THE WRATH OF GOD
Greater minds and greater hearts have described the Lord in greater ways. For this particular attribute of God, I concede that others do better in painting a mental picture for us. At the end of this human explanation we will allow the Lord to describe Himself through His Words. The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology explains the wrath of God as the following:
"WRATH. The permanent attitude of the holy and just God when confronted by sin and evil is designated his ‘wrath’. It is inadequate to regard this term merely as a description of ‘the inevitable process of cause and effect in a moral universe’ or as another way of speaking of the results of sin. It is rather a personal quality, without which God would cease to be fully righteous and his love would degenerate into sentimentality. His wrath, however, even though like his love it has to be described in human language, is not wayward, fitful or spasmodic, as human anger always is. It is as permanent and as consistent an element in his nature as is his love. This is well brought out in the treatise of Lactantius, De ira Dei.
The injustice and impiety of men, for which they have no excuse, must be followed by manifestations of the divine wrath in the lives both of individuals and of nations (see Rom. 1:18–32); and the OT contains numerous illustrations of this, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the downfall of Nineveh (see Dt. 29:23; Na. 1:2–6). But until the final ‘day of wrath’, which is anticipated throughout the Bible and portrayed very vividly in Rev., God’s wrath is always tempered with mercy, particularly in his dealings with his chosen people (see, e.g., Ho. 11:8ff.). For a sinner, however, to ‘trade’ upon this mercy is to store up wrath for himself ‘on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Rom. 2:5). Paul was convinced that one of the main reasons why Israel failed to arrest the process of moral decline lay in their wrong reaction to the forbearance of God, who so often refrained from punishing them to the extent they deserved. They were presuming upon ‘the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience’, and failed to see that it was intended to lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4).
In their unredeemed state men’s rebellion against God is, in fact, so persistent that they are inevitably the objects of his wrath (Eph. 2:3), and ‘vessels of wrath made for destruction’ (Rom. 9:22). Nor does the Mosaic law rescue them from this position, for, as the apostle states in Rom. 4:15, ‘the law brings wrath’. Because it requires perfect obedience to its commands, the penalties exacted for disobedience render the offender more subject to the divine wrath. It is, to be sure, only by the merciful provision for sinners made in the gospel that they can cease to be the objects of this wrath and become the recipients of this grace. The love of God for sinners expressed in the life and death of Jesus is the dominant theme of the NT, and this love is shown not least because Jesus experienced on man’s behalf and in his stead the misery, the afflictions, the punishment and the death which are the lot of sinners subject to God’s wrath.
Consequently, Jesus can be described as ‘the deliverer from the wrath to come’ (see 1 Thes. 1:10); and Paul can write: ‘Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God’ (Rom. 5:9). On the other hand, the wrath of God remains upon all who, seeking to thwart God’s redemptive purpose, are disobedient to God’s Son, through whom alone such justification is rendered possible.”
Bibliography. R. V. G. Tasker, The Biblical Doctrine of the Wrath of God, 1951; G. H. C. Macgregor, ‘The Concept of the Wrath of God in the New Testament’, NTS 7, 1960–1, pp. 101ff.; H.-C. Hahn, NIDNTT 1, pp. 105–113.
What God Says of Himself?
“Vengeance is mine says the Lord and I will repay.” Romans 12:19
Deuteronomy 29:23-28 23The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. 24All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?” 25And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. 26They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. 27Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. 28In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”
Exodus 4:1414Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.
Deuteronomy 9:7-8 7Remember this and never forget how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the desert. From the day you left Egypt until you arrived here, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you.
2 Samuel 6:7 7The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
Psalm 103:8 8The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
John 2:13-17 13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Romans 1:18 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
Romans 2:55But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
Romans 2:88But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.
Romans 5:99Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Romans 9:2222What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?
Ephesians 2:33All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Ephesians 5:66Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.
Colossians 3:66Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
Jeremiah 10:10 10But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
Isaiah 60:10 10“Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion.
Jeremiah 21:55I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath.
Jeremiah 32:3737I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.
Psalm 38:1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.
Psalm 102:10 10because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.
Zechariah 7:12 12They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
Joshua 22:20 20When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things, did not wrath come upon the whole community of Israel? He was not the only one who died for his sin.’”
1 Chronicles 27:24 24Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. Wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book of the annals of King David.
2 Chronicles 24:1818They abandoned the temple of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger came upon Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 32:26 26Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
Isaiah 34:2 2The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.
Isaiah 54:8 8In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.
Hebrews 10:31 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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