Faces of God: Old & New Testaments

When you picture God in the Old Testament, what comes to mind first? A distant power? A strict judge? A voice from a mountain? Well, the Old Testament is bigger and warmer than any one image. In this first episode of Faces of God, let’s look at three simple ways the Bible introduces God: Creator, Lawgiver, and Covenant-Maker. Start in Genesis 1. God creates the world by speaking. Light, land, living things, human beings... it all comes from God’s purposeful word. This is not a universe that just happens to be here. It is made, ordered, and called good. Psalm 8 picks up that sense of wonder, looking at the heavens and asking why God cares about human beings at all. So right from the beginning, God is powerful, yes, but also attentive. Then Exodus gives us another picture. God does not simply rescue Israel from slavery and disappear. At Mount Sinai, God makes a covenant with them, a committed relationship. The Ten Commandments are part of that covenant. They are not random rules dropped from the sky. They shape a people who will worship God, honor one another, tell the truth, protect life, and resist greed. God is a Lawgiver, but the law is tied to belonging. And that word covenant matters. It means God chooses to bind himself to Israel’s story. God is not just an idea or a force. God is involved. The Old Testament also uses very human-like language for God. God sees, hears, speaks, feels grief, and shows compassion. Psalms can picture God as a shelter, even like a bird gathering people under its wings, as in Psalm 91. Those images help us feel something important: God is not presented as cold or unreachable. So here is the takeaway. In the Old Testament, God is foundational. God makes the world, calls a people, gives them a way to live, and stays personally involved in their story. Next time, we’ll turn to the New Testament and ask how that portrait develops around Jesus.

Episode 1, God in the Old Testament, showed us God as Creator, Lawgiver, and Covenant-Maker. And here’s what feels surprising at first... the New Testament doesn’t hit reset. It says the God Jesus calls Father is the same covenant-keeping God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But now, we’re invited to look at that God through Jesus. Not just as someone delivering a message about God, but as the one who makes God’s heart visible. Think about Jesus teaching his friends to pray, “Our Father in heaven,” in Matthew 6:9. That little word, “our,” is doing a lot. God is holy, yes... but Jesus teaches ordinary people to approach God as Father. Not distant, not careless, but near enough to speak to. And then there’s Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3. Jesus is there in the water, the Spirit comes down like a dove, and a voice from heaven speaks. The New Testament keeps using this family language, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christians call this the Trinity, one God, known in three distinct persons. It may feel mysterious, because honestly, it is. But it also tells us something beautiful. God is not an abstract idea sitting far away. God reaches toward us. Jesus announces God’s kingdom, which means God’s good rule is breaking into real life... into meals, fears, forgiveness, and fresh starts. The covenant-keeping God hasn’t vanished. In Jesus, God has come close. So maybe carry this with you today... when you picture God, don’t stop at a distant idea. See the Father Jesus points us to, the Son who shows us God’s compassion, and the Spirit who draws people into new life. That’s plenty to sit with over a cup of coffee... see you next time.