Joseph Prince’s Dispensational Doctrine of a strict demarcation between Old Covenant Law and New Covenant Grace is demolished by John Stott, AW Tozer & Arthur Pink & he lied twice, Part 2 – by Rev George Ong (Dated 16 July 2023)
For details to the following, please read the article:
Joseph Prince told a lie
that David was under a different dispensation – the law.
Joseph Prince told another lie
when he said that God’s people
cannot be punished or judged
because of and after the cross.
Appendix
What I had written in the Appendix is good stuff.
Well, to check me out,
you would have to read the first portion of it,
and see if you would like to continue.
But because of the comprehensive amounts of materials,
it is strongly advised to be read in a few sittings.
Read whatever you can handle.
Then you may wish
to use the rest as materials for future reference.
This is Part 2 to the previous article.
If you have missed the previous article (Part 1),
which is a very crucial article,
titled,
Joseph Prince declares that Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Arthur Pink, AW Tozer, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Stott, Gordon Fee, Derek Prince & DA Carson are false prophets,
Please click on the link below to read:
Today, Joseph Prince preached again
in the worship services at New Creation Church
in a pre-recorded video.
Obviously, Joseph Prince is motivated by anxiety
– that, come what may, he must preach,
even though he had announced only recently
that he was on sabbatical.
It seems that he cannot get rid
of this ‘addiction’ to preaching,
that he has to keep working on his sermons,
even though he is on sabbatical.
Why can’t he leave the job of preaching to his staff,
so, he can enjoy his sabbatical?
Is it because he thinks his staff is not quite up to it?
Or, does he really think he is indispensable?
(This article was also sent to Rev Dr Ngoei Foong Nghian, General Secretary, National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) office, and for the attention of the Executive Committee Members.)
In a sermon, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 50-second video:
“And here is where we need to exemplify grace.
We are not in a place where we need to preach,
Well, what happened to these people in the Old Testament,
will happen to you as well.
No, they were under the law.
We are under grace.
And we are under that still that era,
that dispensation where Jesus says,
He has come to bring the acceptable year,
where the free favours of God profusely abound.
So, friend, enjoy the free favours of God.
Don’t have this consciousness,
if I fail, what happened to David;
what happened to these people in the Old Testament,
can happen to me.
Friend, David was under a different dispensation.
God will not punish you in that way.
Listen carefully, there’s discipline today,
but there’s no punishment.
All punishment was finished at the cross.”
Joseph Prince said:
“Friend, David was under a different dispensation.”
Joseph Prince told a lie
that David was under a different dispensation – the law.
Both David and Abraham
were under the same ‘dispensation’
or Covenant of grace as we do.
Romans chapter 4, and particularly, verses 1-8,
unambiguously expressed that
both David and Abraham
were saved or justified by grace through faith
and not of works.
That God credits His righteousness
to both David and Abraham
on the basis of their faith and not works.
Even though David came after
the giving of the law through Moses at Sinai,
David, as all Old Covenant people,
was still saved by grace though faith.
The law at Sinai was not a separate entity
from God’s Covenant of grace,
as Joseph Prince has deceived the people.
It did not distort or cancel out the Covenant of grace,
but was part of the Covenant of grace,
and the law was to emphasise
the importance and requirement of obedience
which is part and parcel
in God’s Covenant of grace.
Joseph Prince said:
“but there’s no punishment.
All punishment was finished at the cross.”
Joseph Prince told another lie
when he said that God’s people
cannot be punished or judged
because of and after the cross.
The prophecy of Jesus’ severe judgement on the Jews
in Luke 19:42-44,
in which hundreds of thousands of Jews
were massacred by the Roman soldiers,
came true in AD 70 under the New Covenant,
after the cross.
In other words, the punishment or judgement of God
can fall not only in the Old Covenant but also in the New.
Hence, Joseph Prince’s teaching
that God will not punish or judge believers
in the New Covenant of grace
by virtue of what Christ did on the cross,
is lie and is resoundingly demolished.
In another sermon, Joseph Prince said;
Please click here to view the 25-second video:
“We know what our mentality
become judgement mentality.
We looked at the world, and we started thinking,
‘Well, it started already.
God is judging the world.’
God is judging the world.
Is that true, my friend?”
“We cannot say God is judging America.
God is judging Singapore.
God is judging the Philippines.
God is judging;
we cannot say God is judging all this.
Because we are not in the day of vengeance of our God.
Friend, we are still under the dispensation of grace.”
From these 2 videos of Joseph Prince
and teachings from his other sermons and books,
Joseph Prince is passionately promoting
his dispensational theology
about the strict separation
between the Old Covenant Law and New Covenant Grace.
To Prince, the Old Covenant God
is one who judges, punishes and shows His anger
at Old Covenant people,
but the New Covenant God
can no longer judge, punish and show His anger
at New Covenant people,
because the New Covenant God
only shows mercy, love and grace to them.
Joseph Prince’s teaching is heretical
because it is a major distortion
on the character of God
and an infringement of His sovereignty
about how He can or cannot operate in both Covenants.
Such an erroneous teaching of Joseph Prince
is demolished by 3 very well-regarded teachers of the word:
John Stott, AW Tozer and Arthur Pink.
First, let’s hear from John Stott.
In ‘Understanding the Bible,’
John R. W. Stott wrote:
“Does not the Old Testament portray Yahweh
as a fearful God of wrath and judgment,
who is entirely incompatible
with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?
How can we reconcile the thunders of Sinai
with the meekness and gentleness of Christ?”
“God’s love and wrath,
together with his works of salvation and of judgment,
are sometimes set over against each other
as supposedly incompatible.
We have already mentioned how some people imagine
the God of the Old Testament to be a God of anger
and the God of the New Testament to be a God of mercy.
But this is a false antithesis.
(George Ong’s interjection:
Joseph Prince is the key culprit
who creates this false antithesis.
This is why Prince keeps singing the horrid tune
that the Old Testament God,
who is angry and judges the Old Covenant people,
will never be angry and He will never judge
the New Covenant people
because He is the New Testament God
of grace, mercy and love.)
