The other day I was thinking about the way people perceive God. Many times I’ve heard people complain that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. They observe that in the OT God was vengeful, angry and full of wrath, punishing people and killing sinners, annihilating people groups and even their children and animals. But when you get to the NT, God has somehow changed. Now He loves people enough to die for them. He’s not into wiping people out but gathering them so He can bless them. It’s like God developed a split personality – He was mean during one era but now He’s nice and calling everyone to be His friend.

As I pondered the perceived differences between the OT and NT versions of God, I began to think the difference in the way we see God in the OT and NT is as simple as way a toddler sees his parents and the version an adult sees. As we know, a parent treats a two-year-old differently than the way they treat a thirty-two year old. In the OT, we see God treating people the way a parent treats a toddler, while in the NT we see God relating to the toddler who has now become an adult.

For example, the two-year-old sees the parent as large, strong, protective and big on discipline, whose primary word of choice throughout the day is “No.” Continue Reading