Does God sometimes love and other times hate, sometimes show wrath and other times mercy? What has created this confusion towards God’s dealings with mankind?

God is a good God!  He isn’t mad at us!  He not only loves us but He also likes us! He will never leave us nor forsake us, no matter how badly we fail or miss it. Our mistakes do not cause Him to withhold His blessings! Our poor performance and our failures do not change His attitude towards us! Great is His faithfulness!

These are radical and powerful statements. Unfortunately, they are not always heard, not even in so-called Christian circles. Just think about the typical teaching we frequently hear today concerning the “true” nature of God:
- Too often God is represented as angry and ready to get us for the slightest failure or mistake. He is watching out to see how we perform now that we have become His children. He certainly won’t answer our prayers if we have sinned, and He will withhold His blessings if we don’t match up to His criterion. There is no point in expecting God’s favour unless one has lived a blameless life.

These concepts of God’s nature are misleading; they lead to wrong conclusions about God’s nature, and that again hinders an intimate relationship with Him. Performance- based legalistic religion is perhaps the greatest hindrance to experiencing a satisfying relationship with our heavenly Father. 

A mixing of the Old and New Covenants has created confusion towards God’s dealings with mankind.

Why is the Lord represented so harshly?

How have sincere people come to these conclusions about God’s nature?  How is it possible that God is seen too often as rewarding us on the basis of our morality and performance?  The answer to these types of questions can be found in the lack of understanding of the harmony between the Old and the New Testaments.  An incomplete understanding of the value and significance of Jesus’ redemptive work has caused believers to often misrepresent God. A mixing of the Old and New Covenants has created confusion towards God’s dealings with mankind.

God as portrayed by examples from the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, the Lord often vented His anger and judgement in very devastating ways. We have many fierce examples of how God judged sin and poured out His wrath upon nations and individuals:
-Very early in man’s history there was Noah’s flood, where all but eight people were judged and destroyed.
-We see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to which our Lord Jesus referred to in His teaching.
-A death angel killed all the firstborn and caused havoc in Egypt in one night.
-Another angel killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.
-Rebellious leaders were destroyed among the tribes of Israel as a serious example to others

And so the list goes on and on. There is no doubt that God is a holy God who certainly hates sin and demands justice. Yes, God was sometimes very, very angry in the Old Testament! There are many recorded examples of furious and quick judgement. The apostle Paul informs us that everything written in the Old Testament is an example to us (1 Cor. 10:11).

God as portrayed by Jesus

However, there is also the portrait of God that Jesus painted through His actions and teachings. Jesus said that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father. He showed mercy to the worst of sinners and was quick to forgive and restore. His ultimate action of dying for our sins proved beyond any doubt that He came to save the world and not to condemn it. So much changed with the arrival of Jesus!  The Old Covenant of the Law, which was a ministry of death, has passed away! We are now living in a completely different time, under a whole new covenant!

Is God double-minded?

How does the picture of God that Jesus portrayed fit in with the Old Testament view of the harshness and severity of God? Has God changed?  Is God schizophrenic?  Does He sometimes love us and sometimes hate us?  How can we relate to a God whose moods seem to frequently change from one extreme to another? 

These types of questions present a dilemma that has kept many people in a state of uncertainty and fear. Many sincere people are confused because of the mixed signals that have been sent to them often by the church and its teachers.

There is one true nature of God clearly represented in the Word and that is LOVE!

There is a simple answer to these questions and a harmony between the wrath of God and the mercy of God. God is not double-minded! There is one true nature of God clearly represented in the Word and that is LOVE!  1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” He doesn’t just love at times - LOVE is the nature of God!  LOVE is His unchanging and permanent nature. Jesus gives us the clearest representation of the true nature of God.

The holy demands for justice are now fully satisfied

God, who is Holy, placed our sins and the sins of the whole world upon Jesus, and He punished Him in our place. The cross on which Jesus was sacrificed as the spotless Lamb of God has forever changed mankind’s relationship to God. There is a difference between the way God dealt with mankind under the Old Covenant and the way He now deals with mankind under the New Covenant. Jesus’ payment for our sins forever changed our relationship with the Father. God Himself has not changed one bit, but He satisfied His own holy demands for justice by punishing Jesus in our place. This was not a partial payment which would require adding our holiness and religious performances - it was a total and final payment which leaves us with nothing to do except to believe and receive. There is absolutely nothing we can do to change God’s love towards us!

Before the sacrifice of Jesus severe judgement was often executed on mankind. Before Jesus fulfilled the holy demands of God and died in our place, God was obliged to punish sin. But it was not because the Lord desired to punish. His love has always been love available. He has always been a God of grace and love. However, a price had to be paid for mankind’s rebellion and sin, and until that sacrifice had been made, there had to be consequences to sin.
 
Prior to Jesus coming, there was wrath from God against mankind for his sins. The Old Testament Law was a ministry of wrath. Men’s sins were held against them. But when Jesus came, God quit holding men’s sins against them. This is exactly what the apostle Paul declares in 2 Cor. 5:19, 21. 

Reconciliation and peace

The word “reconciliation” talks about making peace. God was no longer holding us accountable. Instead, He imputed our sins to Jesus, making Jesus accountable for our sins. Jesus became what we were so that we could become what He is – the righteousness of God. God is no longer at war with mankind because Jesus’ sacrifice has ended that war – now we are living in peace with God through Jesus’ death (Rom. 5:1).

He is not giving you what you deserve but instead He is giving you what Jesus deserves!

Praise God - He is not giving you what you deserve but instead He is giving you what Jesus deserves! Jesus has carried all of God’s wrath and we are now living under the New Covenant in the season of God’s grace and favour. God is not angry and He is not waiting for opportunities to pour out His wrath on you if you make mistakes.

God loves you even though you aren’t perfect in yourself. He loves you not because of your performance but because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Become grounded and based firmly in God’s love and grace!  Identify completely with the New Covenant and enjoy all its benefits as a new creation in Christ. You are loved and accepted because of what Jesus has done - irrelevant of your own performance and merits. Jesus’ merits are sufficient and Jesus Himself is more than enough! God is completely satisfied with Jesus - you also can be satisfied with what He has done!