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Bulletin 145 Date : 22nd Oct 2008
You have heard it said …

Are you ever perplexed by the questions that non-believers ask you about the Bible? For instance, why is the Old Testament so barbaric whereas the New Testament is more forgiving? Has God changed his nature over the centuries? Did the writers of the Old Testament get it wrong or does Jesus paint too soft a picture of God in his teachings?

Take for instance the passage in Deuteronomy 21:18-21. According to Old Testament law, if you have a rebellious and drunkard son, the men of the city should stone him to death. What a contrast to the parable of the ‘Prodigal Son’, another rebellious and party-loving son, who, instead of being stoned to death was welcomed back with a party and instantly re-instated as a son, despite his inner feelings of unworthiness.

Jesus said a number of times in the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5 – 7), ‘You have heard it said ... but I tell you …’ So, did they get it wrong in the Old Testament or has Jesus changed the ground rules? After all, Jesus also said, ‘I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it’ (Matthew 5:17).

Imagine you are watching an artist painting a picture. He starts with a blank canvas. Then he adds some background colour on different parts of the canvass. Still it’s impossible to discern what he is painting. Then some bolder strokes reveal the outline of buildings and trees – the picture becomes clearer. Finally, he adds the finer details – windows, branches, clouds and the picture is complete. Finally you see what those patches of colour which he applied at the start meant in terms of the overall picture. Everything is fully revealed.

Likewise we see the truth about God slowly revealed to us through the pages of the Old Testament. At first the picture is indistinct - distorted by the cultural overlays of a primitive people with only a scant understanding of the true nature of God. As the pages unfold, we see glimpses of the final picture in the forgiving nature of God towards his wayward people. The prophets amplify things further. Amos tells the people that God does not desire rituals of sacrifice unless they come from the heart (Amos 5:24). And then the prophet Micah say, ‘the LORD requires you to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God’ - no hint of pleasing God through obedience to an external law - it's all about the state of your heart.

And then comes the final revelation of God’s true nature in Jesus. Just as the brush strokes in the early stages of the painting paved the way for the finished product, so the pages of the Old Testament pave the way for God’s full self-revelation in Jesus – the fulfilment of all that went before.

As St. Paul says, ‘now we see through a mirror dimly, then we shall see face to face’ (1 Cor 13:12). How many times have I looked back over the mistakes I have made in life and said, ‘if only I knew then what I know now!’ No wonder St. Paul was euphoric in the knowledge that we can be reconciled to God, not through slavish obedience to the legal system handed down from the time of Moses, but instead through the reconciling love of Christ demonstrated on the cross.