When we think of the wrath of God some picture an angry God hurling lighting bolts at hated targets. Confusion can occur as we attempt to reconcile the biblical references that God is love and those about the wrath of God. Our omnipotent God is beyond our understanding, and our explanations are clouded and weak at best. Recently, I had been working through the God of love and the wrath of God, and tried to think of them in a different way. I do not claim any great revelations, but here are some thoughts.
Something that did help me was to remember that God’s nature and character is unchanging, so God is always love. His actions are always consistent with His character and nature. We also know that the wrath of God is a biblical reality and is consistent with His nature. Any illustration can never be without issues, but this analogy is what has helped me. Imagine God’s love as a river, flowing freely to the sea. Suppose that several large trees fall into the river and block the free flow. Immediately there is pressure on the trees from the pressure of the moving water.
The goal of God’s love is redemption so that we might get to know Him and develop a deep relationship with Him in worship and obedience. The love of God is like the river in that it continues to flow, pouring out expressions of His nature and character, and will move against anything [like the trees] that would hinder the knowing of who God is and the development of the intimate relationship that God desires. The wrath of God is God’s love response to remove that which hinders His purpose in our lives. Because our sinful desires were the reason for God’s response, our perception of God’s response is wrath. However, God’s response is like the parent disciplining a child that had run across a busy street; it is not a response of hating the child, but love and protection to avoid future danger. Discipline, correction, and even punishment can be misinterpreted.
[The wrath of God is also used to how God deals with the wicked. As Romans 1 states, God revealed His greatness through His creation that all would seek Him out. God extended His love and mercy to all, but instead, the human race rejected God and chose to follow their own sinful desires. God allowed those who rejected Him to suffer the consequences of living a life of emptiness that only He can fill, and ending in eternal separation from Him. Eternal judgement against that which is contrary to God’s will is a reality. As part of the process, God sometimes uses outside forces, natural disasters, and other calamities as evidenced in Scripture, but not all calamities should be classified as punishment from God. Diseases such as cancer, and similar things may be just a part of being human and in a class that is beyond our ability to grasp this side of eternity. Certainly, though God does not “cause” these, He can and does use them for His purposes and glory. ]
It is important to remember that God’s ultimate purpose will be accomplished. The issue is whether or not we will have the joy of being part of allowing God to work through us or missing the blessing when God works around us because of sin. This is not an attempt to have an all-encompassing illustration, but to provide just another way to view the issue.
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