However unpopular the wrath of God may be,
if you don’t have an angry God, you don’t have the Biblical God.
God is an angry God (1:18), His wrath is nothing to be ashamed of (1:16), and if I am reading Paul correctly, God’s anger is what makes His love so incomprehensible. It is a God who wrath who remarkably moves toward us in love.
This may be pushing the envelope, but I consider God’s wrath a beautiful thing, in some ways, because it means He is a God who feels; He is a God who actually does give a rip about the horrors of this world and about the injustices that have happened to you. One of the most slanderous allegations against God is the question we all wrestle with: “how can God allow suffering?” This question posits that God lacks compassion. The Bible reveals that God’s emotional reaction to our world and to my sin is infinite, it is immeasurable; He grieves (Genesis 6:6) and is indignant about humanity’s rebellion against Him. The beauty of God’s wrath is that it reveals that God feels, that God cares, and it reveals the extent that God loves, for despite His wrath toward us, He poured out His wrath on His Son, out of love for us.
If we don’t see His wrath clearly, we will never see humanity as helpless and hopeless. If we don’t see our world as helpless and hopeless, God’s incomprehensible love will be reduced to “that which God is supposed to do,” and we will be without awe. Read through 1:18-32 carefully. Paul teaches that God’s wrath is revealed from heaven, not that it will be some time in the future. How is God’s wrath revealed? I believe what Paul is expressing is that it is revealed…through human depravity. In other words, as we walk through this world, every act of corruption, lust, violence and apathy is meant to say to us- “this isn’t what God wanted.” The state of the world is what reveals how grieved and displeased God must be.
Humanity, in its corruption, stands helpless and hopeless before a holy God in a world that we asked for, that incurs God’s wrath.
2 Comments:
This is such a powerful concept - that God's wrath is seen in His handing mankind over to their sinful desires. It's like, "Fine, you want that, see what it is truly like." It is easy to fail to see how that means much - especially to someone who doesn't see the condition of the world as that bad. But as a parent of two young kids, I know how hard it is to let them hurt themselves (in whatever way it happens) so that they will learn. Sometimes the kid has to keep jumping of the couch and get hurt to help them understand why you said not to.
It is like that with God. "You want to sleep around? Fine. Do it. And then get the diseases, lose the intimacy, become a shell of your self. That's why I said to not do it." But it isn't in a pompous arrogant way. You know it had to break His heart. I can't stand to see my kids hurt, but I know they have to feel pain to learn. It just really brings a different element to His wrath. That picture of the grieving and hurt Father allowing a lesson to be learned is a far far cry from the dark and vengeful God striking people with lightning.
By
David M. Staples, at 4:10 PM
This is an awesome post, David. Great example.
By
John Hever, at 9:45 AM
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