In a companion paper to this one, I talk a little bit about the mercy God shows to people. That post is titled, God’s Compassion. In this article, I will speak a little bit about the wrath of God.
We don’t understand God’s wrath when we don’t understand God properly. We have to be careful to not use human standards to evaluate God’s actions. He is perfect and holy and cannot be compared to us, His creation.
The International Bible Encyclopedia helps us understand God’s wrath:
“The divine wrath is to be regarded as the natural expression of the divine nature, which is absolute holiness, manifesting itself against the willful, high-handed, deliberate, inexcusable sin and iniquity of mankind. God’s wrath is always regarded in the Scripture as the just, proper, and natural expression of His holiness and righteousness which must always, under all circumstances, and at all costs be maintained.”1
God takes no pleasure in implementing His judgment. He is patient and merciful and willing to endure the sinfulness of man for a time, desiring our repentance. Romans 9:22 explains,
“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”
God’s patience, as well as His judgment, is shown in His interactions with groups and individuals. First, we will look at how God deals with His chosen people, Israel. There are many examples, but I will give just two.
Israel
2 Chronicles 30:9 “For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”
God disciplined Israel for not following His commands and allowed Israel to be taken captive. But, He desired that they return to Him and promised to accept them back.
This is a common pattern when Israel strayed from following God. He often chastised them and/or disciplined them for their good so that they would return to Him.
Psalm 78 is another passage that demonstrates this pattern. Verse 38 says
“But He [God], being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; and often He restrained His anger and did not arouse all His wrath.”
Israel avoids God’s anger against them when God ‘remembers’ that they “were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.”2 God shows them compassion instead of wrath because He recognizes their frailty.3
Thus in these examples, Israel avoided God’s wrath and only received His discipline. At other times, God unleashes His wrath when people refuse to turn from their wickedness.
The World
There is so much evil in the world that God could rightly judge large groups of people for their sin. Because of His compassion, He has restrained His broad scale wrath except in a few rare incidences recorded for us in the Bible.
Some examples of God not holding back His wrath on a large group of people are: The Great Flood;4 Sodom and Gomorrah;5 and a future event, The Last Battle.6 These incidents show God’s wrath being unleashed upon multitudes of people at one time.
The wickedness and disobedience toward God and His holy standard rightly deserves God’s judgment. Most of the time however, God’s deals with individuals which we will look at next.
Individuals
Up to this point, I have been writing about God’s response to Israel on a national level. I have also talked about God’s wrath poured out on whole cities and the world. But God addresses individuals, and gives each of them the opportunity to avoid His wrath.
The individuals headed for God’s wrath are described in one passage as ‘the sons of disobedience’. Ephesians 5:5-6 says,
“For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”
These ‘sons of disobedience’ can escape God’s wrath by putting their faith in the sacrifice of Jesus. John 3:16 sums up this truth,
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
Those who perish are the folks who do not put their faith in Christ. They don’t have to perish, but can turn from their own way of living and accept God’s way.
The folks who put their faith in Jesus become the believers talked about in the next section.
Believers
Believers have God’s promise that they will never be subjected to God’s wrath. Hallelujah! Romans 5:8-9 states,
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
Through Jesus, believers accept God’s forgiveness and receive the inheritance reserved for His children. They escape God’s wrath and become part of His family.
Wrath or Discipline
Earlier in this article I mentioned times when God disciplines or chastises His own. God’s discipline is not the same as His wrath being unleashed. His wrath is normally restrained, but when used (as in the examples I gave), it expresses His righteousness toward sin that has fully run its course.
God’s discipline on the other hand, is described in Scripture as being reserved for His sons. The purpose being so that believers can share His holiness.
In one passage, discipline is shown as a demonstration of God’s love, just as an earthly father would do for his son.7 As Hebrews 12:9 expresses it,
“Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?”
The discipline of God in our lives corrects our behavior and leads to faith. Sometimes there is sorrow involved in God’s discipline, which produces a Godly repentance. The book of Corinthians speaks to this in 2 Corinthians 7:10:
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Conclusion
God’s wrath is rightly dispensed upon unrighteousness. Very rarely has God judged whole cities or the world. In His mercy, God works with individuals to bring them to Himself and find forgiveness.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for sin and endure the wrath that we deserve. When we put our faith in Jesus, we escape the wrath of God and become His sons. (I explain more about putting our faith in Jesus in my post, The Gospel.)
Appendix
The Last Battle
Revelation 19:11-21 describes what I have called The Last Battle. It is the end-time pouring out of God’s wrath against those who refuse to repent.
Verse 17 in this passage refers to the event as the “great supper of God”, which is provided for the birds of the air. Those who are against God think they can defeat God in a great battle. They are wrong and are soundly defeated. The birds will eat their flesh in a great supper.
I am calling this The Last Battle because in this event, the beast and those with him who are against God, make war against Christ who is depicted riding a white horse.
The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assemble to make war. The beast and the false prophet are seized and thrown into the lake of fire. Then, verse 21 says,
“And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
God’s compassion is available for everyone, including the folks participating in The Last Battle. Sadly, they refuse His grace, mercy, and salvation. In their pride, they battle against God and receive their just condemnation.
The Savior
God’s wrath is inevitable for us, which is why we need a savior. Not just any savior will do. In fact, there is only one: Jesus.
The evidence for Jesus as our Savior is very compelling. Therefore I have written a more in-depth paper concerning the evidence for Jesus in my paper, The Case for Christ.
1 International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia entry for wrath.
2 Psalm 78:39
3 Psalm 78 says that God ‘remembered’ expressing the actions of God in human terms.
4 Genesis 6:5 – 8:22
5 Genesis 18:20 – 19:29
6 Revelation 19:11-21. For more information see the section, The Last Battle, in the appendix.
7 Hebrews 12:5-11