Today we want to look at the question of whether God is a God of wrath or not. Some say he is; others say he is not. Some even seem to believe it’s not the same God in the Old Testament that is revealed in the New Testament. But we know that God has told us he never changes. (Ml 3:6) so we need to ask, “What are we missing?” Some of this information has been previously discussed (Is God a God of Wrath?).

The two most common examples cited to show how wrathful and vengeful God is in the Old Testament are the following: the Flood which caused life over all the earth to cease, and the destruction commanded by God on the Amorites in the land of Canaan. People often ask why would God do such things if he really cares about everyone?

Can we come up with reasons for God’s actions? Is there a reason God’s wrath seems more prominent in the Old Testament? And is there a reason for God’s love being more prominent in the New Testament?

Before we go further, I think we need to acknowledge that many times we see things more prominently due to us having a biased view. That’s just being realistic. No one comes with a totally unbiased view. So, we need to recognize that fact and realize this truth can get in the way of us being truly honest with Scripture, being truly honest with what God is doing, and being truly honest with ourselves. Also, we must look deeper than just looking at a mere surface level. That is where many fail, because they are not willing to do that, but are willing to make harsh judgement claims about God without really investigating to see what is truly going on.

So, let’s look at some comparisons between the Old and New Testament texts and see if that helps us with this question we are struggling with.

Let’s first look at the length of time covered by the Old and New Testament texts:

The Old Testament covers about 3600 years.
The Intertestamental Period covers about 400 years.
And the New Testament covers only about 100 years, the smallest of any of these time periods.

I think we can get a biased view because of this time scale. One can see many more examples in the Old Testament just because of the length of time the text is covering. Let’s say you found 100 examples of God being wrathful in the Old Testament. Percentage wise, it would be equivalent to finding only 3 examples in the New Testament. That helps to put this into perspective but doesn’t explain all the discrepancies around this topic.

We also need to look at Theme Comparisons. The Old and New Testaments do not have the same purpose. The Old Testament reveals the preparation for the coming Messiah. The New Testament reveals the revelation of the Messiah’s coming. Can you see how that could change how we look at this question? Describing preparation for something can require more detail than describing the revelation of something.

We shouldn’t allow this controversial topic to blind us to the fact that both the love of God and the wrath of God are found in both the Old and New Testaments. Let’s look at a few examples. These are not exhaustive.

There are many examples of love in the Old Testament:

• Creation of Adam & Eve (initially an idyllic society and would be passed to their descendants for all generations)
• Choosing of Israel by God (initially as a means to evangelize the entire world)
• Salvation of Rahab & Ruth (these were Gentile women brought into Israel; God was using these to show the way forward for the inclusion of everyone)
• Promise of a New Garden of Eden (to show that one day the idyllic society will still happen).

There are also many examples of the love of God in the New Testament:

• Coming of Messiah (to rectify the error that Adam and Eve made)
• Salvation of Mankind (to restore the relationship between God and mankind)
• Indwelling of the Holy Spirit (to guide us and help us to live according to His ways)
• Promise of a Future Resurrection (to give us hope for a joyous eternal future)
• Promise of a New Heaven & Earth (to give us hope and what our future resurrection will give to us).

The same is true for God’s wrath as well. In the Old Testament, we see:

• Worldwide Flood (for the wickedness in the world and what Satan had done to mankind)
• Destruction of Amorites & Canaanites (for their judgment because of their unrepentant hearts and their wicked practices)
• Captivity of Israel & Judah (for their judgment because of their unrepentant hearts and their wicked practices) –God punished both Gentiles and Jews, his “chosen” people, equally.

And in the New Testament we find the following:

• Christ overturning tables at the temple (because they were going against God’s Law ignoring God’s wish for all people, including Gentiles, to be able to worship him)
• Christ criticized Jewish leaders harshly (because they had become so obsessed with works they ignored the requirement of faith and mercy which was even more important)
• Death of Annanias & Saphira (because they lied to the Holy Spirit and God needed to establish a new standard of right living going forward)
• Persecution of Christians (sometimes for judgment but often to strengthen their faith and testimony, and to spread his gospel to more people)
• Tribulation (future judgment like he did in the Old Testament) – We don’t see as much wrath in the New Testament because much of it is prophesied but has not yet been fulfilled.

We sometimes don’t understand how God could be a God of judgment and wrath and at the same time be a God of love. The two seem incongruous. I think we can better understand this dichotomy from what Paul tells us in his epistle to the Roman church. He stated the following: “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Ro 1:20, NIV).

Many have often implied that all that we see: the universe and all of God’s creation we see daily is evidence of God’s majesty and power. Paul says these things are self-evident. While that is true, he also said that his eternal power and divine nature are revealed though his invisible qualities. Why this was not initially brought up is because these qualities of God were invisible and could not be observed. But today, we can observe and see how they, too, bring out not only the majesty of God, but the very nature of God—his character.

