Many people when they read the Old Testament get the idea, that because God often commanded the Israelites to destroy their enemies, that God is a God of wrath. And when these same people read the New Testament, they picture Jesus as a God of great mercy. But since we know that the God of the Old Testament is the same as the God in the New Testament how can we reconcile these often different portrayals of these two attributes of God.
First, it is important to realize that the attributes of God never change. For we read in (Hebrews 13:8): “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Second, when we read the entirety of the Old and New Testaments, we see God manifesting both these attributes of wrath and mercy in both Testaments. In both Testaments, God clearly demonstrates both of these attributes of wrath and mercy depending on the situation. While, yes, it is true God tells the nation of Israel in the Old Testament to utterly wipe out the Canaanites because of their 400 years of gross sin, He also says in (1 Chronicles 16:34): “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” We also read in (Deuteronomy 7:9): “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”
And while in the New Testament, we can obviously cite many examples of the mercy of Jesus, we can also see His strong rebukes of the religious leaders when he overturns the moneychangers tables and the various times, he calls them hypocrites – just read (Matthew 23). Not only that but we can see Jesus talking about the severe wrath and judgment of God when He shares: “Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.’”
And finally, both the Old and New Testaments preach the same wonderful message of mercy triumphing over wrath. Yes, it is true, that God’s wrath demands payment for sin, but his mercy offers pardon. On Calvary we see the wrath of God poured out on Jesus. But when He rose from the dead, His wonderful mercy was made available to all who humbly repent and come to Him in faith.
Thus, we can see that the God of the Bible never changes – He is the same God, manifesting both wrath and mercy in both the Old and New Testaments.