The Mercies of God

                                 The God of Two Testaments    

  
   The mercies of Jehovah are made new every morning. To the average Christian living in today's society what does that mean? It could mean that God over looks our sin. It could mean that He changes His word for us as we are too weak to do what His word says even though He is God. For some this is the view they have chosen. What kind of God would He be if He made laws to govern mankind and the laws He made are so harsh that mankind perishes daily in failure. He would not be the kind of Father we see in the New Testament. How can it be that the Jesus of the New Testament is the personification of the Holy God we say that He is with such a gulf of difference between testaments? This very question has been an object of consideration from Jews in today's world and past time frames in history that have sought answers.
    The answer itself could lie in the very definition of mercy. Mercy is defined as unmerited favor. It is called mercy by one and grace by another. Some would define grace as the one thing that emanates from Jehovah that allows us to be accepted by Him, but is that really truth? So many questions, so many unanswered questions. It has been understood that both answers cannot be right. Maybe in the eyes of the culture of the reader and the past cultures that posed stumbling blocks, yet not if one truly analyzes the facts.
  
   The vast difference lies in the facts of who Jehovah is to begin with. Jews see the dealings of God as a people as His visitation upon them. The perfection of them as a people is received as a renewing of them as a whole existence. He has not left them alone to perish. He has not decided to look the other way. He has decided to deal with them, to perfect them, to make them eternally what they should. This molding and making enables God's chosen people to be enlightened to the extent of dwelling with Him in heavenly places. The early church was composed of such Jews. They left us a legacy. Let us not take that legacy and turn against it. In the Bible there are many chapters dealing with the Jews who made up the early Christian congregations. We call them the Church but the term congregation would be a better term.
  
   To a Christian who has received enlightenment through the baptism of the Holy Spirit as was recorded in the New Testament in the book of Acts chapter 2 there is a different view entirely. They express an entirely different view than their predecessors. A veil has been taken from their minds.
   
   Early Puritanical writers told of an angry God who wielded judgement and perdition upon those who do not respond directly to all of His commandments.  This is due to the reformation and things that have happened in the past. The same Christianity that existed in the life and times of Jesus Christ is not what this mindset came from.
  
   We live in a wonderful time on earth. We live in a time of reformation that is unknown to our predecessors. We live in a day of technology and study and research. This has added to our knowledge of the Bible and the language in which it is written. Thus we to an extent can hear the voice of the text and the words of Jesus so much clearer. As we hear this sound let us amplify the sound and bring the real Jesus to the world. Let us bring the merciful one who ate with sinners and publicans. The one who rode into Jerusalem on the foal of an Ass. The one who fed the five thousand. He who told the parable of the good Samaritan. What does this world need? It needs the real Jesus not the religious one made up by groups who do not understand that He is the God of two Testaments.