When did God change?

I ask that question here regularly in my posts because it is more of a rhetorical question in that the answer is clear: God has never changed. He doesn’t...need to change. He is the ‘same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8)

And contrary to what seems to be a popular misconception today, during those 400 'silent years’ between Malachi (last book of the OT) and the emergence of the promised Christ child that we read of in the gospels which ushers in the New Testament age, God did not spend that time in ‘anger management classes’. That ‘God of the Old Testament’ is the same God we claim to love and worship today.

Yes, reading through many of those OT books can give us heartburn and discomfort because we really don’t know how to reconcile ‘that God’ ... with the Jesus we have been introduced to today. And I don’t know who needs to hear this, as offensive as it might come across to some, but is there a possibility that many were introduced to ‘another Jesus’ other than the one Paul (and other apostles) came preaching? (2 Cor. 11:3-4; Gal. 1:6-9)

We are ‘in deep’ now looking at some of the reasons and answers to the more troubling questions we all have asked over the span of our lives and our faith walk: Why do so many people seem to be sick, weak, suffer, and even die (earlier than we might have expected)?

Kudos to you if you have stuck with me here after reading the past 2-3 days. All I am doing is presenting plenty of scripture for you to examine for yourself with the hope you might increase in knowledge and experience a greater freedom in your walk, and maybe even some healing. (Acts 17:11; John 8:32-36; Ps. 107:20; Hosea 4:6).

So with that said, could we go back and look at some passages in the OT where God was revealing Himself to a generation of people who were descendants of Abraham. And if you are questioning the relevancy of the passages we are about to examine, it has to do with two simple facts: 1) we better learn the nature, the character, and the ways of God, and 2) anyone who claims to be ‘of Christ’ is considered to be a ‘spiritual Jew’ or a descendant of Abraham as well. (Gal. 3:26-29). So there is that. ;-)

You are probably familiar with the story of how Abraham’s descendants ended up in Egypt and over time found themselves enslaved to Pharoah; as in for 400 years. Their cries of suffering reached God and He in turned raised up Moses to lead His people out of bondage. (Acts 7). All of this was like a ‘blueprint’ for what God eventually was going to do with all of us when He sent Jesus to lead us out of bondage and slavery (John 8:32-36) so that we could be a people ‘called out’ to walk with and know God’. The word ‘church’ actually means the ‘called out ones’. (1 Pet. 2:9-12)

After their dramatic departure from Egypt, following all those plagues and then their trek through the Red Sea, a page had been turned and a new chapter began as God was going to lead them into a land promised originally to Abraham. Being descendants of Abraham, and ‘heirs according to the promise’, God began to enlighten them as to what some of those promises included. Remember, ‘covenant’ always came with promises. (Yesterday’s post)

Would you look at Exodus 15:26, and could you please note what God assured them of there in that passage.

Now, if you would, turn to and read Exodus 23:20-26 and maybe underline vs. 25.

Yes, I am fully aware how this might not fit into the narrative that we like to cling to when it comes to how we view God, but sometimes our personal narratives don’t always line up with what God’s word has declared. (Mark 7:7-13)

Did we just read where God told His people that if they would listen diligently to His voice and do what is right in His sight...giving ear to His commandments, that He would put none of the diseases on them which He brought on the Egyptians? (Ex. 15:26)

And did we also just read that God would “take away sickness from the midst of them and that no one would even suffer miscarriages or be barren”? (Ex. 23:25-26)

When that first generation proved unworthy and uninterested in doing what God asked of them, they died out in the wilderness. (1 Cor. 10:1-11; Heb. 3:17-19). So God tried once again, 40 years later, with that second generation whom He planned on leading them in to possess the land that He had for them, along with all of the blessings He promised them. (Deut. 7:1-15)

Do we read in Deut. 7:15 that the “Lord will take away from them all sickness and will afflict them with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which they had known?”

So let’s pause here and ask this question: If God did not want His people back then... to experience sickness and disease and miscarriages and infertility, why would we think He has changed his mind and wants us to experience that today?

Have we drifted to a place now to suggest that sickness and disease is a ‘blessing’? And if so, why on earth would we go to a doctor or take medication to alleviate it or control it if indeed it is a blessing from God?

If you are willing to take a few moments and look at Deut. 28, you will see beginning in verse 15 where God warns His people that if they ‘do not obey the voice of the Lord and observe carefully all His commandments and statutes that He is giving them that day”.... What might they expect to see and experience, according to the last half of that verse 15? Did He not state that “all these ‘curses’ will come upon you and overtake you.”? Would you please take another moment or two and read (and maybe underline) vs. 20-22,27-28,35, & 59-62.

So let’s just take a deep breath here, and pause for a second, and once again consider the question of: “When did God change?”

Someone might be thinking to themself: “Yeah, but that was the ‘old covenant’. Ok, you make a valid point. So turn to Hebrews 8:6 that implies we are under a ‘better covenant today with better promises’. So when exactly did the curse of sickness and disease all of a sudden become a ‘blessing’?

If you recall from yesterday’s message, we were looking at where Paul explained why ‘many...were weak, sick, and dying/dead’; it was because they failed to understand what they were doing when taking communion or participating in the ‘Lord’s Supper’. They did so in an ‘unworthy’ manner. (1 Cor. 11:27-30) And he goes on to say that they were actually being ‘judged’ (31) and could have avoided this needless suffering if they had ‘judged themselves’ first. Paul also goes on to say there that “when... (not if)... we are judged, we are ‘chastened’ by the Lord”. (32) We also know that this ‘chastening’ can be, at times, unpleasant and even painful’. (Heb. 12:11)

Would you maybe jot down, or even turn back and look at Jeremiah 8 and see what God had to say about His people when it came to His judgements: “My people do not know the judgement of the Lord”. (7)

I would think it is pretty safe to say that if we as a people are ignorant to God’s ways...and His judgements...which still exists today, then that might explain why the ‘fear of the Lord’ is such a foreign concept for us to grasp. And that might even better explain Paul quoting the prophets of old when he wrote to the Romans...”the way of peace they have ,not known...there is no fear of God before their eyes.” (3:17-18)

And isn't the ‘fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge’? (Prov. 1:7). And why are God’s people ‘destroyed’? (Hosea 4:6)

I would submit to you that because this whole subject can cause people to be uncomfortable, if not offended and even angry... is the reason we have been tempted over time to ‘dilute the message’ or dial it back some and even just stop from teaching on such subjects. Friends...do you realize that the ‘fear of the Lord’ is something we need to be ‘taught’? (Ps. 34:7-14)

May I remind you once again...the cry of God’s heart for His people was: “that we had such a heart in us that we would fear Him and always keep all His commandments that it might be well with us and with our children forever.” (Deut. 5:29).

One more time: When did God change?