The Old Testament also reveals him as a God of mercy,
while the New Testament also reveals him as a God of judgment.
Indeed, the whole Bible, Old and New Testaments alike,
presents him as a God of love and wrath simultaneously.
The biblical authors are not embarrassed by this,
as many moderns seem to be.
Thus, the apostle John can tell his readers how
“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”;
and at the end of the same chapter
declare that on him who does not obey the Son
the wrath of God remains (John 3:16, 36).
Similarly, the apostle Paul can describe his readers as
“like the rest … by nature objects of wrath”
and in the very next verse
write that God is “rich in mercy”
and has loved us with a great love (Eph. 2:3-4).
(George Ong’s interjection:
Both God’s love (Jn 3:16, 36)
& God’s wrath (Eph 2:3-4)
are displayed in the New Covenant.)
The only explanation the Bible gives
of the loving and wrathful activity of God,
of his deeds of salvation and of judgment,
is simply that he is like that.
That is the kind of God he is,
and this is why he acts that way.
“God is love,”
and therefore, he loves the world and has given his Son for us (1 John 4:8-9).
But also “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29; cf. Deut. 4:24).
His nature of perfect holiness
can never compromise with evil
but, as it were, “devours” it.
Always he sets himself implacably against it.”
“So even at Sinai God’s covenant
remains a covenant of grace.
It is important to grasp, then, that the covenant of God
is the same throughout, from Abraham to Christ,
so that those who are Christ’s by faith
are thereby Abraham’s children
and heirs of the promises God made him (Gal. 3:29).
The law which was given at Sinai
did not annul the covenant of grace.
On the contrary,
the covenant of grace
was confirmed and renewed at Sinai.
What the law did
was to emphasis and expand
the requirement of obedience.
(George Ong’s interjection:
What John Stott means is that
obedience, which was emphasised by the law,
is an integral part of grace,
both in the Old Covenant and the New.
Obedience does not earn grace or salvation,
but it is evidence and a fruit of grace.
One, who does not show obedience in his life,
cannot be one who has experienced the grace of God.
What John Stott also teaches is that
the law which was given at Sinai in Exodus 19,
is part of the Covenant of grace,
and that the Covenant of grace
was confirmed and renewed
at the giving of the law at Sinai.
But what Joseph Prince has forbiddingly done
in many of his sermons on Exodus 19
is that he has postured the law in Exodus 19
as something which is separate
from God’s covenant of grace.
Instead of seeing law and grace as operating together
in God’s overall purpose,
he now pits (New Covenant) grace
against (Old Covenant) law.)
It is only when the law
is considered in isolation from the covenant of grace
that it is contrasted with the gospel.
Then the law is seen
to condemn the sinner for his disobedience,
while the gospel offers him life by grace.”
In ‘And He Dwelt Among Us,’
AW Tozer wrote:
“The suggestion that
the Old Testament is a book of law
and the New Testament a book of grace
is a false premise.
There is as much grace and mercy and love
in the Old Testament
as there is in the New.
There is more about hell in the New Testament
than there is in the Old.
When it comes to judgment
and the fury of God burning with fire
upon simple men and simple creatures,
it is found in the New Testament,
not in the Old.
If you want excoriation, blisters and burns,
do not go to Jeremiah,
go to Jesus Christ.
The God of the Old Testament
is the God of the New,
and the Father of the Old Testament
is the Father of the New Testament.
The Christ who was made flesh to dwell among us
is the Christ who walked through all the pages of the Old Testament.
Was it the law that forgave David
when he committed his immoral sin?
No, it was grace.
Was it grace that said,
“Babylon has fallen, the great harlot is fallen, Babylon, is fallen”?
No, it was law.
There is perfect and absolute harmony
between all persons of the Godhead.
What he says here is the contrast between
all that Moses could do and all that Christ could do.
Moses gave the law.
That was all Moses could do,
for he was not the channel
through which God dispensed grace.
God chose His only begotten Son.
Here lies the contrast:
“the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,”
means only that all that Moses could do
was command righteousness;
but Jesus Christ produces righteousness.
All that Moses could do was forbid us to sin;
but Jesus Christ came to save us from sin.
This is not to pit one against the other,
but to show one doing what the other could not do.
(George Ong’s interjection:
This is exactly what Joseph Prince does.
In most of his sermons and writings on John 1:17,
Prince uses them to pit grace (Jesus) against law (Moses),
in that New Covenant people
would have nothing to do
with the moral law in the Ten Commandments
by virtue of the fact that
New Covenant grace has dawned.)
For Moses could not save,
but Jesus could.
The Holy Ghost, in Romans 10:4-7,
said the law Moses gave was holy, just and good
and must not be spoken against.
But it could not save.
But because Jesus Christ is the eternal Son,
the channel through which God dispenses grace to the world,
grace came through Jesus Christ.
Grace precedes everything
– from the first day of creation
until the Virgin Mary gave birth in a Bethlehem manger.
For it was the grace of God in Christ
that saved the human race from extinction
when they sinned in the Garden.
It was the grace of God
in Jesus Christ yet to be born
that saved the eighth person
when the Flood covered the earth.
And it was the grace of God
in Jesus Christ yet to be born,
but existing in preincarnation glory,
that forgave David when he committed his sin;
that forgave Abraham when he lied;
that enabled Abraham
to pray God down to 10 righteous persons
when He was threatening to destroy Sodom;
that forgave Israel repeatedly.
It was the grace of God in Christ
yet before the Incarnation that made God say (in the Old Testament),
“I have risen early in the morning
and stretched out My hands unto you.”
It made him say,
“Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the LORD pitieth them that fear him” (Psa 103:13).
Jesus is the channel through which grace comes.”
In ‘Experiencing the Presence of God,’
AW Tozer wrote:
“Weed: The Old and New Testaments Contain Different Messages
It took me quite a little while to escape the feeling
that the New Testament is the book of love
and the Old Testament is the book of judgment.
But I have gone through the Old and New Testaments
and carefully counted the words,
and I find three times as much about mercy
in the Old Testament as there is in the New.
