Revelation chapters 15 and 16 speak quite boldly and graphically about God’s wrath. Wrath is an aspect of God’s nature that can be difficult for us to understand. In fact, we may even avoid the subject because we don’t like to think about it. Or, as in my case, we may find ourselves being critical of God’s expression of His wrath. There have been quite a few times, after reading a scripture verse, when I would find myself thinking, “Wow, God, that seemed harsh.” Of course, I knew I was wrong and God was not. But I think this is all too common among believers. So let’s take a closer look.
The wrath of God: first of all what is it? One definition is that it is “the necessary,
just, and righteous retribution against sin.”
All three aspects are important.
It is necessary. It is just. And it is righteous.
Let’s understand a little more clearly who God is by
understanding various aspects of His nature.
He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. He is all-powerful or has power over all
things. He is everywhere and
“everytime.” He is all-knowing. And He is all-good, or He is the greatest
good, completely good, and the source of all good. And I even want to add my own made up words: omni-just, omni-righteous, omni-great, and omni-love. It is important for us to understand that God
is not inconsistent within Himself. None
of these “omnies” conflict with each other.
God’s expression of His wrath will never conflict with His love or goodness
or righteousness or any other aspect of His nature. On the contrary it is an expression of those
very things.
An aspect of God’s character that has been important for me
to come to understand better is His goodness.
I have come to accept that He is so good that I just don’t even have an
inkling of the magnitude of the greatness of His goodness. It is so great, I can’t comprehend it. Now imagine turning away from this
omnibenevolence. It may help to imagine
a beggar turning away from the warm-hearted offer of assistance from the
richest person on earth because of dislike of the color of his hair, or because
of being distracted by some worthless trinket in the trash. When we turn away from God to something else,
anything else, the magnitude of the offense is millions of times worse
(actually more than millions of times).
To turn away from God, to refuse His love, is incomprehensibly offensive.
One thing we can understand is a person responding with
righteous indignation to an evil done.
But God … God responds with omni-righteousness, omni-indignation … with wrath.
When we sin, we deserve His wrath. If we have not put our trust in Jesus, we
should fear His wrath. But if we have
put our trust in Him, because of His omni-goodness He not only made a way, but paid
the price to satisfy His omni-justice so that His omni-wrath does not destroy
us. Instead, He lavishes grace on us and
wraps us safely in His omni-loving arms.
Oh, I love those arms wrapped around me, where I am held closely to His
heart - safe from His wrath.
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