What is your reaction when terrorists take hostages? How do you react when a man abuses young children physically and sexually? Are you outraged? How would God, who sees and knows all, react to such events? No one has such feelings of outrage as He. But do we also take the holy anger, the wrath of the living God, seriously?

Speaking about the wrath of God is taboo in our society. You can’t talk about it. But can you speak about it among Christians? Do we perhaps have a flawed image of God? Do we view him as a God who is easy-going and who takes it all lying down? A large number of Bible passages attest directly to his wrath. We do him an injustice if we brush aside or suppress his wrath. For his wrath is not haphazard. He does not become angry for no reason. His anger is just. He exercises his wrath in love. When you deny that, you do not (yet) know him.

Reality⤒🔗

A threatening cloud of God’s wrath hangs over the world (Rom 1:18). All human beings, whether they acknowledge it or not, are faced with this reality every day. Other images the Bible uses to depict God’s wrath are: a swirling whirlwind (Jer 23:19), a devouring fire (Deut 32:22), and a flood of water (Hos 5:10).

He expresses his wrath every day (Ps 7:11). Not a day passes but God gives expression to his holy indignation. David draws a direct connection to God as righteous judge. God’s wrath is a reaction to gross injustice. But we should not think solely about the injustice that is being done to human beings and about things that clash with every sense of justice. In first instance it is about God himself. His honour is being attacked. He is being wronged, because people blatantly ignore his divine presence. God does not just let that pass either. He is, as it were, emotionally involved in this world. He takes that human world and everything on and in it to heart. It is always about his holy and profound indignation in reaction to what people do to him and to each other.

Not Essential←⤒🔗

He says of himself that God is love. Nowhere does the Bible say that God is wrath. That is telling. It shows that that wrath, though real, is not essential. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t real, but that it really conflicts with God’s essence. Calvin says that wrath is not his disposition. His holy indignation is summoned out of his holy love, in reaction to injustice, loveless action and lack of charity. But such a reaction is actually foreign to him (Isa 28:21). It is contrary to his nature and does not befit him. When he is angry, he turns his face from you (2 Chron 30:9), or hides his face (Mic 3:4). He does not do that willingly (Lam 3:33). He does long to be angry, but to be gracious to his people (Isa 30:18).

Restrained←⤒🔗

For that reason, the Lord identifies himself as longsuffering. Literally this means (and modern versions translate it as) slow to anger (Exod 34:6; cf. Jonah 4:2). He restrains himself, again and again (Exod 32:12-14; Isa 54:7; Hos 11:8). He delays. He postpones. God never lets himself go just like that. His wrath does not catch him by surprise. Moreover, restrains himself and does not move from one paroxysm of wrath into another. That is why ‘rage’ is not an apt descriptor of wrath. His wrath is always restrained and therefore unique.

Indignant Love←⤒🔗

God’s wrath is mentioned in the Bible mostly in the context of love. The expression, ‘the wrath of the Lord’ is therefore usually connected his divine name, JHWH, which expresses his connection to his people. Wrath is the blazing love that God makes known when his people break the bond with him and ogle and flirt with other gods and other ‘celebrities’. He does not look on passively when his own people are unfaithful. His anger burns as an expression of his personal emotion. It really matters to him. The prophet Hosea in particular portrays God in his wounded love (Hos 11:8-9). But Amos also shows how love and wrath are connected (Amos 3:2). God is aggrieved in his love. And out of that love he expresses his bitter disappointment and intense indignation. Because they are his own people who do this to him, his love burns in a blazing anger. His is an emotional reaction to infidelity, disloyalty, and betrayal (Num 25:3; 32:10-15). It is passionate and true to life. Also in the New Testament it is apparent how extremely sensitive God is to the absence of a living relationship with him (Matt 18:34; 22:13; 25:12, 26), and how he insists on a holy lifestyle for his own people (1 Pet 1:15-17; Heb 12:27-29).

Always Just←⤒🔗

With human beings you can ask whether their anger or rage is justified. But God’s wrath is always correct and sincere, although we cannot always understand it, as in the story of Uzzah, who steadied the ark of God with his hand (2 Sam 6:7). God’s wrath is a clear reaction to the violation of human rights and social injustice (Amos 5:7-12). But he also reacts in wrath to people who revel in and are bent on violence (Jonah 1:2; Isa 10:15), which involves a violation of God’s own laws. His people belong to him and he is entitled to protect his honour! Unfaithful politics (Hos 7:11), ingratitude in the wilderness (Num 11:1), obstinate unwillingness to serve him (Exod 16:28; Jer 4:22), all of these kindle his wrath. With it he expresses his fierce indignation. When he cleansed the temple, and in reaction to a dead orthodoxy (Mark 3:5) God’s Son exhibited the same indignation (John 2:13-17).

Not Forever←⤒🔗

‘His anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime’ (Ps 30:5). That beautiful poetic expression characterizes God’s wrath. God is longsuffering. He is slow to anger. But he also lets his wrath abate. He knows when to stop. He will not harbour his anger forever (Ps 103:9; Jer 32:37). God’s Word does contain expressions of his everlasting love, but not of his everlasting wrath (Isa 54:7-8). He is sensitive to the repentance of people (Jonah 3-4), and to a broken heart. He can avert his wrath when people have done penance for a period of time (Isa 40:2), or when they have undergone punishment, or have made atonement (Lev 17:11). God will relent through earnest prayer (Exod 32:11), but he can also forbid such prayer (Jer 7:16) and is then implacable.