There is equally as much about grace in the Old
as there is in the New.
Back in the days of Noah,
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
As we read in the psalms,
“The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy” (Ps. 145:8).
Grace is an Old Testament quality.
And judgment is a New Testament quality.
Read the twenty-third chapter of Matthew.
Read the book of Revelation, Jude, and 2 Peter
and see what they tell
of the terrible judgments of God
coming upon the world
– New Testament judgments.
God is a God of judgment and a God of grace.
Both judgment and grace are in the New Testament.
And both judgment and grace are in the Old Testament.
God is always the same, without change:
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
In ‘The Knowledge of the Holy,’
AW Tozer wrote:
“Mercy is an attribute of God,
an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature
which disposes God to be actively compassionate.
Both the Old and the New Testaments
proclaim the mercy of God,
but the Old
has more than four times as much to say about it
as the New.
We should banish from our minds forever
the common but erroneous notion
that justice and judgment characterize the God of Israel,
while mercy and grace belong to the Lord of the Church.
(George Ong’s interjection:
That’s the very fatal error that Joseph Prince is teaching.)
Actually, there is in principle
no difference between the Old Testament and the New.
In the New Testament Scriptures
there is a fuller development of redemptive truth,
but one God speaks in both dispensations,
and what He speaks agrees with what He is.
Wherever and whenever God appears to men,
He acts like Himself.
Whether in the Garden of Eden
or the Garden of Gethsemane,
God is merciful as well as just.”
In ‘An Exposition of Hebrews, Faithful Classic,’
Arthur W. Pink wrote:
“Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God?” (Heb 10:29a)
(29 How much more severely do you think
someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? Heb 10:29 NIV)
“The apostle’s inspired logic here
is the very reverse of that which obtains
in the corrupt theology of present-day Christendom.
(George Ong’s interjection:
corrupt theology, which refers to dispensationalism,
the theology that Joseph Prince subscribes to.
There are some things, though,
that I agree with Dispensationalism – Premillennialism.
But others, such as the Pre-tribulation rapture,
is atrociously erroneous.)
The popular idea in these degenerate times is that,
under the Gospel regime
God has acted, is acting, and will act
much more mildly with transgressors,
than He did under the Mosaic economy (Old Covenant).
The very opposite is the truth.
No judgment from Heaven one-half as severe as that
which overtook Jerusalem in A.D. 70,
is recorded in Scripture
from Exodus 19 to Malachi 4!
Nor is there anything in God’s dealings with Israel
during O.T. times
which can begin to compare
with the awful severity of His “wrath”
as depicted in the book of Revelation!”
In ‘Studies in the Scriptures, Annual Volume 1933,’
Arthur W. Pink wrote:
“Practically all professing Christians believe
that there is a future day of retribution,
when God shall reward the righteous
and punish the wicked,
but comparatively few believe
God now does so.
Yet the verse with which we have opened
expressly declares that,
“The righteous shall be recompensed
in the earth.”
It is impossible to read the Scriptures
with an unprejudiced mind
and not see this truth exhibited
in the history of individuals, families, and nations.
Cain murdered Abel
– a mark was set upon him by God and he cried,
“My punishment is greater than I can bear” (Gen 4:13).
Noah was a just man and walked with God
– he and his family were preserved from the flood.
Pharaoh persecuted the Hebrews
and is drowned at the Red Sea.
Saul thirsts for David’s life
and is slain in battle.
Of the Lord we must say,
“Verily he is a God that judgeth
in the earth” (Psa 58:11).
And now comes the “Dispensationalist”
with his objection:
“All that you have said above
obtained during the Old Testament dispensation,
but in this Christian era, it is not so.
We are shut up to faith.”
(George Ong’s interjection:
“We are shut up to faith,”
could also refer to
“We are in the dispensation of grace,
and no judgement can happen
during this period of New Covenant grace,”
as said and taught by Joseph Prince,
who believes in dispensationalism.)
How ridiculous.
Has God vacated His throne?
Is He no longer shaping human affairs?
Is His governmental justice no longer operative?
Why, the most signal example in all history
of God’s “recompensing” the wicked and the sinner
in the earth
has transpired in this Christian dispensation!
It was in A.D. 70
that God publicly executed judgment upon Jerusalem
for the Jews’ rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah,
and the condition of that people
throughout the earth ever since
has been a perpetual exemplification
of this solemn truth.”
In ‘Repentance What Saith the Scriptures,’
Arthur W. Pink wrote:
“Of old it was announced that should any
“bless himself in his heart,
saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst [that is, one sin to another]:
the LORD will not spare him” (Deu 29:19-20).
So, on the other hand it was declared,
“If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2Ch 7:14; compare 2Ch 6:26).
And the principles of God’s judgment have not changed!
The death of Christ
has not caused God to lower His standard
– how unspeakably horrid and dreadful
that anyone should suppose that it has!
No, what God demanded of old,
He demands now.”
(George Ong’s interjection:
Joseph Prince’s argument is that
with the death of Christ on the cross,
God can no longer judge us.
This implies that God’s standard of conduct for His people
is lower in the New Covenant than the Old.
Nothing is further from the truth.
I have demolished such a conception of Joseph Prince.
The details are found in Section 3 under the Appendix.
Please read them.)
Rev George Ong
Appendix
(There are 4 Sections)
The following represents George Ong’s view
– why Joseph Prince’s dispensational doctrine
of a strict separation
between Old Covenant Law and New Covenant Grace
is erroneous.
Joseph Prince’s Dispensational Doctrine of a strict demarcation between Old Covenant Law & New Covenant Grace is false
Section 1
Using the excuse of the cross,
Joseph Prince teaches
that the Old Covenant God of wrath, judgement and punishment
can no longer act in the same way to New Covenant believers,
and that the New Testament God
has to be loving, gracious and kind to New Covenant believers.
Joseph Prince further teaches that
God had to behave in that harsh way to Old Covenant people
because they were under the Old Covenant of the law.
And since the New Covenant people
are now under the Covenant of grace,
God can no longer act in that harsh Old Covenant way,
but He has to be always gracious and loving to them.
