The Two Stories Portray God - Essay Example

Thematic paper The wrath of God is an essential thematic issue in the bible addressed both in the old and new testaments albeit differently. The same is attributable to Christ who different authors in both the old and new testaments portray as the son of God. In the Old Testament, the authors portray the interaction between God and Humans (Chafer and John 51). God maintained the interaction at personal level often showing his anger and love differently to the humans. Numerous books in the bible tell of stories in which man interacted with God especially in the Old Testament. The New Testament is a succession of the old testaments, despite the presence of Jesus Christ in the new testaments God retains a substantial aspect of the book often appearing in a confirmation of the holy trinity. In the New Testament, He appears withdrawn as Jesus undertakes most of His assignments. However, through the Holy spirit especially after the death of Jesus Christ God’s omnipresence becomes conspicuous. The wrath of God becomes eminent right from the book of Genesis, God punishes Adam and Eve after they eat from a tree he had forbade them not to. God expressed His anger by cursing man and sending him out of the garden and promising that He would toil and eventually die. God’s anger becomes evident again in the same book when Cain and Abel offer him sacrifices. Abel pleased God by offering the best of his produce, Cain’s sacrifices on the other hand failed to please God. Cain therefore killed his brother because of the jealousy, God became angry and banished him from his presence and cursed his entire descendants. The two stories portray God as a perfect being who does not glorify sin. He curses man and bestows death upon him when he falls to the snares of the devil. However, the two also portrays Him as a compassionate being who despite His anger retains his calm and gives man a second chance despite his failures most of which annoy him. God retains a personal touch with man often blessing some of his most faithful servants while banishing and punishing those who sin against him thereby provoking his anger. The story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah exhibit yet another portrayal of God’s anger. The two cities had fallen into anarchy with the people resorting to sin. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah fornicated and worshiped idols. God expressed his anger by sending Lot, his most faithful servant in the city, and his family out of the city before setting the two cities ablaze thereby destroying property and killing all the sinful residents of the two cities. God portrays his anger again in the story of Noah, a man who had served him so faithful in a tumultuous time. The people had lost touch with God and had turned to idol worshiping and fornication. God therefore ordered Noah to build a ship through which he would save the world. After Noah built the arch, God ordered all animals and repentant people to enter into the arch before he instigated the largest rain in the history of the earth thereby killing every creature that had not entered the arch. While the above instances portrayed God’s anger, hey also portray God’s compassion in equal measure. God showed mercy to his faithful servants, He saves Lot from the ravaging fires of Sodom and Gomorrah, he saves Noah and his family from the water that drowned every creature living on earth and he saved several other of his faithful servants including the people of Israel in the book of exodus (Henrich 88). The story of the Israelites also portrays God’s wrath and compassion to His people. While in the wilderness, the people of Israel turned against Moses demanding for both food and water. God instructed Moses to strike a rock from which there would flow a stream of water. He did so but took credit for the water a feature that angered God. He became angry and cursed Moses denying him the chance to enter get to Canaan. The instance portrayed God’s integrity; He demanded respect and faith from all the people including his most faithful servants. Moses tried going against God by taking credit for a miracle He performed instead of glorifying Him. The New Testament also exhibits God’s anger in different books. Jesus, the son of God goes into a temple one day and meets traders selling and heckling in the temple. He got angry and adopted a radical approach. He whipped the people, destroyed their wares and sent them out of the temple in a show of his anger (Niehaus 71). In the New Testament, Jesus Christ represents God and whatever he does is a representation of God’s own action. The lack of integrity he meets in the temple made him furious thereby compelling him to whip the traders and send them out of the temple. Besides the wrath of God, different books in the bible talk about Jesus being the son of God right from the Old Testament, in the books of the Old Testament different prophets foretold about the coming of the son of God and the fact that he would liberate and unite the world. Among the prophets who foretell about the coming of Jesus Christ are Nehemiah, Amos, Habakkuk, Jeremiah and Isiah among many others. The prophets acting as agents of God told their people of the importance of the coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus would come and live among the people, undergo their experiences thereby gaining the personal feel of the challenges that man faced on earth. His coming would intensify the relationship between God and man thereby providing man with a closer relationship with God (Manser 76). The books in the Old Testament do not talk much about Jesus Christ but simply make mention of his coming and the importance of his coming. The books of the New Testament begin with the birth of Jesus Christ. The gospel books chronicle his life experiences as he teaches and performs miracles in a bid to prove that he was in deed the son of God. His coming is fulfils the prophesies in the Old Testament. He lives teaches and performs miracles until the moment he is captured, tortured and killed. His experiences on earth and death occur as prophesized by the likes of prophet Isiah among others. He intensifies the relationship between man and God by bridging the gap that had existed before his coming thereby proving that God is indeed omnipresent. After he ascends into heaven, God sends the Holy Spirit that has remained with man to date. Works cited Chafer, Lewis S, and John F. Walvoord. Major Bible Themes: 52 Vital Doctrines of the Scriptures Simplified and Explained. , 2010. Internet resource. Henrich, Sarah. Great Themes of the Bible: Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007. Print. Manser, Martin H. Zondervan Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. Grand Rapids, Mich: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1999. Print. Niehaus, Jeffrey J. Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2008. Print. Read More