Expert: Scott Talbot - 9/7/2010

Question
I just read your response to a question regarding God's anger in the Old Testament.  While I agree with you, I still find disparity between the God of the Old Testament and with the new.

Let me take this from the point of view of my friends, who really want to know Christ.  After telling them how much God loves us, they read in the Old Testament that God had killed millions of his own children because some of them angered him.  It doesn't sound like the Jesus I know.  

Please help.  I love Jesus and I really want to understand.  Not for me, but for those who really want Christ.  Can you clarify?

Answer
Hi Steve,

It's so nice to hear from you. You ask a very good question--one with which many struggle. Let me see if I can help.

God is a God of love. The Bible is clear on this topic, both in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. This is a very encouraging fact, and we find great comfort in focusing on the unfathomable love that God has for us. It's one of His traits that we most like to think about.

But this same loving God also possesses the trait of holiness.

What is holiness? We could spend hours trying to answer this question, but let me try to scratch the surface.

Holiness means that God is infinitely separate, distinct, and superior to humanity and the created universe. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  

Holiness also means that God is Sovereign. Romans 9:20-21: But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' " 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? God is the Creator, and we are His created beings. Who are we to tell God what is fair or unfair?

In addition, holiness means that God is absolutely pure in righteousness, and that His nature cannot tolerate sin. When Isaiah had a vision of God in Isaiah 6, God's holiness was so evident that it accentuated, by comparison, the total sinfulness and helplessness of Isaiah. In verse 5, he says, "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

It's holiness that cast the entire human race into condemnation and placed us under the curse for something as "innocent" as eating a piece of fruit. We might think of Adam and Eve's disobedience as being a very small thing. But it isn't small when it's understood to be a violation of God's absolute holiness--rebellion against the Sovereign God of the universe.

It's holiness that brought the Great Flood and wiped out everyone but Noah and his family. It's holiness that laid out the judgments spelled out in the Mosaic Law. God's holiness created Hell, and God's holiness banishes many of His own beloved creatures to this awful Hell.

So how does love fit in? Love and holiness work together, like opposite sides of the coin. We may prefer to focus on God's love (a positive attribute) rather than on His holiness (which we can tend to view as a negative attribute). But God's love is not fully understood or appreciated without a proper understanding of His holiness.

How better to demonstrate the mysterious inter-weaving of these two attributes of God than through the death of Jesus Christ. Romans 5:8 tells us, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The love of God desires a relationship with us, but the holiness of God will not allow this--not without appeasing God's holiness by dealing with the sin question. Because we sinned, God's holiness demands punishment, and we stand condemned before a perfect God. But, because God loves us so much, He paid the debt for our sin by offering His own Son to die in our place.

You see, love is not just a feeling. It's about action. It's about sacrifice and commitment. God loved us enough to go to GREAT LENGTHS to rescue us from our own pitiful state. This was needed to satisfy His holiness and make us acceptable to Him. His holiness demands death. His love met that demand when He died in our place.

What does God owe us? Nothing. We deserve nothing more than God's judgment. Everything we have is a gift of His grace (James 1:17).

I hope this helps, Steve. I realize that God is much bigger and more complex than what we can get our minds around. That's part of what makes Him God. But I would encourage you to continue to study these concepts further so that you can better appreciate who God is. To understand His love is one thing. To understand His holiness is also important. But to understand His love and holiness together, and how they function harmoniously with each other ... this reveals some facts about God that can take us to a whole new level of appreciation.

Scott