As my ensuing arguments will show,
his teaching of such a strict demarcation
between the Old Covenant God of law
and the New God of grace,
is plainly false.
There is no such demarcation
between the Old Covenant of law
and the New Covenant of grace,
as both law and grace
permeate both the Old Covenant and the New.
The God of the Old Testament
does not act differently from the God of the New
as Joseph Prince clearly suggests.
But the God of the Old Testament
behaves the same way
and is the same God of the New.
The God, who is angry, wrathful and judging,
is also at the same time loving, gracious and merciful,
both under the Old Covenant as well as the New.
These two testaments have more in common
than what many people think.
For instance, many don’t realise that in the Old Testament,
God is often described as one
who is full of mercy and compassion,
and not just of wrath and judgement.
Many are ignorant that in the Old Testament,
God is often portrayed as one who cares, is kind, good, forgiving,
bestows His favor, and possesses a great love for His people.
To prove my case,
I decided to do a thorough study of the issue
and start from ground zero.
I had gone through
every single verse
in the entire Bible in the NIV
that contains the following words as shown:
love, loving, compassion, compassionate, forgive, forgiving, forgiveness, mercy, mercies, merciful, kind, kindness, care, pardon and favor.
By locating every verse
and counting every one of them, laboriously,
I have arrived at the following results:
The Concept of the Compassion of God appears,
57 times in the Old Testament and 10 times in the New.
The Concept of the Favor of God appears,
57 times in the Old Testament and 14 times in the New.
The Concept of the Kindness of God appears,
26 times in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New.
The Concept of the Forgiveness of God appears,
56 times in the Old Testament and 51 times in the New.
The Concept of the Mercy of God appears,
73 times in the Old Testament and 56 times in the New.
The Concept of the Pardon of God appears,
4 times in the Old Testament and Nil in the New.
The Concept of the Care of God appears,
13 times in the Old Testament and 2 times in the New.
The Concept of the Love of God appears,
185 times in the Old Testament and 70 times in the New.
(Note, the minority verses in each category that state the ‘negative’: for example, God has chosen not to show mercy, or He has decided not to be forgiving, are not included.)
Just by a cursory look at the results,
Joseph Prince’s doctrine
that the Old Testament is under the dispensation of law
– and that’s why God is wrathful and punishing;
and the New Testament is under the dispensation of grace
– and that’s why God is loving and gracious,
is proven to be false.
It just doesn’t add up.
If Joseph Prince’s doctrine was right,
there would be a lop-sided emphasis
of God’s compassion, favor, kindness,
forgiveness, mercy, care, pardon and love
in the New Testament over the Old.
Yet, the data shows the opposite
– that for every category,
there are more occurrences of such ‘positive’ attributes of God
in the Old Testament than the New.
God’s compassion, favor, kindness, forgiveness, mercy and love
are ‘surprisingly’ abundantly displayed in the Old Testament.
The same God of grace in the Old Testament
is the same God of grace in the New Testament.
Right now, I’m going to let you have a quick survey
of the massive amount of verses in the Old Testament
that talk about God’s love, compassion, forgiveness,
mercy, kindness and the favor of God
(Just quickly browse through):
Exodus 15:13 NIV
13 “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed…”
Exodus 20:6 NIV
6 “but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 34:6 NIV
6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Exodus 34:7 NIV
7 “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin…”
Leviticus 26:9 NIV
9 “‘I will look on you with favor…’”
Numbers 14:18 NIV
18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion…’
Numbers 14:19 NIV
19 “In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them…”
Numbers 14:20 NIV
20 The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.”
Deuteronomy 4:31 NIV
31 “For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you…”
Deuteronomy 5:10 NIV
10 “but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV
9 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”
Deuteronomy 13:17 NIV
17 “… Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you…”
Deuteronomy 33:23 NIV
23 … “Naphtali is abounding with the favor of the Lord and is full of his blessing…”
1 Samuel 2:26 NIV
26 “And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.”
2 Samuel 22:51 NIV
51 “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”
1 Kings 3:6 NIV
6 Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David… You have continued this great kindness to him…
2 Kings 13:23 NIV
23 “But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…”
1 Chronicles 16:34 NIV
34 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV
14 “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Ezra 3:11 NIV
11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever…”
Nehemiah 9:17 NIV
17 “… But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them.”
Nehemiah 9:27 NIV
27 “… From heaven you heard them, and in your great compassion you gave them deliverers, who rescued them from the hand of their enemies.”
Nehemiah 9:30 NIV
30 “For many years you were patient with them…”
Nehemiah 9:31 NIV
31 “But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.”
Job 10:12 NIV
12 “You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit.”
Psalm 8:4 NIV
4 “what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”
Psalm 17:7 NIV
7 “Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.”
Psalm 30:5 NIV
5 “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime…”
Psalm 34:8 NIV
8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 36:7 NIV
7 “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 57:10 NIV
10 “For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.”
Psalm 69:16 NIV
16 “Answer me, Lord, out of the goodness of your love; in your great mercy turn to me.”
Psalm 78:38 NIV
38 “Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.”
Psalm 84:11 NIV
11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”
Psalm 86:5 NIV
5 “You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.”
Psalm 86:13 NIV
13 “For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.”
Psalm 86:15 NIV
15 “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 95:7 NIV
7 “he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care…”
Psalm 99:8 NIV
8 “Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.”
Psalm 100:5 NIV
5 “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Psalm 103:2-3 NIV
2 “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits – 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
Psalm 103:8 NIV
8 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Psalm 103:11 NIV
11 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.”
Psalm 103:17 NIV
17 “But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.”
Psalm 111:4 NIV
4 “He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate.”
Psalm 116:1 NIV
1 “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.”
Psalm 116:5 NIV
5 “The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.”
Psalm 144:3 NIV
5 “Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them?”
Psalm 145:9 NIV
9 “The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”
Proverbs 3:34 NIV
34 “He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.”
Proverbs 28:13 NIV
13 “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Isaiah 43:4 NIV
4 “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life.”
Isaiah 49:13 NIV
13 “… For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.”
