God has wrath. He reacts against evil with anger, and he destroys it. In many places in the Bible, people are killed in God’s wrath. Every human on earth, save eight, was destroyed in the flood. Every human at Sodom and Gomorrah, save four, was consumed by fire. During the Exodus from Egypt, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. Then he drowned Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. In many other places in the Bible (including in the New Testament), God acts in wrath, and people are destroyed.
This might scandalize us. Someone might say, “I don’t want to believe in a God that kills people in wrath.” First of all, whether you want to believe in him or not has no bearing on the reality of his existence. Second, we should acknowledge that none of us are innocent before God. In human terms, many people are innocent. They have not done anything to significantly harm another person, nor have they broken civil laws in such a way that makes them guilty of death. So before other men, most people are innocent, and we must treat them as such. But before God, we have all sinned and are worthy of God’s wrath, even because of the sin we inherited from Adam. Third, because he created man in his own image, God holds the right to take life. The fact that God created man means that we do not have the right to take life, but he does.
But what is the purpose of God’s wrath? God never exercises wrath without a purpose. Any time he acts in wrath, he is destroying evil. God does not wish that any would perish (2 Peter 3:9), but the destruction of evil is good. In his wisdom, God knows when the appropriate time for that is. We might think, If he had waited, that person might have repented. God knows whether or not that is true. He also knows everything else that would happen if he permits evil to continue. Every person will die (unless, of course, Jesus appears first). So there are times when God exercises his wrath, hastening that death, in order to limit evil and leave us an example of what sin does to us. Without examples of God’s wrath, we would have little or no comprehension of the horrors of hell. Then, without repentance, we would all perish for eternity, not because God desires for us to perish, but we would reject God in unbelief and trust in false gods that cannot save.
In 1 Corinthians 10, the apostle Paul recounts the various ways Israel rebelled against God during the Exodus and how God disciplined them. Paul says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did” (1 Cor. 10:7). So we see that, at least, part of God’s purpose for wrath is to prevent condemnation and death. Manifestations of God’s wrath are examples of what would happen to all of us if we do not repent.
Wrath is not God’s good and gracious will for any of us, but his will is that we would be saved through the sacrifice of Christ. So Martin Luther spoke of salvation as God’s “proper work” and wrath as his “alien work.” It is not what he desires for any of us. God’s desire to save is so great that the Father sent the Son, and the Son came willingly, even joyfully, to suffer the wrath of God against sin in order to save us. So when you hear of God’s wrath, do not turn away from God, saying, “I don’t want to believe in him.” Instead, turn away from sin and unbelief, saying, “Unless I repent, I will also perish.” Trust in Jesus Christ, who suffered the wrath of God for your sake and rose from the dead to open eternal life to you.
The peace of Christ be with you all,
Pastor Dan Antal