Some unbelievers may say that Christians are stupid because they believe in the flowery, loving aspect of God, and yet fail to acknowledge the powerful, fearful one of the Old Testament. It’s extremely hard to justify the feared, distant God of Moses with the loving, intimate Father recorded in the book of John.
But the two seemingly opposite perspectives just prove the power and the significance of the turning point, the climax, of the Bible – Jesus Christ. The cross is the bridge that covers the distance between us and God, and so it brought us close. The cross is what fulfills the penalty imposed by justice so that we can receive God’s mercy.
The reason why God appeared to be a God of wrath in the Old Testament was because we violated His law. This created a humongous impediment in being with God because God is a God of justice. But that precedent of being a just God allows him to be a merciful God. You can’t have mercy without first knowing justice, and you can’t have close intimacy without first knowing distance. You can’t see the change in something unless you know what it was like before.
Also keep in mind that as soon as we went against God’s law, God himself immediately gave us the promise of a Savior (Genesis 3:15). He gave us a promise of redemption in the Old Testament while still that “mean” God.
And so ultimately, because of the power, justice, mercy, and love of the cross, we see the big picture. We see the layer of God’s character that was beneath the strength. We finally get to see the love of God because without love, there would be no cross. And without the cross, there would be no love.
Matthew 5:17
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