The Internet Ramblings of the QiRanger

A question that often is posed to believers in God, and more specifically to those of Christ, is why does there appear to be a marked difference in the way that God treats people in the Old and New Testaments? This is a good question, since God time and time reigns down destruction in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament shows nothing but love toward His children.

While there are numerous answers to this question, I think there is one that sheds some interesting light on this perceived difference. It comes from the Book of Jeremiah and sums up the forthcoming Messiah in a brilliant way.

From the time Moses lead the Jews out of Egypt, they were never good at keeping his Laws. God, of course, knew this and it was all part of his master plan from the beginning, but it’s important to have that background to understand the following passages. You see, the Israelites constantly tested God’s sovereignty and never truly surrendered to His will.

So eventually God tells Jeremiah the following:

“If you can break my covenant with the day and with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant… can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.” Jeremiah 33:20-22

“If I have not established my covenant with day and night and fixed the laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose on of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.” Jeremiah 33:25-26

This is a powerful challenge, since God basically says, “If you can control day and night, then the promise I made to David can be broken.” In fact, God also says, “If I’m not telling you the truth about creating everything, I’ll sever the covenant right now.” Since man cannot control day and night and only God can create, then the covenant stands.

In addition, God promised David that a descendant would rule over Israel for all time. When you fast-forward to the time of Jesus, you have not only the Son of God, but also a man in direct lineage from David. So when Jesus comes to Earth, He brings that compassion to those within the Kingdom.

So from the very beginning, God had planned to rule with love. He set forth an incredible amount of rules for man to live by to be holy and right with him and we couldn’t, and like a stern father, God laid down consequences. But this was done to bring the human race to a point where God says very plainly, that He is going to bring a descendant of David to rule with compassion for all time.

This is further shown by the changes in the requirements in what it takes to be right with God. During the times of the Old Testament, one had to abide by the Holy Code in Leviticus. But with Jesus, God truly shows is love for us by stating it even simpler: Believe that I came to earth as a man, died for your sins, and you will enter the Kingdom. That is the ultimate act of compassion.