Isaiah 6:8-13 "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send...'"

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:
’Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.”
Make the mind of this people dull,
  and stop their ears,
  and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
  and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
  and turn and be healed.’
Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said:
‘Until cities lie waste
  without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
  and the land is utterly desolate;
until the Lord sends everyone far away,
  and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.
Even if a tenth part remain in it,
  it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
  whose stump remains standing
  when it is felled.’
The holy seed is its stump” (Isaiah 6:8-13).

Question:

Why does God seem so angry in the Old Testament? He tells Isaiah that he will make them not hear or see or understand, then in the New Testament he sent Jesus and he was our human understanding of God and he is nothing like angry. Thanks. I used to listen to you on Unity FM. I miss hearing you. Blessing to you.

Comment:

This passage is from Isaiah's description of the vision in which he received his call to prophecy; he is lifted to the throne room of God, a hot coal is placed on his tongue to burn away all words not divinely sourced, and he is sent to give spiritual direction to the kingdom of Judah. So in approaching this passage, keep in mind that Isaiah is intent on justifying his words by having God describe conditions as they already are in the kingdom—the leaders are locked in fear-based reactions to outer events, refusing to hear the word of God, refusing to believe Isaiah's message. The prophet is warning of dire consequences. He has God saying, in effect, 'OK, fine! Be that way! I'll show you!'   Your question about why God seems harsher in the Old Testament than in the New has, I think, more to do with changes in us than with changes in God. God is. Nothing about God can change, because God is all that is. What changes is our ability to understand, receive and express God in our lives. If God seems angry, it's because we are choosing to see an angry God. As we learn to be less angry ourselves, we experience more of divine Light and Love. God seems to change. But the Light and Love have always been there; what has changed is our ability to recognize and receive those qualities.   Thank you for the kind words about my work on Unity.FM. I'm happy to report that I will be resuming my program in late September.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed