There may be no other attribute of God as disputed, dreaded, or misunderstood as His wrath. Some deny it altogether, claiming only God’s “nice” attributes. Others focus far too much on it, making God out to look like some sort of blood-thirsty being. Both extremes are incorrect. But what do we do with this aspect of God’s character?
First, we look to Scripture. To come to know our God and to understand Him, we must see who He has revealed Himself to be. And this aspect of His character, wrath, is an attribute we see revealed by the Spirit in Scripture.
Additionally, just like His goodness, truth, compassion, holiness, mercy, justice, and faithfulness, is good and right. God is only and entirely good – all of His attributes are part of His inexpressible beauty. He doesn’t have good attributes and bad ones. He is only and completely good.
As human beings we have the tendency to project our ideas of what certain things mean onto God. We have to be careful that we don’t project characteristics onto God that are not true. For example, when I talk about the wrath of God, what typically comes to mind? If you’re anything like me, you think of bloodthirsty, mindless rage. Like a man who walks into his home and sees his wife and children being assaulted by a burglar – and if that were me, I’d probably lose my mind in rage and adrenaline and go crazy on the guy invading my home. If I’m being honest he’d be lucky to leave my house alive.
I want to propose to you that that’s not an accurate picture of the wrath of God. We have to approach this aspect of God’s nature in the same way that we approach everything in relation to His nature – He has revealed Himself perfectly, completely, and finally in and through Jesus. When we see Jesus, we see God. Hebrews 1:1-2 says this: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.”
In John 2 Jesus entered the Temple. Let’s take a look at what verses 13-22 say: “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ So, the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
Let’s think about this. I believe that this account in John 2 is a great picture for us of the wrath of God. Make no mistake about it – Jesus was ticked. This was not a stoic, intellectual disagreement with those were ripping the people off. No, He was angry. He felt emotion. But at the same time, notice that when he got to those who were selling the pigeons (for sacrifices) he told them to take them away. He didn’t throw the cage down on the floor of the Temple and harm the pigeons. Then as soon as these things were done He had a conversation with the Pharisees where He preached His death and resurrection to them. In other words, while Jesus was angry and manifested that anger outwardly, He didn’t lose His mind. This was not some wild-eyed, uncontrollable rage. This was a measured, controlled response. And in that I believe we get a key understanding of the wrath of God. Even in the Old Testament when God told the Israelites to wipe out a people group He did so only after giving them 400 years to repent. He saw that they were hopelessly lost and sick in sin and so He did what was right and necessary. I belabor this point because I believe that if we’re not careful we can easily misconstrue the wrath of God into something that is a vindictive over-reaction. I believe that as we consider the whole counsel of God’s Word we see that His wrath is His just, righteous response to sin.
When we consider Jesus’s death, we see in perfect beauty that His wrath is not vindictive. This is SO important to understand. If we don’t get this we will be confused and projecting onto God the Father misunderstandings that malign His goodness. What did Jesus say from the cross in reference to those who were crucifying Him? “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). If there was any time that we might expect to see the wrath of God poured out on His enemies in a vindictive way, surely it would be here, when sinful creatures were crucifying the God who created them. But instead we see God pouring His heart out in perfect, selfless, sacrificial love! Jesus never sought revenge on the Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious leaders. Even after His resurrection He did not go to them and rub it in their face. Being reviled He did not revile back. He never sought revenge. I point this out because I believe that it is very easy for us to project our ideas of wrath onto God and assume that He is exactly how we would think Him to be. But in that we must be careful. Remember, Jesus said that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father!It is not possible to overstate the importance of this truth. Jesus did not act in a way that is different from the nature of God the Father – God the Father revealed His nature perfectly, completely, and finally to mankind in and through His only Son.