The Nature of God
- Eric Whittle
- Aug 10, 2024
- 2 min read
In Hebrews 8:13, the Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”. This verse is often quoted but I wonder if we have ever stopped to think about what this verse really means. Simply put, it means that Jesus never changes. Being that Jesus is a part of the God head, the same could be said for God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Often, we may hear people reference “the God of the Old Testament”. Well, God is the same God today that He was when He spoke to Moses in the burning bush or made the dry bones come alive for Ezekiel.
Many people view God as a being with two personalities. There is this idea that there is a vengeful, merciless God who is just waiting for man to mess up. Then there is a God who is loving, patient and merciful. God does not have dual personalities. We serve a just but loving God. In the Old Testament, the only way for God to look past man’s sin was through the imperfect sacrifice of animals. These offerings were sufficient for a time, but could never replace our sin. That took the perfect sacrifice of Christ, the one who was without sin offering Himself for us. The goats and lambs of the Old Testament did not have a choice in the matter. They were going to be sacrificed whether they liked it or not, but Jesus chose to go to the cross. He chose death so that we could have life.
God may have seemed mean or angry throughout the Old Testament, but he still was loving and merciful. However, without the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, He was forced to enact His justice for the sins of the people. The good news is that we live under a new covenant. We live in a time where Christ has died for us, taking the place of our sin and enabling God to forgive us and offer us mercy and grace. There was no grace before Jesus, only justice. With Christ there is grace and the hope of heaven. I hope and pray that this thought helps you to understand that God loves you and wants you to have peace knowing that Jesus died for you. It does for me. As always, remember you are loved!
Eric
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