The Lord is No Less Violent and No Less Merciful Now Than in Old Testament Times

Many regard law and judgment in the Old Testament as null and void. They say “Oh, that was the Old Testament; that is not for Christians.” Yet they don’t say that concerning the 23rd Psalm. Why are they not consistent? Everything from Genesis to Revelation is Jesus’ inspired Word which testifies of Him.

The Lord has surely not become less violent now than He was in Old Testament times. He judged Sodom and Gomorrah approximately 450 years after the flood in Noah’s time. Do you think that the people in Sodom and Gomorrah weren’t calling the stories of the flood old tales by then? And do you think that they were not foolishly calling the ways of men whom God deemed righteous (such as Noah) outdated, backwards, regressive, etc? Sinners were obviously not basically different then either.

Those who disregard the Lord’s judgments in the Old Testament do not adequately regard the proofs that He demands obedience and ought to be feared which are delineated in the New Testament either.

A key related word here is precedent: “an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in subsequent similar circumstances.” God’s judgments in the Old Testament are precedents which are foundational in establishing the knowledge of His ways. In the New Testament epistles, the Apostles of Christ spoke of lessons for us which are derived from these events.

2 Peter 2:4-6: “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly…”

The truth that God ought to be feared and transgressors against Him won’t be spared on Judgment Day is proven and driven home by the precedents which He has set by His judgments displayed early on in the Bible. In the New Testament, there are even additional acts of judgment. We see the sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5 to remind us that the Lord did not vacate His throne nor cease to be a God of judgment after the first coming of Christ. Later in Acts chapter 12, we see how God killed Herod Agrippa. This is also a precedent given to prove that He judges those without the Christian church as well as those within it. Herod’s judgment is also a reminder that the Lord’s judgments in the Old Testament against those complicit with suppressing His prescribed worship didn’t end “back then” and still stand as a warning to all people in every generation. The judgments in the Book of Revelation further seal that God’s character has always been the same and always will be the same (His future actions which are warned of in Revelation 16:1-11 are some of the most violent verses in the Bible).

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He has always been a God of judgment who will by no means clear the guilty, which yet delights to show mercy to those who forsake their sins and turn to Him with their whole hearts. His first coming was to fulfill the promises of redemption which were made in the Old Testament. It was those promises which the righteous people in the Old Testament looked forward to and believed in. Those promises were made based upon the fact that there is coming a day of wrath and judgment on transgressors against the Lord. That day has not been eliminated.