Have you ever heard people claim that the God of the Bible is two separate Gods—the Old Testament God and the New Testament God? These people say the Old Testament God is cruel and bloodthirsty, instructing the Israelites to destroy entire cities—women and children often included. Then the New Testament God—particularly God the Son, Jesus—is like a peace-loving hippie friend. How can God be full of both wrath (Nahum 1:2) and love (1 John 4:16)?
The answer is easier than many think.
On October 8, 1918, American soldier Alvin C. York, later known simply as Sergeant York, and his unit were sent to capture the Decauville Railway in France during World War I. Using a map written in French, the American soldiers mistakenly found themselves behind enemy lines. York led his unit in fighting and killing many German soldiers and took 132 German prisoners back to the American side. His actions were so heroic and dramatic that Hollywood turned them into a movie.
Years later, my grandmother loved to tell a story of Sergeant York, that same brave soldier who faced evil in the midst of a war while fighting for America’s freedom. He sat at the York family reunion in Tennessee, where my father, then a young boy, picked him out of the crowd of relatives to climb in his lap. Sergeant York gently rocked him to sleep amid the sound of distant family conversations and the smell of casseroles.
We have no problem accepting that one man can both kill evil men to protect our freedom and rock a little one to sleep so tenderly. How are we able to reconcile this? Both actions are rooted in love. Yet, many see a false dichotomy in God’s wrath and love.
We cannot properly define God’s love without understanding His wrath. After all, how can you truly know and appreciate the good news unless you know the bad news first?
God’s Wrath: His Answer to Sin
Ask people on the street if someone like Hitler deserves God’s wrath, and they will most likely say “yes” confidently. Ask the same people if they deserve God’s wrath, and they will most likely explain to you why they do not.
God’s actions are always controlled and perfect.
We have lost the reality in our society that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The apostle Paul explained that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (1:18). God does not have temper tantrums, destroying everything in sight because He is not happy with man. That thinking filters an infinite God through man’s finite mind. A temper tantrum is uncontrolled anger and selfishness; just ask any parent of a toddler. God’s actions are always controlled and perfect.
Paul described a slow, controlled wrath in Romans 1. A holy God’s wrath must be the answer to sin because if it is not, we do not worship El Elyon, the Most High God, but instead an immoral, powerless, grandfatherly god. When Adam chose to sin, God poured His wrath out (Genesis 3). His wrath has been manifested in the past as punishment for people’s sins against their Creator, sometimes at the hand of God’s Chosen People, Israel. His wrath is evident now in individual lives and collectively in society when God is rejected or suppressed. And His wrath will occur in the future after the Rapture and during the Tribulation. Wrath is an act of God’s holiness.
God’s wrath is poured out on all the guilty, “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18). Ungodliness and unrighteousness do not have the same meaning. Most Bible scholars distinguish them as an attitude and conduct against God. To be ungodly is to have an attitude opposing God: unthankful, unholy, and disobedient, as those “who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). Unrighteous acts are the result of ungodliness.
God’s Love: His Gift to Mankind
Jesus hung on the cross with all of humanity’s sins imputed on Him. God’s wrath was poured out on His own perfect Son on the cross to save us—what love! Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied the Father’s wrath. We will never fully understand the depth of this act, but those who put their faith in Jesus will spend eternity praising Him for it.
God’s wrath was poured out on His own perfect Son on the cross to save us—what love!
God’s wrath is active today, just as it was during the Old Testament. We may not see it as clearly in Western society, but we see our society’s decay because of the suppression of the truth. We who believe in Jesus will not see God’s wrath personally in our lives, but we will (and already do) feel the effects of His wrath around us. Earthquakes, natural disasters, school shootings, and our society’s decline are all results of God’s wrath. But Christian, rest assured, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:8–9).
All of God’s actions are rooted in love. His wrath is justified. His love is given freely through His Son Jesus. The enemy wants us to believe God’s actions are not intentional or justified, but when we study and know the Word of God, we stand confidently, knowing that our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
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Comments 2
This is a brilliant and timely article. “For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23
In John’s Gospel chapter 8 I read recently.. “And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that [f]I am He, you will die in your sins.” This is something the Church really has to proclaim in these days!
I take issue with ONE sentence: “Earthquakes, natural disasters, school shootings, and our society’s decline are all results of God’s wrath.” No. “Earthquakes and natural disasters” may be, since they are a result of the cursed world. But “school shootings, and our society’s decline” are not a result of God’s wrath. His wrath doesn’t cause “school shootings and society’s decline,” rather the wickedness of mankind causes those things. Everything else was good, but that one sentence needed to be thought through a little more carefully. I found the story of your family connection with Sergeant York very interesting.