Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The Fury Of God's Wrath Has Subsided

The Fury of God’s Wrath Has Subsided

“We were by nature objects of love but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”  Eph. 2: 3-5

Not a Meaningless Death

We’ve been talking about the meaning of his death, in part, to make the point that his was not a meaningless, empty death.

But that instead his death accomplished significant, tangible results that are monumental and universal in scope affecting the entire human race; and these results are evident throughout the long line of generations from the first all the way to the last.

Wow, what a thing to say!  What a claim to make.   Yet it’s true.  Whether we recognize it or not, the death on the cross has brought about monumental results of epic proportions.

His death has literally changed the world and singlehandedly altered the course of human history like no other event has ever done.

So we have considered, thus far, two meanings behind his death, today the third, and next Sunday we will wrap this up with the fourth.  

While all of these are known theological doctrines that have been developed over the centuries, in my mind each of these comes down to four images:  The scapegoat, the coins, the lightning rod and the kiss.

In his death, he becomes our scapegoat upon whom our sins are loaded. He becomes the coins, or currency, of our redemption from slavery. He becomes the lightning rod that takes upon himself the strike of God’s wrath.  And he becomes the kiss, the means whereby we make up and are fully reconciled with God.

The scapegoat, the coins, the lightning rod and the kiss are all symbols of a meaningful death.

Fully Satisfied

Today, a third tangible benefit of his death has to do with the idea that his death fully satisfied the wrath of God that hung over us like a dark cloud.   He becomes the lightning rod of God’s grace.

The wrath of God?  Yeah, the wrath of God.   Funny how in our culture we don’t hear much about the wrath of God unless you are an old school Calvinist conjuring up an image of a blustery, hard nosed deacon who loves to dangle the feet of sinners over the fires of hell, while made to listen to the sermon of an angry preacher on ‘sinners in the hands of an angry God’.

Don’t hear too much hellfire and brimstone preaching these days, do we?

Somehow we have managed to reimagine God into a more benign, serene Santa Claus, grandfatherly type figure; almost the Father Christmas type image instead of the Charleston Heston type of ‘The Ten Commandments’.

So whatever happened to the wrath of God, the angry God of the Old Testament, or the angry God of many other world religions, who demands constant appeasement without ever being fully appeased?

This idea of God never fully appeased seems to be behind the High Priests of the Old Testament having to go back again and again in an attempt to appease what seemed like an angry God.

There is definitely a shift between Old and New Testaments.  God seems far more benign and satisfied in the New while not so much in the Old.

It seems that the wrath of God was a constant presence in the Old Testament, brooding darkly over a people.  Do you realize that the wrath of God is mentioned a staggering 580 times!

“A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God, than there are to His love and tenderness.”  A. W. Pink

One of the more classic passages that seem to outline God’s wrath and anger is Deut. 32:39-42:

 “See now that I myself am he! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand. I lift my hand to heaven and solemnly swear: As surely as I live forever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me.”

So what causes God’s wrath?   Is he just angry by nature?  Far from a grumpy God, you need to realize that there was a reason for the wrath of God; as there still is.

 

God’s Only Trigger Point

The interesting thing is that God is not a wrathful God by nature in the sense that it is one of his core attributes.  Obviously it’s within Him, and thus an attribute of God, but it is not a core attribute. 

God does not get up in the morning feeling wrathful or angry.  He gets up feeling compassion, love and mercy.  He is not an angry God.  

So what gives?  Where does all that anger and bluster come from?

Let me tell you this:  every time God’s wrath is mentioned, it is in conjunction with sin. Every time!

No sin, no wrath; sin, wrath!  There’s something about sin that triggers a violent, angry and hurtful response from God. 

Folks, it seems that sin is God’s only trigger point.  You sin and there is a reaction. 

Which means that sin is not to be trifled with nor is it just a character flaw or an ‘oops’, but it's everything that God is not.  Sin is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Heaven and anti-Holy.

“Certainly the chief characteristic of sin is that it is directed against God. Any definition that fails to reflect this is not a biblical one. The cliché that categorizes sins as against self, against others, or against God fails to emphasize the truth that all sin is ultimately against God.”  Charles Ryrie

The Psalmist was right when he wrote:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.”

Psalm 51:4

“Let not our word study sidetrack us from remembering how terrible sin is in the sight of God.  And sin is so damaging that only the death of God’s Son can take it away”  Charles Ryrie

“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Hab. 1:13

Sin is personal, attacking the very nature of God, which God takes highly personal.   As Ryrie said: “His wrath is not simply the inevitable, impersonal result of the working of cause and affect but a personal matter”.  A personal matter!

This isn’t a matter of vengeance or getting even but of justice.  Sin is so provocative that it demands a response from God; it’s a matter of justice.

So with every act of sin, the wrath of God builds and builds, just like a looming thunderstorm, and you would assume that all this will end badly.

The Lightning Rod

It did end badly, but not in the way you might think.

Even as his wrath was being stored and swelling up into an inevitable outburst of rage that will finish the human race similar to the days of Noah, God was making provision to avert his wrath.