Isaiah 55:7 NIV
7 “… Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”
Isaiah 63:7 NIV
7 “I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us – yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.”
Isaiah 63:9 NIV
9 “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
Jeremiah 31:3 NIV
3 The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
Lamentations 3:22 NIV
22 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”
Ezekiel 36:9 NIV
9 “I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown.”
Ezekiel 39:25 NIV
25 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel…”
Daniel 1:9 NIV
9 “Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel.”
Daniel 9:9 NIV
9 “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.”
Joel 2:13 NIV
13 “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.”
Jonah 3:9 NIV
9 “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
Jonah 4:2 NIV
2 … I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
Micah 7:18 NIV
18 “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”
Nahum 1:7 NIV
7 “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.”
Zechariah 10:6 NIV
6 “I will strengthen Judah and save the tribes of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them…”
Malachi 3:17 NIV
17 … “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.”
With the many verses that you are perusing,
can you be honest and ask yourself,
do they appear more like passages
you would find in the Old or New Testament?
We don’t have to wait until we reach the New Testament
before we discover the God,
who is loving, gracious, merciful, kind,
forgiving and loves to bestow His favor on His people.
Such ‘positive’ attributes of God are found in abundance
in the Old Testament,
more than they are in the New.
I hope, by now, you would begin
to see through the lies of Joseph Prince.
How can Joseph Prince hold to the teaching
that the Old Testament God
was much harsher than He is of the New,
and the New Testament God
is much more loving and merciful than He was of the Old.
By your quick survey,
haven’t you rediscovered that our God
is a God who loves, is gracious, forgiving,
kind, merciful and shows His favor to His people.
Where?
In the Old or New Testament?
In the Old Testament!
The Old Testament verses you have surveyed
which talk about God’s love, mercy and grace, etc,
which are already numerous,
are not the only verses.
Please see the bulk of the verses that I’ve laboriously compiled below.
Do take time when you are more available to go through the following Old Testament verses which talk about
God’s love, mercy, grace, etc,
(and, these in turn, are not even exhaustive):
Gen 4:4; 6:8; 19:16,19; 24:27; 32:10; 39:21; 50:20;
Ex 1:20; 11:3; 12:36; 33:12,19; Lev 4:20,26; Num 15:26;
Deut 1:25; 4:21,37; 7:8,12,13; 8:7; 9:6; 10:15,18; 23:5; 30:3; 33:3,12,16;
Ruth 2:20; 1 Sam 20:14; 2 Sam 2:5; 7:15,28; 10:12; 12:24,25; 24:14; 1 Kgs 8:23; 10:9; 2 Kgs 13:4;
1 Chron 16:41; 17:13; 19:13; 21:13; 2 Chron 1:8; 2:11; 5:13; 6:14,41,42; 7:3,6; 9:8; 20:21; 30:9,18-20; 32:25;
Ezra 7:27-28; 9:9; Neh 1:5,11; 9:19,32; 13:22,26; Job 37:13;
Psa 5:7,12; 6:4,9; 13:5; 18:50; 21:7; 23:6; 25:6-8; 26:3; 28:6; 30:7; 31:7,16,21,22; 32:1,10; 33:5,18,22; 36:5,10; 37:18,28; 40:10,11; 42:8; 43:3; 44:3,26; 47:4; 48:9; 51:1; 52:8; 57:3; 55:22; 59:16; 60:5; 61:7; 62:12; 63:3; 65:9; 66:20; 68:19; 69:13; 73:1; 77:7,8; 78:68; 85:7; 86:15; 87:2; 88:11; 89:1,2,14,17,24,28,33; 90:14,17; 91:14; 92:2; 94:18; 98:3; 101:1; 102:13; 103:4,13; 106:1,4,7,45; 107:1,8,15,21,31, 108:4,6; 109:21,26; 115:1; 117:2; 118:1-4,29; 119:41,64,76,88,156; 130:4,7; 135:14; 136:1-26; 138: 2,8; 143:8,12; 145:8; 146:8; 147:11;
Prov 3:12; 8:17,21,35; 11:1,27; 12:2; 13:15; 15:9; 18:22;
Isa 14:1; 38:17; 49:8,10,15; 51:3; 54:7-8,10; 55:3; 60:10; 61:2; 63:9; 66:2;
Jer 2:2; 9:24; 12:15; 15:15; 30:18; 31:2,20,34; 32:18; 33:8,11,26; 36:3; 42:12; 50:20;
Lam 3:22,32; Dan 1:9; 7:22; 9:4,17,18;
Hos 1:7; 2:19; 6:6; 11:1,4,8; 14:8; Amos 5:15; Mic 7:19,20; Zeph 2:7; 3:17; Zech 1:13,16; 10:3; Mal 1:2.
(Note: Verses about ‘The Goodness of God’ are also included.)
So, if one cares to read the Old Testament carefully,
God as the loving, gracious, merciful, kind and forgiving God
is also strongly portrayed in the Old Testament,
not just the New.
One must not forget that the Old Covenant God
is described in the scriptures in Psalm 103:8 as
“merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.”
Psalm 103:8 NKJV
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.”
We must always remember that the Old Covenant God in Psalm 103:10 is one
who “has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor punished us according to our iniquities.”
Psalm 103:10 NKJV
10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.”
Hence, one must not be deceived by Joseph Prince,
who falsely teaches that
the law, the wrath, anger and judgement of God
characterise the Old Testament,
whereas grace, love, mercy and forgiveness
characterise the New Testament.
There is no such demarcation
that could be supported by the scriptures.
Section 2
The idea that law belongs to the Old Testament
and grace belongs to the New Testament,
which is the pet doctrine of Joseph Prince, is plainly false.
Grace existed in both covenants.
Grace was manifested by God
through the law in the Old Testament,
and a greater grace was manifested
through Jesus in the New Testament, John 1:16-17.
Did we have grace in the Old Testament before the Lord Jesus?
Yes, most certainly.
There was an abundant display of grace under the law of Moses.
It is significant to note that Moses,
the mediator of the Old Covenant
through whom the law was given,
found grace in the sight of God in Exodus 33:12:
Exodus 33:12 NKJV
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’
There was grace even in the giving of the law.
