Our Lord Christ Jesus loves each and every one of us. No matter who we are or where we live. No matter if we are good or bad. He will not condemn us and is always ready to forgive our sins. Sin is the act of breaking laws created by our Father in Heaven, our Lord God. However, they seem to apply only to those of us on earth since there is no need to take money from your mother's purse in Heaven since you already have all you need and you have no cravings for material possessions. Our Lord Christ Jesus walked this earth over 2000 years ago and we know from reading the Holy Scriptures he was a very kind, loving, and compassionate person. Our Lord Christ Jesus stated in the Holy Scriptures that our Father in Heaven spoke to the people of earth through him. He always said what the Father wanted him to say and how to say it. Our Lord Christ Jesus said to his disciples, if you have seen me then you have seen the Father. We know from the life our Lord Christ Jesus led that he lived a life of service and sacrifice to others. He was compassionate toward the poor, the downtrodden, the lame, and the diseased and tried to save as many people as he could in the time allotted by our Father in Heaven. He healed the lame, the blind, the sick, the oppressed, and loved the children most of all.
Why did our Lord Christ Jesus do this? Because it is what our Father in Heaven wanted him to do. It was our Father in Heaven acting through Jesus the man who performed all of the miracles of healing and even bringing people back from the dead. He never condemned anyone and he loved everyone. One day James and John were with our Lord Christ Jesus in one Samaritan village which had rejected his teachings. This is what was said, "And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village." Luke 9:53-56, NKJV.
Our Lord Christ Jesus worked tirelessly to help and serve and save as many of our Lord God's children as he could. If someone rejected his teaching's he did not get angry, but instead allowed them to believe as they chose. This was an act of our Father in Heaven allowing His children the freedom to make their own decisions and He did so because when He created us, He granted us free will. Our Lord God granted us free will so that we could freely chose to worship Him or not or to love Him or not. He did not create us to be slaves and do His bidding. This demonstrates our Father's humility toward His children. Our Father will not dare violate His promise of free will. We must ask Him to intervene in our life through prayer. Then He will intervene and answer our request. Even when our Lord Christ Jesus was about to be nailed to the cross, he never voiced anger or threats, nor did he ask his Father in Heaven to send angels to rescue him. Our Lord Christ Jesus humbly allowed himself to be nailed to the cross to show his humility and his deep love for all of his children who were then pelting him with stones and spitting on him and using all sorts of foul and demeaning language directed toward him while he carried his cross to the Hill of Golgotha. Again, this was our Lord God acting through our Lord Christ Jesus to demonstrate His love, compassion, and humility for His children. Our Father in Heaven always tried to set an example for us.
Our Lord God is kind, full of grace, mercy, compassion, love, patience, forgiveness, justice, and wisdom. There is no evil in Him. Our Lord God is love. A love that we cannot understand. A love greater than human love and a perfect love. Our Lord God is not capable of being evil. His love heals all affliction and He is patient beyond our imaginings. He will never abandon us as long as we remain loyal to His Son, our Lord Christ Jesus. Even then He will listen to us should we see the errors of our ways and ask for forgiveness. This is the kind of Lord God we have as a Father and how fortunate we are to have Him as our Father.
This having been said, our Father in Heaven is not the ruler of this world. He does not cause all the problems of the world to test our faith and our Father in Heaven does not use war to destroy His enemies. We should instead love our enemies, pray for our enemies, and treat them with respect. So, who is causing all the disease, the droughts, floods, storms, earthquakes, and fires that rage on earth? Who is causing wars and the suffering and death of innocent children in those wars? We can blame ourselves for many wars because we live in a world of greed, avarice, strife, hatred, and a lust for power and control. We have wars because we do not follow and trust in the teachings of our Lord Christ Jesus. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." KJV. Instead, we follow the teachings of this world that is under the authority of Satan. In Revelation 12:7-9 it reveals why Satan has authority on earth. "Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon--the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world--was thrown down to earth with all his angels." NLT.
Further, in John 12:31, Christ Jesus says the following, "The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out." NLT. And, in John 14:30, our Lord Christ Jesus also said to his disciples, "I do not have much time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know, I love the Father." NLT. Also, in Luke 4:5-8 it reads, "Then the devil took him up, our Lord Christ Jesus, and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. I will give to you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them, "the devil said, because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will worship me." Jesus replied, "You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him." NLT. In addition, in 2nd Corinthians 4:4, Paul said the following, "Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe." NLT. Finally, in Ephesians 2:2 it reads, "You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil--the commander of the powers of the unseen world." NLT. This was stated by the Apostle Paul as he preached to some of our Lord Christ Jesus' followers.