This sounds absolutely absurd; the absurdity of the offended one making provision to avert his own wrath!  How absurdly generous is the love of God.  

He restrained his justifiable wrath; He holds it back!

“Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.”  Psalm 78:38

“For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath; or the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.  How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.” Is. 48:9, 11

This doesn’t mean that his justifiable wrath is put away or has dissipated, but what it means is that he remembers how prone to sin we really are and as such has made provision.

Once again, let this sink in:  He the righteous, holy and pure God can not only overlook sin but finds every act of sin a personal attack on his very being; but because of his absurdly outrageously gigantic love for us has made provision!

So you say, how did He make provision?   With the cross!  The cross is how God has appeased his own wrath.  Unbelievable!

Which is why John wrote these incredibly important words: “Christ is the one who turns aside God’s wrath, taking away our sin, and not only ours but also the sins of the whole world.”  I John 2:2

To which Paul adds:

“We were by nature objects of love but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.”   Eph. 2: 3-5

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him?”   Romans 5:9

Every time your hear the word ‘atonement’ in the Scriptures, think of appeasement since the idea of appeasing God is also captured in the atonement.

“That he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”  Heb. 2:17

“He loved us and send his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  

I John 4:10

He has made atonement; the wrath of God has been fully appeased. 

Not that it has simply vanished or run its course like an angry wave, but that the full force of his wrath was channeled toward Jesus.   He becomes the lightning rod for God’s wrath.

He intentionally and purposefully stepped in to take the wrath of God, which was stored up like gathering storm clouds with every sin committed.

Becoming more ominous and menacing, just waiting to be unleashed, until Jesus came and took upon Himself all the sins committed, from the first sin of Adam to the last sin.

At that moment – at the height of his passion – when he cried out, “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?” it was as though all the fury and the wrath of God saved up was unleashed in a single stroke directed intentionally toward Jesus who hung on the cross.

While the Old Testament brooded on God’s wrath without an outlet, the New Testament finds an out in Christ.   He becomes the focus of the wrath of God and at his death its full fury is unleashed in an incredible lightning strike

“The cross is the lightning rod of grace that short-circuits God’s wrath to Christ so that only the light His love remains for believers.”  A.W. Tozer

What an incredible imagery this suggests.  Jesus offers to draw the wrath of God upon himself – He becomes the lightning rod of grace that short-circuits or directs God’s wrath toward himself!

Lest anyone be tempted to think that somehow the Father made the Son of God to be that lightning rod or that the Jesus was forced to do this, it was by his own free volition that Jesus did this and his only motivation was his love for Adam’s race.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”  I John 3:16

When he cried out :“It is finished”, the wrath of God was spent.  And thus his wrath becomes spent and appeased, or in the words of A.W. Tozer: “So that only the light His love remains for believers”.

  How Lavish the Love of God!

Again, please understand who was offended by whom and who it was that initiated appeasement. 

Does it not occur to you as outrageous and ludicrous that the offended one would initiate appeasement?   How outrageously lavish is God’s amazing love!

It goes even further.  Not only did God initiate appeasement looking for someone to blame but also He offers up His Son as the one to be blamed, innocent though He was.

Not only is Jesus the scapegoat who carries away our sin; not only is Jesus the currency that purchased our redemption; but Jesus is also the lightning rod who fully satisfies the justifiable wrath of God.

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  I John 4:11

Should We be Afraid, Very Afraid?

No doubt you have heard the phrase, “Be afraid, be very afraid!” which has crept into modern culture ever since Cronenberg’s movie The Fly.  The phrase is a warning that something ominous or dangerous is imminent.

So with all this talk on the wrath of God, should we be afraid, very afraid?

After all, doesn’t the very last book of the Bible talk about the bowls of God’s wrath stored up to be poured upon the earth in future years?

“Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”  Rev. 16:1

So should we be afraid, very afraid?   Yes and no.

The answer is determined by whether Jesus has become your personal lightning rod.    Yes, the wrath of God has to do with your sin, and it is upfront and personal.  It’s as simple as that.

The solution is so simple that a child can do it, which is the idea:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  Eph. 2:8

“If because of the death of Christ God is satisfied, then what can we do to try to satisfy God?  The answer is nothing.  Everything has been done by God Himself.  We can and need only receive the gift of righteousness God offers.”  Charles Ryrie

If you have made Jesus your lightning rod and are living in the reality of what that means, then none of his wrath will ever come near you.  The bowls of wrath Revelation talks about are for those who have turned down God’s gracious offer of salvation. 

The vast majority of us are not among them. In fact, none of us need to among them since heaven wants nothing more than for Jesus to be your lightning rod. 

The goat, the coins and the rod; these are the symbols of what Jesus accomplished on the cross: 

The scapegoat that takes away your sin into the wilderness of God’s forgetfulness, never to be remembered again.

The coins of blood that paid for your redemption, releasing you from the spiritual bondage as one of Satan’s slaves.

The lightning rod of God that took the full furry of His wrath so that only the light of his love remains directed toward you.

All these are wrapped up in the Cross, and these are what are offered to you.