“The Ever-Increasing Intensity of Jesus”
by brian rushing
Many people seem to have the idea that the God of the New Testament is loving while the God of the Old Testament is angry and full of wrath. The thought process seems to be that when Jesus comes on the scene, He decreases the intensity of that fiery, wrathful Old Testament God. But that is most definitely not the case. In fact, regarding those 10 Old Testament laws that God had given to Moses called the Ten Commandments, we see that Jesus did not remove them nor did He even reduce them. No, surprisingly He made them even harder to live up to!
It was one thing to not kill someone (the O.T. Law), but now Jesus had said that anger in your heart can be the exact same sin as murdering someone. It was one thing to not have an adulterous affair (the O.T. Law), but now Jesus had said that lusting for someone else was the same sin. The intensity of the Law was increased dramatically by Jesus.
And when it comes to Old Testament God and New Testament Jesus, Jesus’ idea of judgment is actually intensified as well.
Dr. Packer puts it this way:
People who do not actually read the Bible confidently assure us that when we move from the Old Testament to the New, the theme of divine judgment fades into the background. But if we examine the New Testament…we find at once that the Old Testament emphasis on God’s action as judge, far from being reduced, is actually intensified.
The entire New Testament is overshadowed by the certainty of a coming day of universal judgment…and proclaims Jesus, the divine Savior, as the divinely-appointed judge…. If we know ourselves at all, we know we are not fit to face him. What then are we to do? The New Testament answer is: Call on the coming Judge to be your present Savior. As Judge, he is the law, but as Savior he is the gospel.
Run from him now, and you will meet him as Judge then—and without hope. Seek him now, and you will find him, and you will then discover that you are looking forward to that future meeting with joy, knowing that there is now “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Jesus was not a reduction of God in any way – not in providing an understanding of the Law, not in being the world’s Judge, and not in love. Instead, Jesus is a clear look at who God always has been and always will be. He clarified for us how intense the standard of God is, how intense the wrath of God’s righteous judgment is, and how intense is the love and grace that God has provided to make us into holy people fit to be with Him.
I pray that Jesus continues to be ever-increasing in intensity in your own life!
(Quotes in today’s post are from Knowing God by J. I. Packer)