Appointment to Wrath

A myth Christians do well to dispel is that God's people will never experience the wrath of God.  While it is true Christians will not experience the wrath of God for eternity, the Bible is filled with instances of God's wrath coming upon His own people to correct, refine and draw them to Himself.  We see this in God's dealings with Judah under the rule of wicked King Ahaz in 2 Chronicles 28, and God nor His ways have changed.  As Psalm 7:11 says, "God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day."  God's judgment and wrath is not devoid of love, grace and mercy, for He suffers long and is kind; God warns and shows restraint in His administration of justice as when a father disciplines his beloved child for good.

People might wonder, "But I thought the Bible says Christians are not appointed to wrath."  That is true, but Paul wrote that in the context of eternal salvation in contrast to everlasting damnation.  Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:6-11:  "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸ But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing."  It is a comfort to know God's chastening of us and correction for our sin is not for our destruction but for edification, purification and sanctification.  This passage does not teach we can do no wrong as God's children when we sin.  A loving parent can be moved to anger by foolish and sinful choices of a rebellious son, and because God loves us He will take appropriate action to warn, teach and judge us righteously.

A passage in the Old Testament illustrates both God's wrath against sin in His people as well as our need to do as Jesus taught--to judge ourselves lest we be judged.  Ahaz reigned in Judah and his wicked, idolatrous ways were likened to the kings of Israel.  Due to the sins of Ahaz and his people, God delivered Judah in to the hands of the Syrians and the northern kingdom of Israel who slaughtered valiant men of Judah and Benjamin.  Great spoil and captives of Judah were taken to Samaria with the aim to enslave them.  2 Chronicles 28:9-11 reads, "But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: "Look, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand; but you have killed them in a rage that reaches up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the LORD your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you."

Because of the sins of Judah God delivered them into the hands of Israel, and in executing God's judgment the malice and rage of the Israelites reached up to heaven.  The prophet Oded confronted Israel for their own faults, for they were not innocent themselves.  God's fierce wrath was upon them for adding to their sin God had punished Judah for!  By God's grace there were wise men among them who agreed with the word of the LORD through the prophet and responded in 2 Chronicles 28:13:  "...You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the LORD. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel."  In humbling themselves before God in repentance, the great wrath of God was turned away for a season.  They judged God to be righteous and themselves to be guilty of great sin, and the people responded by obedience to God and showed kindness to their brethren by providing for their needs and sending them home.

Paul wrote to believers in Ephesians 5:5-7:  "For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not be partakers with them."  Knowing Jesus died to cleanse us from sin and reconcile us to God, Christians ought not to be partakers of sin like the people of Judah and Israel were.  The end result of God's wrath is different for the believer and unbeliever, for one is refined as precious gold while the other is consumed as chaff.  Christians are not permanently appointed to wrath as those who rebel against God, yet should we rebel against God a brief appointment with God's wrath can be booked in because He loves us and desires to further sanctify us according to His wisdom.

Verses like Romans 5:9 ought to be balanced and put in perspective by others like Romans 1:18.  Romans 5:9 says concerning born-again Christians, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."  Romans 1:18 also says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness..."  God has revealed Himself to us, the almighty God whose thoughts are not our thoughts and whose ways are higher than our ways.  We cannot fathom all God does, plans and accomplishes through the administration of His righteous wrath and judgments, but we can know God and His ways are good.  What we can do by God's grace is to respond in humility to His correction, confess our sin and repent, and praise God we are not appointed to wrath forever.  Even should His wrath burn against us for a season, it will never be malicious or murderous.  Rather than only being content to escape God's wrath forever, shouldn't we live in a godly way in which He is well-pleased today?