The Day I Glimpsed God's Anger (And Learned More About His Love)
Does God get angry? In our modern world, may would say no, but if we read the Bible we see a much different picture.
The wrath of God is an unpopular topic. It’s popular these days to think of the God of the Old Testament as a “God of wrath,” and the God of the New Testament as a “God of Love.” But the Bible is clear that God does not change. He’s the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. His love and holiness are eternal; therefore His anger (wrath) towards anything that would hurt His loved ones or mar His holiness also remains in place.
If you love someone, you rightfully hate anything that would hurt them. I see this in myself. Recently we went sledding and let two-year-old Thea experience the rush of sliding down a snow-covered hill. When Thea sleds, my job is to jog behind the sled and help steer it with little pushes of my foot. That way I can be with her, keep her safe, and be right there to pick her up when her run is over.
The first day, it was pure joy. On the second day, the snow was icier and the hill was more crowded. We tried to keep closer to the side of the hill where, unbeknownst to me, there were hidden patches of ice. As I jogged behind her, mid-steer I hit a patch of ice and fell down hard. Thea took a spill and I did a limping, running, crawl to get to her.
My heart was filled with two conflicting emotions. First, there was pure relief that she was just a little scared but completely ok (and soon ready to tackle the sled hill again). Along side of that was pure frustration and contempt for my own shortcomings and limitations. While I don’t remember how I got to Thea, I remember grinding my teeth in frustration and losing sleep that night as I replayed the scene in my head. My failure led to a fall. In that moment, I got a tiny glimpse of what it must feel like for God when His children are hurt. A fierce love that cannot abide any harm.
In my story it was a combination of icy conditions and my own shortcomings that led to the injury. In other stories, the forces are far more evil. (Note; this next story is graphic, but I think necessary.)
Just over a year ago, I read an article titled, “The Woman in the Hamas Video is My Daughter.” It was written by the mother of Naama Levy, whose daughter was on every news channel after October 7th. You might have seen her dragged by her long brown hair into the back of a Jeep at gunpoint. Her ankles cut, blood on her sweatpants, barefoot and limping. In her article the mom writes: “What would you do if your daughter were being held hostage by violent rapists and murderers for two months? Perhaps the better question is: What wouldn’t you do?”
If that mother didn’t feel rage at her daughter’s attackers, you’d wonder how credible her love is.
Magnify that by the unlimited love God has for His children and His own holiness and you begin to understand what God’s wrath is like. Richard Lovelace helpfully shows that God’s love is not fully credible if it isn’t tied to his holy anger.
“The cross is the perfect statement both of God’s wrath against sin and of the depth of his love and mercy in the recovery of the damaged creation and its damagers. God’s mercy, patience, and love must be fully preached in the church. But they are not credible unless they are presented in tension with God’s infinite power, complete and sovereign control of the universe, holiness, and righteousness. And where God’s righteousness is clearly presented, compassionate warnings of his holy anger against sin must be given, and warnings also of the certainty of divine judgment in endless alienation from God which will be unimaginably worse than the literal descriptions of hell. It is no wonder that the world and the church are not awakened when our leadership is either singing a lullaby concerning these matters or presenting them in a caricature which is so grotesque that it is unbelievable.
The tension between God’s holy righteousness and his compassionate mercy cannot be legitimately resolved by remolding his character into an image of pure benevolence as the church did in the nineteenth century. There is only one way that this contradiction can be removed: through the cross of Christ which reveals the severity of God’s anger against sin and the depth of his compassion in paying its penalty through the vicarious sacrifice of his Son. In systems which resolve this tension by softening the character of God, Christ and his work become an addendum, and spiritual darkness becomes complete because the true God has been abandoned for the worship of a magnified image of human tolerance.” – Richard Lovelace, Dynamics for Spiritual Life, 84-85
So many people try to soften God's character to make Him more moderate and modern. But when we soften God's wrath, we inadvertently diminish His love. We paint a picture of a God who watches passively as His children stumble and fall, or worse, are abducted and brutalized, offering only a tepid hope that things might somehow get better.
This is not the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible hates sin and will destroy it. He demonstrated this definitively on the cross, where Jesus absorbed the full fury of His wrath against our sin. He demonstrates it every time a heart is transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, setting us free from the dominion of sin. And He will ultimately demonstrate it at the Second Coming of Christ, when all evil will be judged and eradicated.
This Sunday, we'll delve deeper into the wrath of God, not to revel in judgment, but to see more clearly the immeasurable love that fueled Christ's sacrifice. We'll explore how God's righteous anger against sin paves the way for His incredible grace and mercy.
Don't miss this opportunity to wrestle with this essential doctrine. Come with an open heart and mind, ready to be challenged and transformed by the truth of God's Word. Let's journey together into the depths of His character and discover the unwavering love that lies at the heart of His wrath.
With You;
Pastor Tim
