Everlasting God

I've often heard that the God of the New Testament is not the same as the God of the Old Testament. They say there is no way He is the same because of God's character throughout each. I always had trouble reconciling the two characters of God. Or what I thought was two separate characters. Then I read this verse:

Jesus then appeared, arriving at the Jordan River from Galilee. He wanted John to baptize him. John objected, "I'm the one who needs to be baptized, not you!" But Jesus insisted, "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." So John did it. - Matthew 3:13-15

After I read it, I realized a few things. First, I can't just take the word of those I deem as leaders. Even leaders can be wrong. I can't look to other humans to tell me what to think. I have to look to God and His infinite wisdom. If I don't, I'll be led quite astray.

Second thing was a recurrence of the theme that has been resounding throughout my life since I got to Kuwait: we are in a story far larger than we can see. It is beyond us. Jesus tells John "God's work, putting all things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." We are a part of something so much grander. I find an almost surreal peace at the thought that all my suffering and the suffering of those around me has not been for naught. It does have purpose. In retrospect, some of it is easy to see, but some still, I must take it on faith alone that He has a plan.

The last thing I saw goes back to my opening paragraph and my second point, tying them together. If we are in a story, if God has these grand plans for us, if He is so much larger than us, and if we are limited in our finite knowledge, then how can we say that the God of Israel in the Old Testament is any different than the God the Father in the New Testament? How can we say we know what is truly loving? Horrible things were allowed to happen and God told armies to annihilate places, but maybe He has a higher developed sense of love and justice. How can we know for sure that they are so different? I don't think they're different. I think God is, was, and always will be the God that He started out to be. My God is everlasting. My God is the God of love.