God is always at work. We know that. He’s always briging us into deeper and deeper understandings of Himself and it is a joy to Him when we catch on to those new revelations. I believe God is up to something again at this time. What I have been sensing is that He is wanting to bring His children into a deeper understanding of the Father.

We know there are three parts to God – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Many people have read about God the Father, written Him off as being harsh and unloving, but they have fully acknowledged Jesus, spending the vast majority of their time in the New Testament. For long periods of time, people have neglected the Old Testament believing it isn’t relevant for today. The focus has mainly been on what God looks like today as Jesus in light of the New Testament, which is highly important, don’t get me wrong. Jesus came to bring us back into a relationship with the Father, which tells me the Father is still of utmost importance and we shouldn’t neglect Him. In order to know what God the Father looks like today, it’s important to find out what He looked like in the past. It’s also imperative if we want to recognize Him in the ages to come.

In this season I believe the Lord is bringing fresh revelation of Himself as being the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). As I said above, we’ve mainly focused on how we see the Father today in light of the New Testament, but we haven’t really carried over his character, or His nature, from “yesterday.”

Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

In order to see the nature and character of God in the Old Testament, we have to look at the nature and character of Jesus in the New Testament, and the reason in which God sent Him. The explanation of the Old is found in the New. Without an understanding of Jesus and the Grace which He brings, God appears to be a harsh, mean old Father bent on the destruction of His people. That couldn’t be further from the Truth! The truth is, He is a loving, merciful Father, full of Grace, and as a person begins to gain an understanding of what happened on the cross, their eyes begin to open, giving them the ability to see how the love and grace of God has operated in times past.

At the fall of man, Adam and Eve disobeyed the Word of God in order to reach a status they already possessed. The serpent deceived them into believing they were not already like God, even though they had been created in His image and likeness. As a result, all of mankind was separated from God and that intimate connection was lost; they were no longer in Him, walking with Him, and surrounded by His Glory. Their glory clothes (or their covering) were gone, they were outside of the Father, and they knew they were naked.

Mankind was made for God, by God, and from God, and He loves us all dearly. It was out of that love for His creation that He made a way for mankind to come back into communion with Him, to their original estate, even though there seemed to be no way around it. The Father sent His one and only Son, (Jesus, who is none other than God Himself), to die for us, and He then descended into the grave and took back the keys of hell. No longer are we all destined for an eternity in hell, but we have been given the ability to come back into a beautiful relationship with our Daddy and live in continual contact with Him forever; and the best part – all we have to do is repent for living a life of unbelief, and choose to believe that Jesus died for us, forgiving us of all our sins (past, present, and future), and that He brought us back into fellowship with the Father.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

As I was saying before, when a person begins to understand this love our Father has for us – that while we were all yet sinners, Christ died for us, then one begins to understand the gravity of the price He paid. It’s then possible to look back in time and see God in the Old Testament as He really is, and through the eyes of Jesus Himself.

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, the Son is able to do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing.  For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise,’” (John 5:19).

When we are back in right relationship with the Lord, we have the ability to look through the eyes of Jesus and see what the Father is doing, what He has done, and His plans for the future. Without Jesus we are blind to the Truth and lack direction. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, He sent us His Spirit as our helper. Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God Himself, speaks to us, reveals the Word of God to us, and gives us directions so that we can partner with the will of God. In other words, Jesus is our ability to see the plans of God, and Holy Spirit is the one who gives us direction and strategy to carry out the will of God. 

Now, the fact that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever does not mean He does things exactly the same today as He did back then. HE is the same. His character and His nature are the same, and they are exactly the same within the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God does not operate independently from God or Jesus, nor is the character of the Spirit of God any different. All three work together, in one accord.

Let’s take the example of idol worship. In the Old Testament we see people worshipping hand crafted items such as a golden calf, wooden carvings, etc. The Bible says God is a jealous God; He will not share His glory or the praises of His people with anything or anyone else. We see time and time again how the Lord would cast down the idols of the people. He would also raise up someone to carry out the destruction of the idols that stood in the place of God. Now days, people don’t usually worship statues, but they do worship things such as money, status, entertainment, people, and other various things and God is still a jealous God who doesn’t want those things placed before Him.

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” Exodus 20:5

The Lord will still deal with idols. However, He uses various ways in which to deal with them. The way God does things doesn’t necessarily look the same as it did in the past, but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He understood back then, and He understands today, the result of His people putting other things before Him. He understands that it causes His children pain, and He sees the bigger picture as to what could happen if they continue down the path that they’re on. It’s not just about us, but it’s about generations after us as well. It’s for this reason, the Love of the Father, that He deals with these things, and allows certain things to happen. He desires us to come back into the place of safety – hidden within Him.

Right now, the world is going through the Corona virus pandemic, and the Lord is dealing with idols. These are not hand carved statues, or images within people’s homes, but He is dealing with idols of entertainment, busyness, work, religion, and even the idols of the secular school system. It is worth mentioning that idols are anything that takes the place of God. As of this writing, people are being quarantined. Movie theatres have closed, Disney World and Disneyland have closed, businesses and schools have closed, and people are forced to stay home and spend family time together. Churches have also closed, revealing the operation of the religious spirit, as many believe church is where you gather in a building on Sunday, rather than understanding that as sons and daughters of Christ, we are the “church.” The church building has become the idol and has become more important than what God is trying to accomplish outside those four walls. He is looking to do things in a different way for a time, working on reaching people in an unorthodox way. People are crying out in fear because they are unable to see what the Lord is doing. Many cannot see the Light because they do not have the eyes of Jesus, and the direction, or comfort of the Holy Spirit. Some refuse to keep their sights set on the Lord, allowing themselves to get into fear. Some spend so little time in the presence of God that they are unable to hear when He speaks.

As believers, we can take comfort in seeing how God provided for His people in the past. Simply living in the present without taking into account the past is dangerous. We learn from past mistakes; not only from making our own mistakes, but also from the mistakes those in previous generations have made. We can also learn from their successes and from their relationships with the Lord. As we read with the mind of Christ, looking through the eyes of Jesus, we see that God always took care of His people. We see that everything He did was meant for their good, and for their protection. It was never meant to harm them or to do evil to them, but it was always to bring them back under His protective covering. Whenever we step out and try to do things in our own power, or things God has not called us to do, we step out from under that covering and we meet with frustration, unnecessary battles, illness, and we can even meet with death. Sin always brings about death in some form. Jesus paid for sin (unbelief) on the cross, taking care of eternal death and separation from God, but our sins can still bring about physical death.

This is where Holy Spirit comes in as our helper. Jesus sent Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us each step of the way. He speaks to us and reveals the plans of the Lord so that we can remain in sync with the Father. Holy Spirit is a person. He’s not a feeling, or an imagination, or a good story. He is real and loves to communicate with us. We talked about this Corona Virus situation going on at the moment, but one thing I haven’t mentioned yet is that people have been stockpiling toilet paper and all the stores are sold out continually. People that need toilet paper cannot find any. A few weeks before this thing hit, I kept feeling like I needed to buy toilet paper. For some reason I couldn’t remember if I had bought any the previous week, so I would buy another large pack. My husband would then comment on the impressive amount of rolls I had brought home, and then the next week the same thing would happen; I couldn’t remember if I had bought any the previous week and felt as if I should buy more. Needless to say, when the virus hit and the toilet paper was gone, our family was well stocked due to what I believe was the leading of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit will impress things upon a person such as “you should probably buy toilet paper,” or “don’t go that way today, take the other route.” By spending time in the presence of God, we can really become sensitive to the voice and leading of Holy Spirit and save ourselves a lot of trouble in the long run.

When the Israelites were coming out of Egypt they followed a cloud by day. This was representative of following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Whenever the cloud would move, they would move, and whenever the cloud settled, that’s where they set up camp (Numbers 9:17).  Jesus Himself was also led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.  Romans 8:14 says, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” It is who we are – led by the Spirit of God.

In the Old Testament, God’s people were led by Him via leaders who met with Him to receive instructions, by prophets, by signs and wonders in the sky, and by angels. In the New Testament we are still led by Him, just in a different way. Now we are filled with the Holy Spirit, have been given the mind of Christ and the ability to know the heart of God, and we can speak one-on-one with Him to receive our instructions. He can still speak using all the old ways, but the difference is, our revelation, discernment, instruction, and direction now comes through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.

Finally, holiness is a characteristic of God found all throughout the Old Testament that people tend to want to throw out the window due to the revelation of Grace in the New Testament, and the faulty belief that it is now okay to continue on in sin. Some believe that because all sins are forgiven, they are able to do whatever they desire with no consequences. That is not the case. God is Love, God is Grace, and God is also Holy. Holiness did not go out of style once Grace was revealed. We are still being changed from one level of Glory to another, transforming into the complete image of Christ which looks like holiness. When we became new creations in Christ, our spirits were made holy and righteous just as He is. However, our souls are still being revamped. We are still in the process of renewing our minds, and aligning our will and emotions to the Spirit of God. The law of sin and death was dealt with on the cross, but that was in regards to the sin of unbelief, which brought eternal death and separation from God. We still need to turn our backs on the other “sins” and renounce them, and live a life of holiness.  If we continue on in sinful things, they still have the ability to bring death, only it’s not eternal death, and it may not manifest right away, but over a period of time. For example, one may get away with unforgiveness for years, but the bitterness it produces may eventually catch up with them in the form of cancer. Bitterness can literally eat away at a person. In the Old Testament, Jesus hadn’t died yet so there wasn’t forgiveness of sin at that time. However, God was merciful and gracious back then as He is now, giving them a way out. Each year they would offer blood sacrifices for their sins. They would lay hands on a perfect animal thereby transferring their sins to that animal, and then they would sacrifice providing forgiveness for a whole year. Next year, they would have to do it all again. The forgiveness of sins required a perfect blood sacrifice in the same form, and since no man was perfect and sinless, Jesus came to be that sacrifice. As the perfect sacrifice, we are now forgiven once and for all, and no longer have to offer up blood sacrifices each year.

To wrap this up, it’s important to not throw out the Old Testament because God did things differently in those days. He had to. Jesus hadn’t come yet. However, the Lord was the same then as He is today. He still had an unquenchable love for His people then as He does today. Grace was still extended to His people then as it is today, and Holiness is still required today as it was back then. Spending time in the Old Testament and talking with Holy Spirit as you read will result in a greater understanding and a closer walk with the Lord. It also gives a person the ability to recognize the Lord in future events because if you can recognize Him in the past and the present, you can be sure He’ll be the same in the future. To focus on the Lord and not just the way He does things is wisdom. His methods may change, but He is the same for all eternity.