God is Different Now
Hebrews 12:12-29
INTRODUCTION
Richard Dawkins, in his best-selling book “The God Delusion” wrote, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction, jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
Other than all that, I guess God is pretty ok.
I didn't even know for sure what some of those words mean! So I looked them up.
Megalomaniacal: is a mental illness that causes a person to have an extreme sense of their own importance or power.
Filicidal: is an adjective that means relating to or denoting the killing of one's own son or daughter.
Pestilential: relating to or tending to cause infectious diseases.
Dawkins attacks the idea of God by saying that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are totally different; therefore, you can’t trust the Bible, and therefore, there is no God. He uses this approach in an attempt to justify his atheistic views. But the real lie we’re going to expose today is how people who claim to believe in God use this same lie to justify their behaviors.
In this article, I will deconstruct two lies. One is so easy it won't take me more than a few minutes. We’ll do it right now during the introduction.
Dawkins and many like him do not believe in God at all. So, he thinks it clever to contrast his interpretation of God in the Old Testament with God in the New Testament, particularly the teachings of Jesus. We can quickly establish that the Old Testament and the New Testament are the same God. Remember that the Old Testament deals with thousands of years, whereas the New Testament deals with just 50 years.
The writers of the New Testament constantly referred to the Old Testament, so they did not believe it to be about different gods. Christians in the first century believed Jesus was the fulfillment of everything promised in the Old Testament.
Jesus quoted the Old Testament numerous times in his teachings. He claimed to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Furthermore, scriptures in both Testaments say that God does not change and that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The truth is that God has not changed, and his standards are still the same. But he has chosen to interact with people differently, at least for a time. God is uncreated and immutable. He doesn't grow older. He cannot possibly become wiser because he already knows everything as he did in the past. God has not changed. That is the first lie exposed.
The second lie deals with God’s standards. This is the second lie we’ll deconstruct this morning. Many professing believers in God will today say and try to convince you that God has changed his standards. Their belief is based on how culture and human enlightenment have “evolved” on certain issues. Some of these changes have been rapid. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the DSM-5, is a professional book when it comes to understanding, diagnosing, and treating mental illness. In my lifetime, homosexuality and transgender have gone from being listed in this book as mental disorders to being removed and replaced with the idea that these are normal behaviors. We have seen radical shifts in the ideas of abortion, drug use, and more. Many believe we have become enlightened and more evolved.
Since our culture has shifted on these and other topics, surely God has, too, right? God has to be different now, right?
Hebrews 12:12–29 ESV
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
SCRIPTURAL ANALYSIS
Hebrews is a book written to people who have been shaken by life. Their problems and the difficulties, the sufferings, and the persecutions they have been facing have just shaken them to the core. The writer of Hebrews is trying to help his readers find ways to face the brutal realities of life without melting down and find ways to stand solid when everything around them is shaking and falling apart. He does that here by two means. One, believers are encouraged to endure suffering as part of God’s plan for them and to continue to walk with God in holiness and righteousness. Second, by demonstrating a love for the Old Testament, the Hebrew writer says you can trust God because He never changes.
Verses 12-13
This passage vividly pictures God as a challenging coach who pushes us to our limits, encouraging us beyond what we think we can attain. Tired hands want to stop working. The Christians here were at the point of sheer exhaustion; morale was low. Rather than concede defeat, they must take a new grip to make the effort and always be ready to endure. Discipline or persecution should not cause Christians to fear; instead, difficult times should encourage them to endure. Rather than dropping in defeat, Christians should stand firm—even when knees are weak and legs are shaky. How? Because of their confidence in who God is and has always been.
Verses 14-17
The image of a bitter root that can spread to infect many is from Deuteronomy 29. The text in Deuteronomy is entirely appropriate, for it refers to apostasy, as the writer of Hebrews does.
The author also refers to Genesis 25. There, Esau is enslaved by sensual and temporal desires. Esau did not act like he viewed life from a long-range perspective, much less an eternal one. “Immoral” here is based on Esau’s relationships with his Gentile wives, which dismayed his parents. Both examples remind us that those who reject God’s way will not be given a second chance when it comes time to inherit eternity.
Verses 18-24
In Exodus 20, when God gave the Ten Commandments, the people feared God’s awesome holiness. They wanted Moses to mediate for them, fearing that if God spoke to them directly, they would die. God’s purpose was to scare enough sense into them to get them to stop sinning. When God became angry at Israel for violating his prohibition of idolatry, even Moses feared God’s anger.
Moses was considered a mediator of the first covenant. Jesus had to inaugurate a new covenant by shedding his blood as a mediator. Jesus’ blood, dedicating a new covenant of forgiveness, thus speaks “better things” than Abel’s blood. While Abel’s blood called out for vengeance, Christ's blood called for forgiveness.
Verses 25-29
If people refuse to follow God’s new covenant, they reject his plan. But more than the plan, they reject God himself. To do so is final and tragic, so the writer again warns his readers: See to it that you obey God, the one who is speaking to you.
When God gave the first covenant, his voice shook the earth. Psalm 68 also describes an earthquake accompanying God’s revelation at Mount Sinai. God promises that he will once again shake the world, the heavens, and the universe when He returns.
The writer of Hebrews adds an important perspective on God: what is genuinely eternal cannot be changed.
TODAY’S KEY TRUTH
God’s character and truth remain unshaken and unchanged.
APPLICATION
In the beginning, we exposed the lie that the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament are different. It is the same God. The writer of Hebrews helps us see the truth about the second lie concerning God. Many believe that God is different now. Another way they say this lie is that “God is More Tolerant Than He Used to Be.” Our culture has an unhealthy obsession with tolerance that often leads to a false understanding and definition of tolerance.
