by Jacob Ninan
Some people seem to think that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. They say that while in the Old Testament God is very hard, strict and quick to punish, in the New Testament, He is loving, forgiving, compassionate, etc. But this is a complete misunderstanding. It is the same God revealing Himself in history in a progressive manner. In reality, He is both holy, righteous, just and impartial on one side and on the other side, He is also loving and merciful. What God has done is to reveal Himself to people in stages. In that way, the Old Testament was the stepping stone to the New Testament.
The old covenant which God made with Israel along with the Law through Moses was made for their current spiritual level. After the years of slavery in Egypt these people hardly knew God. They were only familiar with gods in the form of idols. It needed the Law with its commandments along with rewards and punishment to teach them the basics of the kind of life God wanted them to live. In that way, the Law was like a tutor to them, till they 'grew up' spiritually, and became able to handle the standard of life under the new covenant (Gal.3:23,24). Under the old covenant, they had to understand first that by themselves they were unable to keep all the Law, so that they became guilty and ready to receive the free offer of grace under the new covenant.
Some people say that we don't need the Old Testament now because we have the New Testament. This is also a misunderstanding, because without the Old Testament, we cannot appreciate the New Testament. Unless we have tried to keep the Law and discovered that we are sinners at the very core and totally unable to be right before God, we cannot see the offer of salvation in the New Testament as the greatest news for us. Unless we understand the severity of punishment we deserve, we cannot really value the free gift of forgiveness and acceptance that God is offering us. When we see further that it cost God the death of His only Son to become able to offer us this salvation, we are filled with love and gratitude to God. "But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making it more apparent and exciting opposition]. But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God's unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded," (Rom.5:20 Amp.Bible).
The problem today is that many preachers do not present the Law to people when they preach the 'gospel'. They only talk about the love and grace of God and how people can have God to take care of them now and in eternity. Many of them do not talk about sin at all. As a result, people do not get to know what kind of a life God requires from them, and realise how far short they come. They sing about what a great God they have, and sing praises to Him, while they have never learnt to 'fear' Him. This is actually a false gospel that many are preaching now. Many hearers imagine that they have become believers without actually repenting from their sins and receiving the grace of God in the right way. They continue to live the way they used to before, and yet imagine that everything is now right between them and God. Many of them take the grace of God and turn that into a licence for sin.
If we want to preach the true Gospel, we need to let people know how God sees them as sinners in His sight, and how they need to repent before God. When they do that, that is the right time to tell them about God offering them free forgiveness because Jesus has already taken their punishment. When they have learnt to fear God, they can also see the grace of God in the right way.
What is the fear of God? It is not to be scared of God as someone who is just waiting to pounce on us when we do the slightest wrong. Some people try to explain it as a respect for God. But it is much more than respect. Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matt.10:28). The fear of God is actually a fear–the fear to sin against God, the fear of disobeying God, the fear of the wrath to come if they go on sinning. We must know that each of us will have to give an account of our life to God (Rom.14:12) when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ one day (2Cor.5:10,11). Paul says here that since he and his team were aware of the fear of God, they wanted to tell the Corinthians to take life seriously.
What kind of account are we expected to give? Jesus said that we would be accountable for every useless word that we spoke with our mouth (Matt.12:36). Actually God knows everything about our life, not only what we do, but even our thoughts and intentions of our heart (Heb.4:12,13). Even the things we do in darkness are very open to His eyes because light and darkness are alike to Him (Psa.139:12). It is with such a God that we have to do. We cannot hide, pretend, justify ourselves, deny what we have done, or put the blame on others. The apostle Peter reminds us that one day the heavens and the earth are going to be burnt up, and therefore we ought to live as those who are looking forward to the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells (2Pet.3:10-14). What would happen if all our life was spent on getting money, name or pleasure in this world, and we have not prepared ourselves for eternity? We cannot qualify for heaven by becoming righteous because we are all sinners from birth, and no one can be righteous enough for God. But when we receive forgiveness and acceptance from God as a free gift, then our ambition should be to pursue a life of righteousness.
How can we live now? We can either receive salvation from God and live in expectation of meeting Him one day, or we can try to cover up our sins and live a life of pretence before people. But Jesus warns us that whatever we try to cover up will be exposed one day (Lk.12:2). We must learn the fear of God now, and then live boldly before Him.
If we choose to fear God and walk in His ways, that is what will lead us to wisdom and understanding (Prov.9:10). Let us always choose to do what He wants, and then He will tell us what He wants us to do.