This last quote from Ephesians shows that before our Lord Christ Jesus came to earth, the people here were obeying Satan and they had the burden of many sins since in obeying Satan they were doing his will and he always enjoys causing us pain and suffering. It is Satan who loves to test our faith by causing hardship, pain, and suffering among all of humanity. Satan knows the people of earth will believe that our Father in Heaven is responsible for all the suffering in this world since they have been taught from an early age that our Father in Heaven is in charge of all that happens on earth. Remember, sin is violating the law of our Father in Heaven which Satan and his followers do all the time. The people of that time were lawless, as we are today, and their many sins led to death. Satan's way always leads to death. It is Satan who rules this world as we have seen and he is responsible for the wars and suffering and other tragedies of life, not our Father in Heaven who loves us very much and works tirelessly to awaken all of humanity to their terrible plight. Occasionally our Father sends an emissary who tries to convince us to live as our Father in Heaven would have us live. To love one another and to love even our enemies. However, they are always killed by those they are trying to help.
Our Father is all light, there is no darkness in Him. This can be found in 1st John 1:5, "This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." NLT. There is no evil in our Father in Heaven, He is love. The Lord God of the New Testament is light, even our Lord Christ Jesus described himself as the light of the world. When our Lord Christ Jesus took James and John up into the mountain to meet with Moses and Elijah, Christ Jesus was transformed into a brilliant white light as were Moses and Elijah who descended from Heaven to comfort him. James and John were both frightened by the sight; however, Christ Jesus told them not to be frightened. When our Lord Christ Jesus was born, the angels came to let the shepherds know about his birth. The shepherds were frightened initially by the brilliance of the presence of the angels until they were told not to be frightened since the angels had come to deliver a message of hope and the shepherds were then calm and listened intently to what the angel had to say.
The Lord God of the New Testament always sent angels who were dressed in brilliant white garments and sometimes their countenance was of a brilliant white which at first is difficult to behold. In 1st Timothy 6:16 it reads, "He alone can never die, and he lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach him. No human eye has ever seen him, nor ever will. All honor and power to him forever! Amen." NLT. Timothy is of course speaking of our Father in Heaven.
In contrast, the Lord of the Israeli people in the Old Testament is dark and there are many examples of this. For example, when Moses went up the mountain to speak to the Lord of Israel, there were dark clouds, thunder, lightning, and even fire coming from the mountain. The Lord of Israel's voice was so loud and terrifying that even Moses trembled in fear. The Israel people stood far back from the mountain least they be killed and even the animals would die if they approached to close to the mountain. Here is some description of the event in Deuteronomy 4:11-12, "You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness. And the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire." NLT.
Even at the Tabernacle which held the Arc of the Covenant the Lord of Israel was covered in a cloud and the cloud was never described as a glowing brilliant white cloud. From dusk till dawn the cloud was described as a pillar of fire; however, it was never mentioned what the cloud looked like during the day time. Refer to Numbers 9:15-23. Also, the cloud covered the Lord of Israel and this suggests the Lord of Israel was a finite Lord unlike our Lord God in Heaven who is without bounds.
The Old Testament Lord of Israel was a mean, temperamental, arrogant, and vindictive Lord over the Israeli people. For instance, in Numbers 11:1-3 the Lord of Israel heard their complaints about their hardships and became angry. "Then the Lord's anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped." In this example, the Lord of Israel was angry for some unknown reason and he set some people on fire near the outskirts of the camp. One wonders what the Israeli people might have thought after experiencing such a horrific event. Perhaps even children died in those flames.
In this next example, in Numbers 11:3-35, the Lord of the Israeli people "...sent a wind that brought Quail from the sea and let them fall all around the camp." You see, the Israeli people had been complaining they had no meat to eat so their Lord provided an abundance of Quail for them to eat. Then in verse 33, "But while they were gorging themselves on the meat -- while it was still in their mouths -- the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague." It is not recorded what the plague was or how many died, if any. However, it must have happened very quickly. Does this show a merciful Lord God or a god who reacts with spite?
In Number 16:1-35 it tells of another horrifying event for the Israeli people. "One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben. They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly." Be sure to read all 35 verses so you will know the complete story. It is too lengthy to include here. However, I will include the horrifying conclusion to their short rebellion. Verse 31, "He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings, the earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel. All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. 'The earth will swallow us, too!' they cried. Then fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense." It would be horrifying to see 250 men burn alive before your eyes. It seems the Lord of Israel enjoyed burning people alive. It happened in Numbers 11:1-3 above and it will happen again. Was there any example in the New Testament where our Lord God burned people alive as punishment or for spite?