And you would begin to see that there was grace
even though the people had committed the sin of idolatry
by building the golden calf when the Law was given
– in that God displayed His grace even in His judgement:
Exodus 34:5-7 NIV
5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
God had at first wanted to destroy the whole nation of Israel and start anew with Moses.
If not for the pleading and intercession of Moses on behalf of the Israelites
and if not for His grace,
God might have destroyed them.
Can you see the marvellous grace of God,
a God who is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love,
that was displayed,
even in the midst of judging and punishing His people
at the giving of the law in Exodus 34:5-7?
The grace of God was shown in abundance
to the people under the Old Covenant.
Does Joseph Prince know that the word ‘grace’
was mentioned five times in a short passage in Exodus 33:12-17?
Exodus 33:12-17 NKJV
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
Is Joseph Prince aware that Exodus
is not in the New Testament but Old Testament?
Can you now see that Joseph Prince’s teaching
that the Old Covenant people
are under the Law and not under grace,
while the New Covenant people
are under grace and not under the Law,
is mere hogwash?
In Exodus 33:12-17,
Moses pleaded for God’s mercy to be shown to His people
based on His grace to him and the people.
Because God was gracious
to Moses in verse 12,13,16 and 17, and His people in verse 16,
God changed His mind about destroying His people
and promised that His presence would go with them.
God relented because of His grace
that was shown to Moses the law-giver.
God said to Moses,
“I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight…” verse 17.
So instead of wiping the whole nation off the face of the earth,
only 3,000 out of the roughly two million people were destroyed by God.
Is that not due to the abounding and merciful grace of God?
Was there not grace under the Old Covenant?
Of course, there was!
Who says there is no grace in the Old Testament?
Joseph Prince has falsely taught
that the Old Covenant people in the Old Testament
were under the Covenant of law,
giving the impression that they have hardly experienced God’s grace.
But as we shall see,
God’s grace was substantially portrayed
in the Old Testament, not just the New.
If one cares to look, it would not be long for him to discover
that God’s grace fills the pages of the Old Testament:
It was the grace of God that preserved his people in Egypt even though they were severely ill-treated.
It was the grace of God that delivered His people from bondage in Egypt.
It was the grace of God that opened the Red Sea and saved the Israelites from the Egyptians who were pursuing to slaughter them.
It was the grace of God that provided manna as food for the entire nation for 40 years in the wilderness,
and their clothes didn’t wear out, and their feet were well taken care of,
despite their disobedience.
It was the grace of God that His people were given the law to mark them as the privileged and chosen people of God.
It was the grace of God to Moses (Ex 33:12,13,16,17) and His people (Ex 33:16)
that changed God’s mind about destroying His people and promised that His presence would go with them.
It was the grace of God that gave the Israelites victory over their enemies to occupy Canaan, the Promised Land.
It was the grace of God that judges were raised to deliver them from the attacks of their enemies, time and time again
when the people cried out to Him for help,
even though these attacks were a result of their own sins.
It was the grace of God that provided a way for the Old Covenant people to commune with God through the tabernacle.
It was the grace of God that provided the children of Israel a way to be cleansed from their sins through the animal sacrifices.
“Grace is seen even in the Mosaic Law
– instead of condemning the one who sinned,
the offering of animal sacrifices
are the means of grace
to restore the transgressor to a right relationship with God.”
We could go on and on…
All that could not have happened except for the grace of God.
Can you see how much of the grace of God
was present in the Old Testament?
The Apostle John himself said
that this display of grace in the Old Testament
was pointing to the greater grace
that was incarnate in the person of Christ
in the New Testament in John 1:16:
John 1:16 NIV
16 “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.”
So, it is crystal clear
that grace existed in the Old Testament before Jesus.
Here is the difference, though.
Grace existed before Jesus under the Old Covenant,
but the means of grace was Jesus in the New Covenant.
The cross was the pinnacle in the manifestation of the grace of Christ for man in the New Covenant.
Grace had already existed in the mind of God
before the foundation of the world
and was demonstrated through the law of Moses,
but the plan was manifested fully and completely through Jesus.
Thus, grace and law are complementary allies,
working together in unveiling the grand, gracious and glorious salvation
that God had planned out before the beginning of time.
Joseph Prince, in trying to pit grace against law,
is undermining the scriptures
and working against the grand purpose of God.
Section 3
As I’ve already mentioned in Section 1
– while the love of God to His people appears about 70 times in the New Testament,
God’s love appears about 185 times in the Old Testament
– more than twice that of the New.
This means the love of God is talked about a lot more
in the Old Testament than the New.
Joseph Prince’s dispensational theology
that God is a God of love to the New Covenant believers
because they are under the Covenant of grace,
and God is a God of wrath to Old Covenant people
because they are under the Covenant of law,
is again called into question.
Many believers have marvelled at the intimate love that Jesus had for John in the New Testament and vice versa.
John ‘proudly’ describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” in John 13:23:
John 13:23 NIV
23 “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.”
Yet, they have missed the great intimacy
that was displayed in the Old Testament,
where
“The Lord would speak to Moses face to face,
as one speaks to a friend” in Exodus 33:11.
Exodus 33:11 NIV
11 “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend…”
Many believers have also forgotten that David,
who was so close to God and intimate with Him,
that he was called “a man after God’s own heart”
in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22,
lived under the Old Covenant, not the New.
I believe that the greatest accolade
that could ever be lavished on a man was Moses,
who knew God face to face:
“Since then no prophet had risen in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face.”
Deuteronomy 34:10 NIV
10 “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”
If there was anyone who knew what it means to be intimate with God, it was Moses.
If there was anyone who knew what it means to know God face to face, it was Moses.
Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai alone with God.
There was no television or mobile to distract him.
There were no people to disturb him.
He was all alone with God.
Have you ever asked the question,
how did Moses spend 40 days and 40 nights alone with God?
Have you ever meditated on the sublime truth
of the intimate communion that transpired
between Moses and God for a continuing 40 days?
