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Is God on Your Side?
May 21, 2011

Most of modern Christianity considers the God of the Old Testament to be vengeful. To modern Christians, the laws as codified in the Old Testament seem harsh and restrictive. Modern Christians tend to see the laws as codified in the Old Testament as cruel and without mercy. Compare this to the relative ease of the New Testament where modern Christians see their responsibility is to accept Christ and have all sins forgiven. The harsh and stern God of the Old Testament is replaced with the sweet loving savior, Jesus, almost with the same willingness that cod liver oil is replaced with a chocolate chip cookie. Others may see the God of the Old Testament as the stern father figure, and Jesus as the trusting older brother with whom one can have fun knowing that he will make everything alright with the Father. This is done to the degree where the role of the father is minimized in modern Christianity. There are those within modern Christianity who have weakened the father so much that they have subjugated the Father under the Christian, and proclaim that God is on the side of the person. Those who are apostolic Christians will see this practice as an error. While it is true not to say that God is the adversary of Christians, we feel it is incorrect to in any manner subjugate the Father under any man and would emphasize that it is the duty of a Christian to be on the side of God if indeed they want God to be on their side. There are many proofs that can be offered and there is sufficient evidence to present that Jesus Christ is indeed the God of the Old Testament. For today, the focus will be on what we must do to be on the side of God, if indeed we want God to be on our side. Predictably, this process begins with God.

John 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The process of being on the side of God begins with God expressing a desire to have us on his side. And if indeed we come to God through Jesus, if we come to be on the side of God, then we will be resurrected in the end. But if we do not come to be on the side of God, then we will not be resurrected in the end. And some will say that the law is done away with, and that we are no longer under the burden of the Old Testament, and will cite various scriptures in the New Testament, including this one.

Matthew 23:35-40
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Some who read these verses will see this a Jesus replacing the Ten Commandments with the Two Commandments. These same people never consider that Jesus summarized the wording of the Ten Commandments. While summarizing reduces the number of words used, when done correctly it will preserve original intent. There is nothing inconsistent with the Ten Commandments in what Jesus said when summarizing these. He correctly identifies that part of the Ten Commandments is designed to honor God and the other part is designed to honor fellow man. Consider this next verse.

I John 4:19-21
We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

John shows using other words that the process begins with God and that God expresses a desire to have us be on his side. He continues by showing that we cannot be on the side of God if we cannot love fellow man. Consider the next few immediate verses, also from the same book.

I John 5:1-5
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

John adds that the only way we love fellow man is to love God and keep the commandments of God, and only by doing so can we overcome the world and be born of God. So for some the logic may seem circular. On the one hand, we cannot love God without first loving fellow man. On the other hand, we cannot love man without first loving God. While the logic can be viewed as circular, the message that is conveyed is the entire package of love must be in place to overcome the world and be born of God. We cannot omit loving God, nor can we omit loving fellow man. All that we must do must be based on love. And when we are called according to the love of God, and when we respond and have love for both fellow man and God, then God has extended an invitation to us to be on his side, we have accepted his invitation, and as long as we continue in obedience, then we have come to be on the side of God, and God will be on our side.

All verses are from the King James Version.
This site provided by Tom Laign. To all who may believe differently, I also extend peace and love.
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