A THE CYCLICAL ANGER

❖ The manifestation of divine wrath responds to a cycle of interaction with His people:
❖ The wrath of God is manifested in
The people rebel
situations of serious sin, in order to The people follow
against God and
stop sin. God… for a time
do horrible things
❖ In Psalm 78, Asaph includes several
examples of this cycle:
— God divides the sea and brings
water from the rock. ➔The people
God gets angry
ask for meat. ➔God is angry (v. 13, God frees his
and withdraws his
people
16-18, 21-22) protection
— If he put them to death, they
sought God ➔but rebelled again
(v. 34, 38, 41)
— God gave them Canaan, ➔the
The people cry The people are
people made idols ➔God is angry out to God for oppressed by
(v. 54-55, 58-59) deliverance their enemies
— Shiloh was destroyed, ➔the
people cried out, ➔God freed them and sent David (v. 60-61, 65-66, 70-72)
❖ Divine wrath is the appropriate response of love against evil, because evil always hurts
someone whom God loves.
B THE SLOW ANGER
❖ The story of Jonah clearly shows how we understand divine wrath: we want God to
immediately burn those who harm us (without realizing that we also harm others.)
❖ But God's wrath is not like that. First, it does not come without warning. Because God seeks
repentance, not destruction.
❖ On the other hand, God’s anger—as Jonah himself acknowledges—is slow (Jonah 4:2.)
Literally, God is “long-nosed.” This Hebrew expression implies that God takes many deep
breaths before becoming angry.
❖ God loves us and gives us grace. But He cannot tolerate or justify sin. God is angry with sin, but
He loves the sinner. He will only show anger toward the sinner when this is the only way to
bring him to repentance, or when the sinner has completely rejected the call of the Holy Spirit.
C THE RIGHTEOUS ANGER
❖ When is anger justifiable? Is it right to act against another person out of anger or indignation?
❖ On a human level, we get angry when we see injustice, and that anger leads us to act to
prevent it. Think, for example, of a person who is suffering a physical attack. We get angry at
the aggressor, and we act to stop the attack.
❖ Outraged at the desecration of the Temple, Jesus became enraged and took a whip, drove out
the sellers and animals, and overturned the money-changers' tables (Jn. 2:15.) Angry Jesus?
Where is His love?
❖ His love for God led Him to be angry with those who dishonored Him. His love for children
made Him angry with His disciples (Mark 10:13-14.) His love for a sick person and His sadness
at the hard-heartedness of those present filled Jesus with anger (Mark 3:1-5.)
❖ The wrath of Christ is the just wrath of love, the same wrath attributed to God in the Old
Testament.
D THE IRREMEDIABLE ANGER
❖ God's righteous anger is always directed against those who harm the beings He loves. If there
were no evil, God would not be angry.
❖ In the history of Israel, God's wrath was manifested cyclically, always waiting for the people to
repent and return to Him.
❖ On all these occasions, God “gave up” His people, that is, He withdrew His protection, and the
inevitable happened (Judg. 2:13-14; Ps. 106:41-42.)
❖ But the stakes grew higher and higher, until “there was no remedy,” and Jerusalem was
destroyed (2Chr. 36:16.)
❖ Ultimately, God's wrath will destroy unrepentant sinners (Ps. 21:9.) Let us not play with God's
wrath, for the time will come when it will manifest itself irremediably.
E THE COMPASSIONATE ANGER
❖ God's wrath is terrible, and His vengeance is terrible (Heb. 10:30-31.) But it is not immoral or
contrary to love. In fact, God expresses His wrath against evil because of love.
❖ For this reason, God's most loving expression will be manifested in his wrath. It is out of
compassion—toward sinners and righteous alike—that he will eradicate every trace of evil
from the universe (Rev. 20:7-9.) At that time, anger and wrath will also disappear, because
injustice and wickedness will no longer exist.
❖ Until that moment arrives, and although it is correct that, at times, we express our anger to
avoid a violent or sinful act "in situ,” the Bible prevents us from taking revenge for the damage
received.
❖ We must leave vengeance to God. God's vengeance is always just, but our vengeance is never
proportional to the harm received. Instead of taking revenge, we are encouraged to do good to
those who harm us (Rom. 12:17-21.)