For 40 days and 40 nights, they were together.
I mean, was there so much to talk to God about?
For some of us, just one hour in the presence of God would make us bored (not that God is boring).
We don’t know what to do with God.
After half an hour with God, we have already run out of things to say.
But, not Moses.
Moses knew how to be intimate with God.
He knew how to bathe in the shekinah presence of God.
He did it not only once. He did it twice.
First, it was to receive the Ten Commandments.
The second time was when the Israelites worshipped the Golden Calf and sinned against God.
And for 40 days and 40 nights, he had to intercede for the Israelites to plead with God for mercy on behalf of the people.
Yes, Moses was remembered as the great prophet who perform signs and wonders.
But most importantly,
Moses was remembered
as one who knew God, intimately, face to face.
The example of Moses,
which portrays the deep intimacy
between God and man in the Old Testament,
is somewhat a heightened version
of John’s intimate love for Jesus
in the New Testament.
The love relationship between David and God
under the Old Covenant
is more than comparable
with the love that John had for the Lord Jesus
under the New.
Just go through the Psalms,
and you will richly discover that King David
talks a lot more about the love of God for him and His people, and his love for God under the Old Covenant,
than what the Apostle John did about God’s love in the gospel of John and his epistles under the New Covenant.
It is ‘verse-upon-verse-upon-verse’ rendering of God’s love,
and especially in some chapters in the Book of Psalms about God’s unfailing love
– and I’m not exaggerating!
The number of verses that David takes
to express the unfailing love of God and his love for Him
is aplenty and in glorious abundance!
Oh, how David describes God’s love and his love for God
so lavishly and by the use of superlatives,
is what is heart-warming.
Psalm 23, which describes God as the shepherd
who loves and cares deeply for His people
isn’t written by a New Testament saint
but an Old Testament king.
Psalm 23, which represents
one of the highest expressions of God’s love and care,
is not in the New Testament
but the Old.
Can you see that in a certain sense,
God’s love is displayed more numerously and in greater intensity
in the Old Testament than the New.
So, who says the Old Testament only represents the God of wrath,
and the New Testament only epitomises the God of love?
It is a false assumption and demarcation
that Joseph Prince has churned out to deceive the people.
For one, to posture that the Old Testament God
is wrathful, judging and punishing,
while the New Testament God
is loving, gracious and merciful
is not only a gross oversimplification
but totally unbiblical.
Joseph Prince has done something far worse:
He preaches only a God of love, grace and mercy,
but he obliterates the other half
as he teaches that God is no longer wrathful, judging and punishing
to New Covenant people.
Joseph Prince Is teaching a different God of the Bible.
He is teaching a God, who isn’t revealed in the scriptures,
but one which he concocts out of his imagination.
Furthermore, the grace, patience and longsuffering of God
with His unfaithful people
were more incredibly displayed
in the Old Testament in the Book of Hosea
than any other book of the New Testament.
God instructed Prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute,
or, as some scholars said that his wife became one
only after Hosea married her.
Hosea’s wife could never stay faithful.
She committed adultery repeatedly and unrepentantly.
Any husband would have divorced her straightaway.
But Hosea was instructed by God to receive her back,
each time she became unfaithful.
The forgiving actions of Hosea
was to demonstrate the God
who was marvellously forgiving and patient
with His Old Covenant people,
who were repeatedly and unrepentantly unfaithful
by going after other gods.
God was gracious to them
as He had to patiently put up with
about more than a hundred years of rebellion and rejection of Him,
hoping they will return to Him.
But they were recalcitrantly unrepentant.
God had no choice but to use Assyria
to destroy the Northern kingdom of Israel.
For over a hundred years,
the longsuffering God had sent prophet after prophet
to warn the Southern kingdom, Judah, to repent.
God graciously and patiently waited for their return.
But when she persisted
in her wicked disobedience and rebellion,
God’s judgement had to fall.
He used Babylon to conquer Judah
and packed them off into exile.
It is clear from the scriptures
that God always has been and always will be
a God of grace,
and He always has been and always will be
a God of judgement.
God is not only a God of judgement in the Old Testament,
but He has also dealt graciously with them.
Many things that God did in the Old Testament
were an act of grace.
Hence, Joseph Prince’s portrayal
that God is only a God of law
under the dispensation or Covenant of law
in the Old Testament,
and God is only a God of grace
under the dispensation or Covenant of grace
in the New Testament,
is false.
The truth is God is portrayed as a God of grace,
both in the Old Testament as well as in the New.
Section 4
Joseph Prince loves to teach that the God
who is strict in his demands of Old Covenant people
is no longer the same
as He is extremely gracious, merciful and loving
to New Covenant people.
Don’t be deceived!
The strict requirements on the covenantal people of God apply
regardless of whether they are in the Old or the New Covenant.
The truth is, the strict requirements of obedience
on the Old Covenant people
are somewhat similar to the uncompromising demands
that the Lord Jesus, who is God Himself
requires of New Covenant believers in Luke 14:25-27 and 33
and Revelation 2:10:
Luke 14:25-27,33 NIV
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
33 “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”
Revelation 2:10 NIV
10 “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
Jesus demands a 100 percent loyalty
from New Covenant believers
that transcends even our closest family and friends.
He calls for our total commitment and ultimate allegiance,
which requires our willingness
to lay down our lives on the altar of sacrifice.
So, who says the Old Covenant God is stricter in His demands
than what the New Testament God requires?
In fact, from a certain perspective,
the requirements of the New Covenant
are even more demanding than the Old.
While there are many promises of wealth and prosperity
to Old Covenant people,
the New Covenant believers
are warned not to be covetous of wealth
and to expect suffering, persecution
and even martyrdom
as a typical norm of their Christian Faith.
Furthermore, while the Old Testament
has a massive 613 dos and don’ts, including the Ten Commandments,
many believers aren’t even aware that the New Testament has even more.
In the New Testament,
there are about 1,100 dos and don’ts,
nearly twice as many as the Old Testament.
The New Testament contains 1,100 things for us to do and not do,
and that’s part of being a New Testament Christian.
