God Of Wrath, God Of Mercy

God Of Wrath, God Of Mercy



People often say that the God of the New Testament is a God of mercy and love, but the God of the Old Testament is vengeful and angry. Consider the fate of the Canaanites. The LORD didn’t just tell the Israelites to take over the Promised Land. He had them destroy all the people, young and old, male and female. He even had them kill off all the animals (Deut 20:16–17; Josh 6:21–23). Later in 1 Samuel, the LORD tells Saul to absolutely destroy the Amalekites and all they had: “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass” (1 Samuel 15:3). Who is this God who would order such a thing? There are a number of explanations, the first of which are included in the text: “That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God” (Deut 20:18). There is also the Nephilim issue.

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http://www.khouse.org/enews_article/2013/2083/print/

It is interesting that the Bible speaks more about fearing God, than about loving Him.

That would make sense since the fear of the Lord is a prerequisite to loving Him. About half the time the Scriptures speak of loving God, it is coupled with the instructions to obey and serve Him.

We are not to fear God because He is mean or angry, but we are to fear Him as a good son or daughter fears his or her father.

If we say we love our dad, but persist is disobeying him, is that really love? No, that is rebellion. Love for our dad, or our heavenly Father must contain the element of respect. Respect=fear=obedience=Love