God had good reason to abandon his wrath. He is true to his covenant (Exod 32:13). He does not want to see his people being destroyed. His heart is changed within him, says Hosea 11:8 when he contemplates the total destruction of his people. Although they have deserved it, he cannot find it in his heart to destroy them. This divine change of heart defies all description (Jer 31:20).

But nonetheless, the Lord is sensitive to the honour of his Name. Moses reminds him of it (Exod 32:12) with reference to the possible ridicule of the Egyptians: did he free his people for that purpose? Regardless, when God abandons his anger, he does so for his own reasons. He lets his heart speak out of a fathomless mercy.

Dynamic←⤒🔗

It is impossible to fit all this into a watertight system. How could God possibly let himself be constrained by human systems? What is clear is that God is able to resile from his wrath (Jonah 3:10; Isa 12:1; Hos 11:9), but not from his love (1 John 4:9-10). God does not harbour a grudge (Mic 7:18; Jer 3:5). But nonetheless there exists a power that is hostile to God, that is such an archenemy that God does not resile from his wrath (Isa 34; Jer 49:7-22; Ezek 35). There is such a thing as an eternal contempt and loathing (Dan 12:2). Various theologians have spoken of a preponderance of love. But you cannot turn love and wrath round as if they were interchangeable. God’s wrath is a variable, whereas his love is a constant in relation to human beings (H.G.L. Peels). That is why his wrath may never be subsumed in his love. For when God makes himself known the refrain is: ‘he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding love’, but it continues: ‘I will not acquit the guilty’ (Jonah 4:2; Joel 2:13; Ps 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Neh 9:17; Exod 23:7). Love is his priority, while wrath is not his disposition. He is called both a forgiving and a punishing God (Ps 99:8). His love is not insincere, but holy, powerful, and dynamic. His wrath spring from his love. With holy awe, we must respect God’s freedom to abandon his wrath if he chooses.

In Christ←⤒🔗

The interaction of God’s wrath and love is expressed in a horrifying way in the life of God’s Son on earth, especially during the end of that life. Christ’s entire life on earth was dominated by God’s wrath and love (John 3:16, 36).

Apart from him, the wrath of God would continue to rest on us, for it is impossible for us, creatures, to fulfill what he expects of us (Eph 2:10). Christ, who shares in his Father’s love, saves from the wrath to come. The Father poured out his holy indignation for our injustice, shortcomings, unbelief, mistrust, lack of charity, and so many other things, over his Son. He drank the cup of God’s wrath and emptied it completely (Matt 26:39, 42). The hurricane of God’s wrath raged on Golgotha. The heat of God’s blazing fire becomes tangible and at the same time his love for human beings becomes palpable. God’s love does not short-change his just demands.

God has clearly demonstrated his love and his wrath in the death of his Son. And therefore, those who still reject him cause his holy indignation to blaze as never before (Heb 12:18-29). The rejection of this love is the most serious; it is worse that any guilt or failure. There is nothing so terrible! ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them’ (John 3:36; 12:46). Only he saves from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10). You can understand Christ’s own wrath only out of his love. It is a wounded, offended love. The more you have learnt his love, the more you will fear his wrath (F.J. Pop). But happy are those who shelter under his wings.

Clear←⤒🔗

Finally, I draw your attention to the sea of glass in Revelation 15. God’s people have been saved and stand on the other side. The sea is clear is clear as crystal and transparent; through it you can see the throne of God. It is mixed with fire, the fire of his wrath, his indignant love and his holy law. Once, all shall acknowledge him: Lord, you alone are holy (Rev 15:4). You are just and true. Today God’s judgments are often not perspicuous. But then it will be totally clear to me, in the light of Christ, that God’s wrath is fully and completely just and shines in love. No one loved the world as much as he.

Questions for Discussion←⤒🔗

1. Do you agree that our modern image of God has become too soft and insincere?

2. When have you experienced something of God’s wrath in your life?

Process for Discussing Questions 1 and 2←↰⤒🔗

• Write the phrase “wrath of God” on a board or a sheet of paper.

• Around it write the words that this phrase evokes in you.

• Look at all the words together and consider what these words say about the image you have of God.

• Then look for a more modern expression to replace ‘wrath of God’. Is that possible?

3. Why is God’s wrath so intense with his own people? (Cf. 1 Pet 1:17).

4. What especially causes God’s holy indignation to arise?

5. Where, in the life of the Lord Jesus, do you recognize God’s wrath?

Process for Discussing Questions 3-5←↰⤒🔗

• Divide the large group into small groups of 3-5 persons.

• Discuss these questions in each small group.

• After the agreed-upon time, report to the large group and hold a plenary discussion.

• Try to reach answers to these questions together.

6. If God’s wrath is not forever, is it absent in hell?

Process for Discussing Question 6←↰⤒🔗

• Read the following texts: 2 Thess 1:8-9; Matt 25:31-34; John 5:29; Rom 2:7; Rev 20:15.

• Take turns to describe what each of them say.

• Discuss the question.