Part 7: Jesus Took Our Wrath
“…this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
God is holy (Lev. 19:2; Ps. 99:5; Isa. 8:13; Hab. 1:12-13; 1 Peter 1:14-19). We are sinful (Ps. 53:3; Isa. 53:6; 64:6; Rom. 3:23; 1 John 1:18.)
The problem is that God does not take any delight in sin (Ps. 5:4), hates and detests sin (Prov. 6:16; Zech. 8:17), and hides His face from sinful people (Isa. 59:2; 64:7). God is so profoundly troubled by sin that He feels both sorrow (Gen. 6:5-6; Isa. 63:10; Eph. 4:30) and anger over sin (Ex. 4:14; 15:7; Lev. 26:27-33; Num. 11:1; 12:9; 22:22; 25:3; Deut. 3:17; 29:24-29; Josh. 7:1; Judg. 2:14; 2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Kings 14:15; 15:30; 16:2; 25:53; 2 Kings 13:3; 17:11; 23:19; 1 Chron. 13:10; 2 Chron. 28:25; Ps. 7:11; 11:4-7; Heb. 10:27; ). Jesus is also angry at sin (Mark 3:5). Fortunately, God’s anger is perfect, always merited, is aroused slowly (Ex. 34:6-8), sometimes turned away (Deut.13:17), and often delayed (Isa. 48:9) or even held back (Ps. 78:38).
However, God’s anger at sinners is so severe that the Bible says He hates them (Ps. 5:5; Hos. 9:15; Amos 5:21; Mal. 1:3; Rom. 9:13; Rev. 2:6). Additionally, God’s wrath is mentioned nearly 600 times in the Old Testament by some 20 different words and these concepts are also found in the New Testament, though less frequently (e.g., John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 5:9; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; 1 Thess. 1:10). Jesus is also said to have wrath (Rev. 6:16-17). Some people greatly struggle to accept the truth that God’s anger is personal, while hypocritically having no reservation in accepting the personal love of God. Still others will say that a loving God could not get angry, but a loving God is by definition required to be angry at sinners who destroy that which He loves, such as widows and orphans (Ex. 22:22-24), faithful spouses (Ezek. 23:20-25), and innocent people (Ezek. 16:38). Indeed, the Bible speaks of God’s anger, wrath, and fury more than His love, grace, and mercy.
God’s wrath begins in this life as He simply allows us to live out of our sin nature without stopping us (Rom. 1:18, 24, 26). God’s wrath continues to burn against us, forever (Deut. 32:21-22; John 3:36; Eph. 5:6; Rev. 14:9-11). The place of God’s unending active wrath is hell, which Jesus spoke of more than anyone in the Bible as an eternal place (Matt. 25:46) of painful torment (Matt. 8:11-12), like taking a beating (Luke 12:46-48), getting butchered (Matt. 24:50-51), and burned (Matt. 8:29; 13:49-50; 18:8-9; 25:41; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-31) by Jesus (Matt. 8:29; Mark 1:24; 5:7; Rev. 14:10). Because God’s angry wrath is just, God is not obligated to lovingly forgive anyone, as is the case with fallen angels who have no possibility of salvation (2 Peter 2:4).
But, because God is loving, merciful, and kind, He has chosen to save some people. Furthermore, salvation is defined as deliverance by God from God and His wrath (Rom. 5:9-10). To both demonstrate His hatred of sin and love for sinners, Jesus averted the wrath of God by dying on the cross as a substitute for sinners. This fact is explained by the word “propitiation,” which appears four times in the New Testament and is poorly translated by some modern translations as “sacrifice of atonement” in the NIV and NRSV, and “expiation” in the RSV and NEB. The English Standard Version correctly translates the four verses as follows:
- Romans 3:23-25 . . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness . . .
- Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. • 1 John 2:2 He [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
- 1 John 4:10 . . . this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Lastly, John 3:36 simply says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."