I want to include one more horrifying event that displays the unmerciful and horrifying way the Lord of Israeli acted toward those he was supposed to love. This last event happened in Leviticus 10:1-3. "Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu put coals of fire in their incense burners and sprinkled incense over them. In this way, they disobeyed the Lord by burning before him the wrong kind of fire, different than he had commanded, so fire blazed forth from the Lord's presence and burned them up, and they died there before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what the Lord meant when he said, "I will display my holiness through those who come near me. I will display my glory before all the people.' And Aaron was silent."
How do you think Aaron as a father must have felt watching two of his sons burn alive and hearing their screams, for making a small mistake. It must have shocked and grieved Aaron deeply, but he did not want to complain lest the same thing happen to him. Could Aaron ever love and respect the Lord of Israel again? The Lord of Israel ruled with an iron rod and the Israeli people dared not question his authority. And, I believe that is the way the Lord of Israel wanted it. To have his children to live in fear of him.
The Lord of Israel also taught fear to other people as well. In Deuteronomy 6:10-11, "The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not product. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards, and olive trees you did not plant. "
"There were seven nations that were handed over to the Israelites by their Lord; the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Seven nations greater and mightier than they." Deuteronomy 7:1, NLT. All seven of these nations were utterly destroyed by the Israeli people. Men, women, children, and even small babies. They were told to do so by the Lord of Israel. The Lord of Israel told Moses each of these seven nations were larger and more powerful than Israel, yet, they conquered and killed every man, woman, and child. Israel was nearly composed of one and one-half million people. This means the Israel people must have killed millions of men, women, and children while conquering these seven nations.
The Lord of Israel is cruel and unforgiving and here is one more example of why. Sometime after the Lord of Israel had freed Israel from the Egyptian Pharaoh, they came across the nation of Amelek who opposed them in some way. It is not explained how the Israel nation was opposed by the Amelek people. However, some three hundred years after the first meeting between the Amelek nation and the nation of Israel soon after they departed Egypt, the Lord of Israel decided it was time to avenge Amelek for opposing the Israeli people. In 1st Samuel 15:1-3 Saul is sent to destroy Amelek. Here is what Saul is told: "One day Samuel said to Saul, 'It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amelek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation -- men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkey.'" 1st Samuel 15:7-8, "Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else." NLT. Later, Samuel would personally kill Agag.
The Lord of Israel commanded Samuel to let Saul know he wanted vengeance against the Amelek people for having shunned the Israeli people after they had fled Egypt. Three hundred years later! The Amelek people destroyed by Israel were many generations separated from the Amelek nation that first encountered the nation of Israel. Does this sound like a just and merciful Lord God? Far from it.
In contrast to the Lord of Israel and after seeing the likeness of our Father in Heaven in the man Christ Jesus, we know our Father to be a very loving, caring, and compassionate Lord God. We see our Father through our Lord Christ Jesus and we know He will never hurt little children. Our Lord Christ Jesus stated the following in Matthew 18:10, "Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father." NLT. So, why would our Father seek to utterly destroy even the innocent children and babies of the Amalek people? I am sure He would not.
Our Lord Christ Jesus stated the following in John 12:49-50, "I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life, so I say whatever the Father tells me to say." NLT. This verse confirms that our Lord God did speak through our Lord Christ Jesus and we know He loves the little children very much and would be very unhappy with anyone who kills one of His little children.
Here are some additional quotes concerning our Lord Christ Jesus that you might find helpful.
A quote by our Lord Christ Jesus in John 10:10, "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." NLT. Did the Lord of Israel allow the Israel people to kill, steal, and destroy? Yes, on many occasions as we have read above.
1st John 3:8, "But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil." NLT.
1st John 1:5, "This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all." NLT.
Ephesians 2:2 Paul states, "You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil--the commander of the powers of the unseen world."
1st John 5:19, "We know that we are children of God and the world around us in under the control of the evil one." NLT. This is a verse we should all take seriously.
In Conclusion
Is it possible that Moses misled the Israeli people believing the voice he heard was that of our Father in Heaven? After all, Satan is known as the deceiver of the whole world. This in Revelation 12:9, NLT.
Having read the first five books of Moses in the Old Testament; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the Lord of Israel in these five books of Moses never claimed to have created the Israeli people. Nor did the Lord of Israel, that I know of, ever claim to be the Lord God of all the people on earth. The Lord of Israel's only claim was to the people of Israel which he freed from Egypt. The Lord of Israel said he was their god and never claimed to be the god of the rest of the people of earth. Here is a quote from Leviticus 20:24, "I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples." Also, in Leviticus 20:26 it reads as follows: "And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the people, that you should be Mine." It seems from these two verses the Lord of Israel is saying he will be the Lord of Israel only, and no other nations Lord.
This concludes my essay. I do hope you were stimulated by what you read here and I would like to hear from anyone who would like to share their comments. Please contact me at wayne@booksbywaynehill.com. Adios for now my friends.
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