In an episode of a BBC programme called “The Big Questions”, some years ago in UK, and an Australian TV political pre-election campaign debate between prime ministerial candidates [ ten or twelve years ago] on the subject of homosexuality (one of the “Christian” politician had Old testament views on homosexuality), an interesting subject matter arose, and this was; God of the Old testament was different from the God of the new testament.
People have often said that the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful, fearful, and cruel God. While the God of the New Testament is a loving God, God of Grace, of Truth, of Life. Gentle, caring, compassionate and forgiving.
Those that contrast and compare God in the Old and New Testaments in this manner are usually those engaged in practices and activities frowned upon by God in by the way, both the Old and New Testaments, and are seeking to justify themselves, just because the emphasis in the New Testament is on Love.
What is however, being ignored is the key point; the whole Bible is the story of the Love of God for the works of His Hand, including man. For those that chose to ignore the Old Testament and concentrate solely and use the New Testament, the account of man in the New Testament bears grim reading. Not only did man chop off the head of John the Baptist, they mocked God, derided Him, whipped Him (to the point of death), torture Him and eventually crucified Him (the most gruesome and excruciating form of murder, killing imaginable, not only in those days, but even up till present day). And these activities were done, not only to God, but also to His friends, followers, believers, and associates, some of whom were stoned to death, some were burnt alive, some were torn apart and killed by wild beasts (such as Lions, bears, etc). these forms of cruelty were documented not only by the Bible, but also by historical books of the then Roman empire.
So, in a comparison of God of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, and man, man comes out worse in all scenarios. Therefore, think twice before you approach the concept of God with regards to the Old covenant and the New covenant. God is the same God who made the Old covenant and the New covenant, persevering, patient, magnanimous, gentle, kind, providing, forgiving, righteous and Holy. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Saying that there is an old covenant and a new covenant, or a dispensation of the Law and a dispensation of Grace, is actually a misnomer. There is one dispensation, one covenant; in the Old Testament, God made a covenant or introduce His plan of His covenant of sacrificing Himself [the mock version or trial run of “sacrificing” Isaac] for the sins of humanity, to Abraham, and He told Abraham that He, God was going to step into time and humanity, to execute His plan to save humanity through the line of Abraham. In the New Testament, that is exactly what God did. That is called Grace, One Grace, one story, one God, one Man, one covenant, one dispensation, one Love.
