Nate and I have been reading the book of Joshua over the past few weeks. I am by no means an “Old Testament expert.” I honestly am probably quite the opposite. The Old Testament has always been intimidating to me. There is a lot of background and cultural knowledge that I felt like I needed to really understand it properly. I also was very nervous to read the Old Testament because I felt like whenever I read those stories, I became confused about who God is. Did the God that died on the cross for us really instruct the Israelite people to decimate entire people groups?
I can imagine that there are a lot of people that feel this way. I think that is probably why a lot of Christians do not want to read the Old Testament. I also think this is why Christians use the phrases the “God of the Old Testament” and the “God of the New Testament.” I found it difficult to see what God did in the Old Testament and what He did in the New Testament and believe that those seemingly opposite actions could come from the same being.
It wasn’t until I really started reading Joshua that I really began to think critically about this. I knew that when Jesus came into the world that there wasn’t suddenly a change in who God was. He didn’t suddenly go from being a God that ordered the complete destruction of people to a God who wanted to save everyone. But for some reason, that didn’t come together well in my head when I would read about the seemingly terrible things that happened in the Old Testament.
How I have come to understand it, God is the same always and forever. His character never changes, so if it seems like it does to me, I have a misunderstanding. Through reading the story of the fall of Jericho, we see some of the important natures of God. Joshua sends two spies into Jericho to look over the land and the people. They end up staying with a prostitute woman named Rahab. She saves the spies from the king killing them. She then confesses her belief in the “Israelite God” and asks the men when they come to take over Jericho, that Rahab and her family be saved, and the men agree. When the men follow God’s instructions on how to take over Jericho, the city walls fall down and they take over the city. This is what the Bible says about what happened to Rahab and her family:
But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. Joshua 6:25
What grace is shown here to Rahab and her whole family because of her actions and her belief! Firstly, a woman. Second, a prostitute! There must be several instances of people joining the Israelites and believing in God because when they are renewing the covenant at Mount Ebal there is a verse that reads: Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Joshua 8:33. Even in the old testament, a time when many Christians may say that God was showing all of his wrath and no mercy, just in one book of the Bible, we see one specific instance of the grace of God, and evidence that there probably was more!
Yes, God has wrath. That is most definitely a part of His character, and to deny that or forget that would be heretical. I am so thankful to be living on this side of Jesus’ first coming, because the grace of God is just so easy to see! Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, as Christians, we never see the full wrath of God because Jesus took that for us. What Jesus did on the cross changed the relationship that we are able to have with God forever.
So, I challenge you to read the Old Testament. Even though it may be confusing or hard, do it! The Old Testament shows us so much about God’s character! If we skip over it because we are afraid, we are missing out on so much that God wanted to teach us about Him and about life. As you read through the Old Testament, I also want to throw an extra challenge your way. Read it through the lens of the glimmers of grace that God shows. Because I promise you, they are throughout the ENTIRE Bible.
Miranda Huyck
Children’s Ministry Director