What I am referring to are the building blocks of nature itself: the atom. When we go into the quantum world, we find laws that seem unnatural and don’t really operate like we find in the natural world. This helps us understand how our ways of thinking about God is not the way God actually works. The prophet Isaiah said it this way: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord (Is 55:8, NIV). Often, we can see God and his fingerprint if we look at the quantum level of matter, his building blocks for all that we know and experience. Just as his ways are different from ours, so is the quantum world different from our everyday world. How does something so unfamiliar produce something so familiar? Let’s take a closer look and see what we can learn. This has also been discussed in some detail in previous posts: Fingerprint of God: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The atom is composed of three main particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Yet, science has found that these are composed of more basic building blocks of matter, called quarks. Now each proton and neutron are composed of two types of quarks, three in number, in order to give them their necessary charge. For example, a proton is composed of two up quarks and one down quark to give it a positive charge. A neutron is composed of two down quarks and one up quark to give it a neutral charge. These quarks are held together by what have been termed gluons.

As far as we currently know, quarks are inseparable even though they are distinct particles. In the macro world where we live, if two objects are pulled apart, their attraction becomes less. For example, if two magnets are pulled apart from each other, there will come a distance where they no longer get pulled together. That is not the case in the quantum world. In the quantum world, quarks resist separation. If two quarks are pulled apart, their attraction becomes stronger the farther they are pulled apart.

Well, this is how God is. He is composed of both love and justice (that is, judgement and wrath) simultaneously. One can think of his love as one type of quark and justice as another type of quark. One cannot experience one without the other, but both are necessary to accomplish God’s overarching plan. We can say that the Holy Spirit is like the gluon which holds the love, or mercy, of God and the justice, or judgment/wrath, of God together. This plays a cohesive role by the Trinity. The string within each quark, or restrained energy, is God the Father and the Son who are all powerful and release both love and judgment as needed and to the degree that is required.

So, nature has God’s fingerprint within it. As we just read, Paul tells us that nature itself reveals the glory of God (Ro 1). So, why is it here at the quantum level he is revealed even more profoundly? Probably because God knew that one day mankind would be able to view nature at this level and would think science would replace God, but, instead, what it reveals is that the more detailed one gets, the more we understand about God. Nature on the macro level reveals the majesty of God. Nature on the micro level reveals the character of God.

Stay with me going forward as we look at the examples given at the beginning of this post to be looked at in more detail looking at how God’s love and judgment are intertwined and inseparable. I hope you join me.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

You’ve met them right: what they say doesn’t match the reality you know. Are they wrong? Are you wrong? Ezekiel went through this. Let’s see how he dealt with it.

You may think Ezekiel’s case doesn’t apply to us. After all, God asked him to do some pretty strange stuff. Yet, I think when we look closer, we find that people are people, and they respond today pretty much as they did during his day. God tried to warn him: “You are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people” (Ek 12:1). This statement applies to our day and time as well, doesn’t it? It’s not disagreement about the facts, but the interpretation of the facts that leads to the conflict of realities.

Apparently, despite already being in captivity, the people did not think they would be staying there long. To try and get the people’s attention, God asked Ezekiel to do some strange things. This time, God asked Ezekiel to dig a hole though the wall of his house and take the belongings he could though it. In other words, he couldn’t take everything he owned, just enough for a quick escape. Now, the Bible is silent on his home life. Yet, you can imagine his wife was likely not very happy with now having a hole in her wall when the door was only a short distance away! Then, after going through his wall, Ezekiel was to act as if he was blind and could not see where he was going. You can see their reaction, right? See their fingers pointing and hear the cackle of their laughter?

Yet, this was a sign to the people that their king, currently back in Jerusalem, would be caught trying to escape capture and would be made blind. And this is what the historical record confirms for us. King Zedekiah fled Jerusalem at dusk through the wall in his garden, was caught near Jericho, saw his sons killed before him, and then his eyes were poked out. The people were scattered throughout many countries. A few were spared, but most died from sword, famine, and plague.

This was also prophesied by the prophet Jeremiah who was back in Jerusalem with Zedekiah (Jr 38). The princes in Jerusalem had heard Ezekiel was prophesying that Zedekiah would never see Babylon, yet Jeremiah was prophesying Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon. Therefore, they convinced the king that he could not trust either prophet, for they were just unpatriotic, and did not make sense as their prophecies were contradictory. Yet, we find out both were correct: Zedekiah was indeed taken to Babylon, and he never saw the city because his eyes were put out before he ever left Judah.

Next, Ezekiel was commanded to tremble as he ate and to shudder in fear as he drank. This was another sign that those in Jerusalem would eat in anxiety and drink in despair because their land was about to be stripped of everything and be laid bare. Some of the people likely dismissed Ezekiel entirely. Others said that even if they believed him, it wouldn’t happen for a very long time. They quoted the proverb, “the days go by and every vision comes to nothing” (Ek 12:22), meaning they hear all these prophecies, but they never seem to come true. Yet, God speaks through Ezekiel and tells them he would put an end to this proverb in only a short time.

