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Post date: Oct 22, 2016 4:33:15 AM
That really is a million dollar question.
The average Western Evangelical and Charismatic is not very astute in handling scripture
One critical understanding that we should arrive at is that the God of Israel really does NOT change.
The New Covenant was planned in detail before Moses and so the behavior of God ( his nature and character) towards Israel and the gentiles should be used to learn something about God.
One can learn much for how a person plays a certain sport, say cricket. One can then have an expectation of how that person will play rugby, but one cannot use rugby rules to govern a game of cricket.
So we can see the mercy and severity of God to the Jews under the Mosaic covenant and also how he deals with the gentiles who are not expected to obey Moses.
He for example never blames or punishes the gentiles for not sacrificing, keeping the year of jubilee or tithing. It simply is not their deal with God. He does hold the gentiles accountable for natural law, moral law and for violating their own consciences.
So what does that tell us about how He will deal with us under the New Covenant?
One example, we cannot take Mal 3 :10 out of its Mosaic context and make it a New Covenant injunction or an eternal principle, but one can see that after much patience and much goading and much warning God does get angry and then destroys the disobedient, whether they be Israel (His covenant people) or the nations around.
Another characteristic that is clear in the Old Testament and in the New, is that God does not destroy His own people entirely as He does with the gentiles.
11 For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’
Jeremiah 30:11
28 Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord, “For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”
Jeremiah 46:28
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom, And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the Lord.
9 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, Who say, ‘The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us.’
11 “On that day I will raise up The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, And repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, And rebuild it as in the days of old;
Amos 9:8-11
Below a clear prophecy about the New Covenant and at the same crystal clear that even among Israel, God's people, the disobedient will not be saved.
16 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” ’
17 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’
18 “And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there.
19 “Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,
20 “that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
21 “But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.
Ezekiel 11:16-21
God basic requirement of being holy by obeying His laws is also clear. This not accomplished through Moses but through Jesus, but the standard is NOT lowered. The new birth increases our power exponentially towards Holiness and obedience because it is by the Holy Spirit as Romans 8 so powerfully shows.
Below a few scriptures that show God's ongoing commitment to His own Law.
20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:20
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 7:23
41 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
42 “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:41-42
7 “But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Matthew 22:7
50 “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of,
51 “and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:50-51
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