The author of Hebrews describes the event when God was about to descend to Mt. Sinai and give the Ten Commandments. The people could not ascend the mountain and enter God’s presence. The physical distance between the people and the mountain symbolizes the moral distance between us and God. It even said any person or animal that sets foot on the mountain must be killed. Mount Sinai was terrifying because unholy people could not encounter a Holy God.
But everything has changed, as we see in verse 22. When David conquered Jerusalem, he moved the Ark of the Covenant containing the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai to Mount Zion, which was considered God's dwelling place. Later, the word Zion was applied to the entire city of Jerusalem.
Jesus came and died outside Jerusalem’s walls, fulfilling the prophecies that salvation would come from Zion.
Sinai was covered in clouds, while Zion was filled with light. Siani symbolizes judgment and death, while Zion symbolizes life and forgiveness. Siani's message was to stand back and not come close, while Zion's message was to draw near.
Just like the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died, we can now come to God in confidence because of his sacrifice. He is our Mediator.
Yet God's disdain for sin has not been taken away. God is not “More Tolerant Than He Used to Be.” If God judged the people for turning away from him when he spoke at Sinai, imagine the greater judgment that will come to those who turn away from the voice that comes out of heaven from Mount Zion.
Unlike what would happen at Mount Sinai, today, God doesn't usually judge people with immediate physical death. But the judgment of spiritual death remains with us. If God judged the Jew who had a limited understanding of redemption, I shudder to think what he would do to those who have heard about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
At Sinai, God shook the Earth. From Zion, he is going to shake the universe. Just because God doesn't immediately enact the punishment and shows grace doesn't mean that He is More Tolerant or that it will go unpunished. In the end, nothing will be overlooked. Justice will prevail, and redemption will be enacted.
God’s character and truth remain unshaken and unchanged.
CONCLUSION
Pastor and author Dr. Erwin Lutzer said, “Consider how the perception of Christians in America has changed. Once, we were considered legalists, adhering to the letter of the law. No one would accuse us of that anymore.” Now, many churches openly celebrate and endorse sin with no fear of the repercussions of sin. Their view of God is distorted.
Hear me on this: what God declared yesterday, He upholds today and will fulfill tomorrow.
Any assertion that there are “two different gods” in the Bible is a full lie. Any argument that God has changed or is more tolerant of sin now is a full lie.
People who believe in God can not logically claim that there are two different gods from the Old Testament to the New Testament. There’s no logical or reasonable argument that the Bible is about two different Gods. That’s nonsense. So, instead, those who want to justify their sins would say that God has changed from the Old Testament to the period recorded in the New Testament. It is an attempt to bypass what God has said about sin.
They also assert that God has undergone further changes since the New Testament era to the present day. You have to ignore the scriptures completely, but people believe this. Some say Jesus even canceled all of the commands in the Old Testament.
The God of the entire Bible is awesome, and we come to him humbly but confidently because he has invited us to Him through Christ. But if you still believe there's some truth in the Lie that God is more tolerant in the New Testament than in the Old Testament, look at what happened to Jesus on the cross, taking the burden of all our sins. Explain to me rationally how God is more tolerant of sin when you look at the sheer brutality of the cross. What Jesus endured doesn’t seem like a God more tolerant of sin.
The cross showed the seriousness of our sin, and it's in the New Testament. That burden and penalty will be received either by you, or it will fall on the shoulders of Christ. The price of sin didn’t change. The proper penalties for sin have always been demanded and enacted.
God is not “More Tolerant Than He Used to Be.” We must come to Sinai before we can come to Zion. We must see our sin before we can experience and appreciate his grace. What God declared yesterday, He upholds today and will fulfill tomorrow.
God’s character and truth remain unshaken and unchanged.
In “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” CS Lewis tells the story of four children who encounter a magical world through the back of an old attic wardrobe. The land was known as Narnia. Animals could talk, and it seemed quite incredible. There was one glorious creature, a majestic lion named Aslan, who represented Jesus.
Some beavers are trying to describe to the children, who are newcomers to Narnia, who Aslan is. They fear meeting him, especially upon finding out he is a Lion. The children ask in apprehension:
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I thought he'd be a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will deary and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.”
“He isn't safe?” asked Lucy
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver, “Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King!”
Is God safe? Of course not. But praise him…He is good! He is gracious, and He is loving.
God’s character and truth remain unshaken and unchanged.
God’s unchanging nature is a foundational truth that gives us confidence and hope. You can find no hope or stability in something constantly and arbitrarily changing. While cultures, traditions, and human philosophies shift from generation to generation, God remains steadfast, His character unchanged, and His promises secure. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we are part of an unshakable kingdom, one that is built on the firm foundation of Christ. This truth should shape how we live, respond to trials, and pursue righteous living.
God doesn’t change with every generation. God intends to change every generation. His goal has never been to conform to mankind's shifting desires but to conform mankind to the likeness and image of Christ. He molds His people through discipline, testing, and refinement, calling them to faith, endurance, and holiness. Just as He called the believers of the early church to perseverance, He calls us today to stand firm, unwavering in our devotion.
As we worship the same consuming fire that spoke from Sinai and revealed Himself through Christ, we must approach Him with reverence and awe. He remains the same, and His mission remains unchanged: to transform every heart in every generation to reflect the love, truth, and holiness of Jesus. What God declared yesterday, He upholds today and will fulfill tomorrow.
God’s character and truth remain unshaken and unchanged.
New 21-Day Devotional Book Based on Romans 12