God's integrity to His Word, He means what He says.
God is the same yesterday, today and forever, Hebrews 13:8
It is easy to quote this verse, but do we really believe it? Most of us have questions of what seems
like contradictions in the Word of God, of how God responded differently to His people at different times
Many people look at these events and wonder if God is really the same yesterday, today and forever or
does God just choose certain actions as He pleases? To understand this we need to put the events into
their proper time periods.
▪ The time before the law was given,
▪ The time during the law,
▪ The time after the law, (the time of grace).
God always remains true to His Word, according to the given time period. Understanding this will not
only prove to us the unchangeability of God's Word, but it will also show us God's integrity. In the
table below, events within each time period are detailed and explained below to make this clear.
Before the law was given, sin was in the world, but sin was not imputed to us,
Romans 5:13.
- God does not curse His people, (even when they fall), He did not curse Adam, (He cursed the earth),
Genesis 3:17
When God made man, He then blessed man. That blessing cannot be taken
away or reversed. Man is blessed and there is nothing that we can do to change that.
- The first murder, Cain killed Abel, Though Cain received a curse from the earth,
yet God protected Cain,
Genesis 4:8-15
The Lord put a mark upon Cain that no one should slay him,
Genesis 4:15.
- Lamech killed a man for wounding him, and self justified his action,
Genesis 4:23-24.
Before the law was given there was no moral compass for men to live by. That
is why the law was later given.
- God flooded the earth, destroying all flesh, but God established His covenant with Noah, saving
eight souls so as to preserve all life
Genesis 6:17-19
- Jacob took two wives, (sisters Leah and Rachel),
Genesis 29:16-28.
According to
Leviticus 18:18 this is unlawful to do, yet God used Jacob, he became the father to
the twelve tribes of Israel.
|
The law was given at Mt. Sinai, the 10 commandments,
and God operated under the law.
- A man was stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath,
Numbers 15:32-36
Judged and condemned by God, for working, not resting on the Sabbath, (strict
enforcement of the law).
- Elijah called fire down from heaven and took 102 lives,
1st Kings 1:10,12
Elijah was a prophet of God, and it was a time of judgment. Later in the Gospel
of Luke, Jesus rebuked His disciples and said, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of",
Luke 9:55.
- God gave Instructions to utterly destroy men, women, children and even their animals,
Deuteronomy 3:2, Ezekiel 9:6, etc.
(The above two scriptures show a law based system, devoid of
compassion).
- I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived,
and I died. Romans 7:9
Because of the knowledge of the law, sin consciousness came and sin was
revealed.
- The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1st Corinthians 15:56
(sin is actually revealed through the law), for none of us
can perfectly keep the law, hence we fall short and we know we have missed the mark.
- The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones,
2nd Corinthians 3:7
Apostle Paul refereed to the law as the ministry of death.
|
The God of the new testament shows us grace and mercy, through His Son Jesus Christ.
- The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,
John 1:17
- the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, etc,
1st Timothy 1:9
- For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers
thereunto perfect, Hebrews 10:1.
- For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law,
Hebrews 7:12.
- Jesus rebuked John & James for wanting to call down fire from heaven,
Luke 9:54
- Jesus had compassion on the woman taken in adultery, and did not condone stoning her,
John 8:3-11
- God sent His Son to give, to bring life and life more abundantly, John 10:10.
- etc . . .God's plan from the start was for His peoples good, to give them a future
and a hope, Jerimiah 29:11. I could go on and on, God is a good God and
He has always been for His people.
|
In summary
The ways of operation, was different in each period. We need to understand this for they not only
dictate the way that God responds to His people, but also affects the way the people respond to God.
For before the law was given there was no moral compass on the earth, so man did as he willed. God
did not impute sin to us before the law Romans 5:13, and man was prone to
stay in his own ignorance.
During the time of the law, God abided by the law that He gave us, it would have been hypocritical
of Him not to abide by His own Word, thus all were judged by the law and all came short,
Romans 3:23.
Now through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the law has been disannulled,
Hebrews 7:18, and we are to have a pure conscience Hebrews 10:2
for we are under God's higher standards of grace and mercy.
In times past the operation of the day was different and the results of various actions were dictated
accordingly to their day. But now we are under a new and better covenant, Hebrews 8:6
. Therefore, we need to operate under and abide under that current covenant. I hope you can see
by this paper that God is always true to His Word, and He will be thus true to His new and better
covenant, that we live in, a time of grace and mercy.