Ezekiel then spoke against the false prophets (Ek 13). They were prophesying peace and placating the people to make them feel secure rather than trying to make them turn back to God. Ezekiel stated they were just putting whitewash on a flimsy wall. It may look good but was of no worth. Ezekiel then stated the elders of the people were in the same condition. They would rather worship idols who could not help them rather than turn to God who could actually do something for them. God told Ezekiel that even if Noah, Daniel, or Job were present, they would not be able to save their own children; they could only save themselves. In other words, God’s mind was made up. Destruction was imminent, and nothing would now stop it from occurring.

The prophecy of Jeremiah validated Ezekiel’s prophecies. Jeremiah prophesied that Judah’s captivity would last for 70 years (Jr 25:11-12; 29:10). Jeremiah sent word to the captives in Babylon to settle down, build houses, plant gardens for produce, marry and have children, and pray for God’s blessing because they would remain in captivity for 70 years. History tells us that the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar occurred in 586 BC and the building of the second temple during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah occurred in 516 BC: 70 years exactly.

To further get the people’s attention, Ezekiel compared Judah to a vine which is of nothing useful (Ek 15). Its only purpose is fuel for a fire, and God had decided to use them as such.

Ezekiel then compared Judah to an adulteress. He stated their father was an Amorite and their mother a Hittite. Both ethnic groups were hated by the Jews. God knew this and used it for effect, for neither of these wanted their baby. The infant’s umbilical cord was not cut, but the bloody baby was simply thrown into a field and left abandoned. The Hittites were from whom Esau had taken his wives and his actions had grieved his father Isaac, and Amorites practiced wicked rites in their worship rituals. God used this for effect. He was saying it was a disservice to say they were descended from Abraham.

God said that when he came by and saw the abandoned infant, he took pity on her and willed her to live. He provided blessings, gave her love, clothing, wealth, and she became a beautiful queen. Yet, despite all God had done for her, she turned her back on his love and became a prostitute, using her wealth to make golden idols. She took her sons and sacrificed them as food to these idols. Although she despised the practices of other nations, she committed even greater travesties. Despite all of this, God stated he would still keep his promise to her and could bring them back to himself.

I find this truly remarkable. What God is saying is that nothing these people would do would change or deter him from fulfilling his promises. Isn’t that a God you want to know? How magnanimous. Who do you know that would do that for you? You may think you have done something unforgiveable. God is saying, no, that is not true. His arms are open wide, just waiting for you to turn around and see him, run to him, and be embraced in the love you have always wanted. Where are you today? Stop. Turn around. See his arms? Run to them. Feel his embrace. Find the love you truly desire.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

We have looked at several aspects of sin, so now let’s talk about a solution for it. From what we have discovered in the previous posts, what does it all mean for us? Here are a few points to remember:

·       God’s word can be counted on. It is plausible. It is true. It is truth.

·       God is tangible; God is mysterious; God is unique

·       God cannot love you more.

·       God cannot love you less.

·       God is love; God is justice – both in their purest forms

·       We cannot by-pass his justice to receive his love

·       There is a reason he is Trinity – it is necessary for our salvation

God’s love came to us via justice, not to replace it or as a substitute or it: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). Some think this is exclusionary, but in reality, it is all inclusive. Yet, it requires a choice. Just because it is available doesn’t mean it is imputed. It is imputed freely only if you accept it.

In our first post, we talked about the Magic Zone and how it requires us to get out of our own Comfort Zone before we can reach it. Yet, the Magic Zone is available to all. You just have to get a little uncomfortable to achieve it. So, how do we get to the Magic Zone? Think about the following:

·       Our best is less than God’s requirement of perfection

·       Our pride yields Rebellion – we cannot please God and we will not reach out to God on our own

·       The Holy Spirit draws us to God

·       Acceptance leads to security through the Holy Spirit

·       Our imperfection is then clothed with Christ’s perfection

·       Our submission leads to obedience

·       Our obedience leads to transforming our minds in alignment with the mind of Christ

·       Being in sync with Christ takes us to the Magic Zone

We can become Christians without ever reaching this Magic Zone. Yet, we can choose to get there by choosing to develop the mind of Christ and look at sin as he does. This is how we begin to have a compassion for others and can look beyond their acts of sin to see them as an individual of worth. After all, we are all sinners. Yet, we all have worth in his sight. We need to see others as he does, realizing they can do nothing but sin without the Holy Spirit drawing them. We need to pray that we can develop the mind of Christ and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of those we talk to, so he will draw them unto himself. What about you? Are you in the Magic Zone? Do you want to be in the Magic Zone? You can, you know. A big sacrifice was made to make it easy for you. The hard part is already done. All you must do now is just accept it by faith. What does that mean. Just believe it. Trust in it. Your eternity depends upon it.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens