All of us have become angry at times. We all have faced situations in our life that have evoked one of the deepest emotional reactions that human beings can emit – Anger. But does God get angry? Does God ever get so fed up with people doing the wrong thing that He bursts into fits of rage?
Romans 1:18 says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. This simply means that God’s anger is for the purpose of revealing the truth, and when the truth is suppressed he’s not happy.
But we should understand that God’s Wrath does not hold the same connotation as the modern concept of wrath which is uncontrolled anger. But rather, we should understand God’s wrath as justice being served. His anger is not a spontaneous emotional outburst produced when we do something wrong. God’s wrath is better understood as divine justice.
People often equate man’s actions with God’s actions. Man’s wrath is uncontrolled emotional and physical violence toward a person in which we have perceived to have done wrong to us. We often equate our human experiences with angry people to what God must feel toward us when we feel we haven’t amounted to His standards. Some of us approach our Christian life this way, like a bad on and off relationship. We hide from God rather than running to God when we have fallen short.
God’s wrath is better defined as a settled and necessary reaction of a holy God to sin of any kind.
Only a holy God has the right to judge unrighteousness. If God does not judge sin than He is the one who does not act justly. He informs us of what is wrong in our actions, thoughts, and emotions through his word. He reveals His attitude toward sin in order to reveal His plan of salvation to us.
God tells us what He must do in light of sin in order to tell us what we must do to receive His righteousness. He reveals His judgment in order to show us His mercy. The scripture states in Romans 3:22 that we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.
It’s this truth that is the heart of the gospel, that God has to judge the sins of the world, yet He has provided a rescue plan. It is His kindness not His wrath that He wants to show you in order to lead you to repentance. God gave the life of His own Son as a substitute for us that we could have eternal life and fellowship with Him. This is the truth that makes all the difference, He’s not mad; He’s presenting His ultimate plan to give us life.
Roger Bain, Follower of Christ, husband to Sarai Bain, father, and football enthusiast...
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Zephaniah 3 says that the Lord rejoices over you with singing and gladness. Luke 15 says that there is joy in heaven over those who repent and come to Him. Those who are His now were at one time one of the sheep that had gone astray. There was a party in heaven over you and an extreme joy in His heart when you came to the Him.
The truth is the party over you has never stopped!