One also needs to know
that both law and grace are displayed
in both the Old and New Testament.
In the Old Testament,
God unleashed His judgement and wrath
against His Old Covenant people
during their Sinai wanderings for disobeying Him.
Yet, on another occasion,
God displayed His mercy and grace
when He sent Jonah to preach
to the wicked people of Nineveh.
In the New Testament,
God showed His mercy and grace
by sending His Son to die for the sins of the world.
Yet, in the same New Testament,
He warned about
His coming judgement and wrath
which was further spelled out
in chilling and gory details
in the Book of Revelation.
Some of the greatest displays of God’s grace and mercy
was not in the New Testament
but the Old Testament,
when God saved the entire city of Nineveh,
a city of more than 120,000 wicked people, from destruction:
Jonah 4:11 NIV
11 “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?”
Even Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost
pales in comparison.
Peter’s preaching at Pentecost, as great as it may be,
brought only 3,000 people (by comparison) into the Kingdom.
But Jonah’s preaching
brought the entire city of more than 120,000 people,
including the king to be converted.
Who says the grace of God
is only experienced in the New Testament?
Who says the grace of God
isn’t evident in the Old Testament?
God is a God of grace
both in the Old and the New Testament.
In fact, His grace that was displayed
in the case of Nineveh in the Old Testament
was much more abundant and far more bountiful
than many instances in the New Testament.
While one of the greatest displays
of God’s grace and mercy in the case of Nineveh
was not in the New Testament but the Old Testament,
the most horrifying manifestations
of God’s wrath and judgement that will be poured out
are not in the Old Testament but the New Testament
in the Book of Revelation,
when the terrifying wrath of God
will be mercilessly unleashed on the world.
This only goes to show that
Joseph Prince’s strict demarcation
between the God in the Old Covenant of law,
and the God in the New Covenant of grace,
is false.
There is no such demarcation.
God’s character encompasses
both His mercy, grace and love,
and also His wrath, judgement and punishment.
Both sides of His character are displayed
both in the Old and the New Testament.
For Joseph Prince to declare
that though God can display His wrath and judgement
in the Old Testament,
He can no longer do the same in the New Testament
because of the cross,
is pure heresy.
What is worse is,
Joseph Prince is sacrilegiously playing God
– by infringing on God’s sovereignty
– by ‘decreeing’
what God can and cannot do.
God is sovereign in the use of His wrath and mercy
regardless of whether it is the Old or New Testament.
God has chosen to display His wrath
not just in the Old Testament but also the New.
Romans 1:18 tells us that the wrath of God
is being displayed (present tense) against the world,
and the world is now under the wrath of God:
Romans 1:18 NIV
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”
The Apostle Paul warns in Romans 1:18
that God’s wrath has already been poured out
and is still being poured out on this present world.
Joseph Prince has deceived the multitudes
that Paul is only a preacher of grace and not wrath.
He is plainly going against the scriptures.
By perusing the numerous texts in Paul’s epistles,
it is utterly clear that
Paul is not only a preacher of grace
but he is also a preacher of wrath:
Romans 2:5,8 NIV
5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” 8 “But for those… who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Romans 5:9 NIV
9 “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
Romans 9:22 NIV
22 “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath – prepared for destruction?”
Ephesians 2:3 NIV
3 “… gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
Ephesians 5:6 NIV
6 “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
Colossians 3:5-6 NIV
5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10 NIV
10 “and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead – Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
1 Thessalonians 2:16 NIV
16 “… In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.”
God Himself will unleash His greatest wrath
against the ungodly at the coming of His Son, Christ Jesus,
in the New Covenant
as the Book of Revelation reveals:
Revelation 6:16-17 NIV
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” 17 “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Revelation 11:18 NIV
18 “The nations were angry, and your wrath has come…”
Revelation 14:10 NIV
10 “they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
Revelation 15:1 NIV
1 “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues – last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.”
Revelation 15:7 NIV
7 “Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.”
Revelation 16:1 NIV
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
Revelation 16:19 NIV
19 “The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.”
Revelation 14:19 NIV
19 “The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.”
Revelation 19:15 NIV
15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
Is Revelation an Old or New Testament book?
Revelation is a New Testament book.
And His wrath would be most fiercely and dreadfully poured out
at the second coming of Christ in the Book of Revelation.
Just as God’s love is lavishly displayed in the Old Testament,
God’s wrath will climax in the New in Revelation.
There is nothing as horrifying in the Old Testament
than the New Testament in Revelation,
that portrays this terrifying image
of the great winepress of God’s wrath,
crushing sinners mercilessly like grapes in Revelation 14:19 and 19:15.
“The God of love and wrath
is the same God
in the Old Testament and the New
– the only difference is as compared to the Old,
God’s grace is expressed in greater immensity
at the start of the New,
but God’s wrath is expressed in harsher proportions
at the close of it.” (George Ong)
So, Joseph Prince’s teaching
that while law is demonstrated in the Old Testament,
and grace is displayed in the New Testament
cannot stand the test of scriptures.
The truth is, both law and grace
are displayed both in the Old Testament and the New.
God does not have one ‘negative’ set of behaviour in the Old Testament
and another positive set of behaviour in the New Testament.
The Old Testament God
does not behave differently
in the New Testament.
He is the same God
in both the Old Testament as well as the New.
Moreover, God has revealed that He never changes:
“I the Lord do not change…” Malachi 3:6.
Malachi 3:6 NIV
“I the Lord do not change…”
God is unchanging in His character.
There might be one aspect of His attributes
that is revealed more in some passages or chapters or books of the Bible
than His other aspects.
But His attributes,
from the overall perspective of the entire scriptures,
remain the same,
whether it is in the Old or the New Testament.
The prophesied judgement on Jerusalem by Jesus
in Luke 19:42-44
that resulted in the hundreds of thousands of Jews
who were massacred by the Roman soldiers
took place in AD 70:
Luke 19:42-44 NIV
42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
Just like in the Old Testament,
this was a manifestation of God’s wrath.
And this happened after the cross.
The cross didn’t prevent
the display of God’s wrath on His people.