Is God Harsh?

Question:
Hey! I have a question about something in the Scripture as to what God said. Why would want something so harsh to happen? Since God`s a God of love and doesn`t want to force himself upon people, why did He say this?: The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: `Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day, anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.` (Exodus 31:12-15 NLT)

Answer:
It is very important we have a right conception of God. The danger of over emphasizing some attributes of God more than other would mean we have a distorted picture.

The Bible clearly affirms the love of God when it says in 1 John 4: 8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love”. Love is an attribute of God that we widely talk about and rightly so. But Love is one attribute of God. The other important attribute of God is His justice. God is holy in the very essence of His person. The idea of God’s Holiness is a central teaching of the Bible. Professor R.C. Sproul says the word ‘holy’ calls attention to all that God is.

God’s holiness and justice demands that He cannot take sin lightly. God’s Law requires that death is the punishment for our sin. A rebellion against His commands cannot be taken as a joke because it is a violation of God’s character. In light of the seriousness of sin and the punishment it requires, God’s mercy, love, and grace appear all the more sweet to us.

In the passage in Exo 31:12-15 we must understand Sabbath in order to know why God demanded death sentence for the defaulters. Sabbath was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel. When some one takes the command casually, it showed his lack of regard for the covenant God made with them. (Sabbath is applicable to the Israelites and not for the church.) So God demanded death sentence because of the seriousness of the offence. This shows the justice side of God. It is this justice side of God that demanded a sacrifice of atonement for our sins and necessitated the coming of Christ into this world. The love of God and His justice are two sides of God’s character and they need to be seen in balance.