“But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation” (Jeremiah 10:10, ESV).
We find great joy and comfort in God’s attributes of love and mercy. Yet to focus only on these characteristics leads to an unbiblical and unbalanced view of God. Increasingly in our society it is unacceptable to call anything sin. Our weak view of sin leads to the conclusion that it would be unfair of God to be wrathful toward men. Yet His is a wise, holy, and just love. Though He is loving and merciful, His holiness requires that He be angry with sin.
God’s wrath can be defined as a “righteous anger aroused by injustice and baseness.” It is never the uncontrolled, emotional reaction that too often characterizes our anger. It is also not the result of injured pride, or a bad temper – this type of anger is wrong. But it would be just as wrong to view injustice or other sin without being moved. “Even among men, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, though it is perhaps rarely found. But all of God’s indignation is righteous… Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in His world be morally perfect? Surely not. But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, that the Bible has in view when it speaks of God’s wrath” –J.I. Packer, Knowing God.
To anyone who believes the Bible, God’s wrath should not be thought of as merely the outdated theme of Jonathan Edwards and the Puritans. The Old and New Testaments speak of His anger and wrath more than His love and mercy. For example, the ESV version of Jeremiah contains the word “wrath” 20 times. In all cases it is describing God. The word “anger” is found 34 times. In comparison, “love” is found eight times in Jeremiah’s prophecy, and only five of those are speaking of God.
The New Testament is also full of verses that reveal God’s hatred of and wrath toward sin. (Matt. 3:7, Luke 21:22-24, John 3:36, Rom. 1:18, 2:5, 2:8, 5:9, 9:22, Eph. 5:6, Col. 3:6, I Thes. 2:16, Rev. 6:16, and more.) Not only is it full of verses regarding God’s wrath, but its main theme is how God’s wrath is dealt with. How does the truth of the cross make sense without an understanding of God’s wrath? Paul says that we were “saved by him (Christ) from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9) How? “By his blood.” The cross is the greatest display of wrath that the universe has ever witnessed. “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; …out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied” (Isa. 53:5 & 11). If the blood of Christ, the innocent and perfect Lamb, was required as a result of anything less than a righteous anger resulting from holiness, then it was a terrible tragedy. But we know that is not the case. The greatest display of wrath resulted from holiness, and was also, by the way, the greatest display of love.
Just as a parent who fails to discipline his child cannot be said to properly love him, so a God that could ignore injustice would not be a God of love. “God’s love is no mere amiable weakness, or effeminate softness. Scripture declares, ‘whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth’ (Heb. 12:6, KJV). God will not wink at sin, even in His own people. His love is pure, unmixed with any maudlin sentimentality” – A.W. Pink, The Attributes of God. Understanding God’s wrath is necessary to understanding God and His Word.