
Today has three articles which seek to reconcile God in the Old Testament
with God in the New Testament. For me they failed. No commentator I have ever
read has successfully done so.
Many reasons have been suggested as
to why God was such a terrible and fearful God in the Old Testament, but none fully
explain it. Some claim God is sovereign over all things and does not need to
justify Himself to us. I agree.
Some say the Trinity is a mystery
that we must accept by faith. I say the same thing about the God of the Old
Testament. He is a mystery that we accept by faith. I have hope that He will
explain some of these things to us in heaven. That may not be necessary,
however. We may just know by then. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now
we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but
then shall I know even as also I am known.”
Grace
and Peace
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