The idea of a wrathful God makes people angry and upset. If you find yourself in a conversation with an agnostic or a nominal Christian about the nature and character of God, you’ll probably hear some rendition of the following: “I don’t believe in the kind of God presented by some people, an intolerant, demanding God. I believe in a God of love…” There was a time I said the same thing, even as a younger Christian. And for sure, the love of God in Christ is what this week is most profoundly all about. But I want to spend a few minutes on the uncomfortable subject of the wrath of God. Because it’s the truth - a biblically sound part of the WHOLE truth, and because it’s a liberating and compelling truth indeed.
For starters, let’s look at a few scenarios:
- Tamar, the young, beautiful daughter of King David, is raped by her half brother and then hated by him, not to mention permanently ruined in the Jewish culture of the time she lived.
- A 13 year old girl in New York state is abducted while riding her bicycle, sexually assaulted, killed and her body hidden by her murderer.
- Black men and women in Africa are rounded up, chained together and stuffed into dark cargo holds, taken from their homes and families and sold like animals into a lifetime of slavery.
- 6 million Jews are starved, tortured and exterminated in Nazi concentration camps in the 20th century.
- A thirteen year old disabled boy from Delmar, NY is smothered in the back of a van by his caretakers.
Of course, the list of injustices in the history of the world, those known and unknown, those great and small, could go on endlessly, the sheer volume of them orbiting around the earth to the sun a thousand times.
As the Creator, Sustainer, and King of the Universe, how ought a good, loving God respond to these atrocities? Should He ignore them in the name of being “kind and loving”? Should He minimize them and give the perpetrators an extenuating circumstances excuse? Should he shrug His cosmic shoulders and forget they ever happened in the name of being tolerant and understanding?
God forbid. The New Testament declares:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” ~Romans 1:18-19
It is precisely the beautiful goodness of the nature of God to utterly abhor sin of any kind. Forget just the obviously horrific sins in the list above. Would it be ok for God to wink at people cheating on their taxes, ruining their bodies with drugs, alcohol, food or work addictions? Can He simply look away from nasty emails sent at work or laziness that impacts the flourishing of a family? Can He stand by while the dug-in, unrelenting selfishness of every human being goes about the business of destroying all that is lovely and precious in the world He made?
If God were to dismiss without a peep any sin, he would no longer be a good, righteous and just God.
“God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all.” ~ 1 John 1:5
God has powerful, perfectly just wrath against any unrighteousness, and I’m glad He does. You should be too. We want a God who hates darkness. Who hates double-crossing and racism and murder. Who hates everything that perverts and twists and ruins us and those we love. Those HE loves.
You see the problem, don’t you? Of course you do. You and I, we aren’t the heroes in the stories of the bible. More often than not, we’re the villains. We are the bad guys. We are lost and justly under the wrath of a good and lovely Master of the Universe.
Ah, but here’s the genius of the gospel… God must punish and take vengeance upon sin, or He ceases to be just. And so He holds court as the righteous judge. And you and I and every person ever born, save One, are found guilty. Then, from the back of the courtroom, comes a man. A God-man, with spike holes in His hands and a spear hole in His side. A man who was dead, but now is alive. That man holds out those hands to His father, the judge. And His father is glad, knowing that the full fury and wrath of His righteous judgment have already been satisfied. The typhoon of light that burns and kills darkness has been unleashed on the Righteous Son of God, who alone could bear the sin of all men on this third rock from the sun, this home of the people He made for relationship with Himself. And the gavel comes down with a shocking verdict…”not guilty”. The sentence of death was already meted out to Another, and with God there is no double jeopardy.
Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher put it this way:
“In the gospel, God never trifles with human sin; we proclaim full, free, immediate forgiveness to the chief of sinners, but it is not in a way that makes us think the sin is trivial in God’s esteem. By the sacrifice of his Son, God renders it possible for him to be merciful without being unjust. In the substitution of Christ Jesus, we see justice and mercy peacefully embracing and conferring double honor on one another.”
So like the first day of spring, God in his son Jesus brings hope. He comes and saves us to the uttermost:
“Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. ~Hebrews 7:25
And God the Father, perfect in light and life, has HIS reward. He’s the very One who sent Jesus into the world. For this very reason. That all who believe upon Him may not perish, but have everlasting life.
So you see, you want a God of wrath. Who is also a God of unrelenting, unrivaled, justifying love. Repent, believe and be saved. Then go, and make disciples of the wonderful Jesus, who with His father and the Holy Spirit devised the brilliant plan to be both just and the Great Justifier.
Blessed be His name…
Your friend on the pilgrim road,
Loriann
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