anger, sinful and righteous
We often fail to see that God’s anger and love
are entirely consistent with each other as different
expressions of His goodness and glory. The two work
together: “Jesus burned with anger against the
wrongs He met with in His journey through human
life, as truly as He melted with pity at the sight of the
world’s misery: and it was out of these two emotions
that His actual mercy proceeded.” warkield You can’t understand
God’s love if you don’t understand His anger.
Because He loves, He’s angry at what harms.
But notice the way God’s children experience His
anger: His anger is expressed on their behalf as
supremely tender love! As we will see, the Bible is
consistent about this truth. Yet anger is by definition
against things, with an intent to destroy, so how can
God’s wrath become something God’s children love
and trust rather than something they fear or dislike?
In what way is God’s anger an expression of how He
is for us, rather than the expression of how He is
against us?
Powlison
Second, in love, God’s anger works to disarm the power
of your sin. His anger at sin is again expressed for your
well-being. In the present, He deals continually with
indwelling sinfulness itself. (Awork that will be completed when we see Jesus return on
the day of wrath. See, for example, Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians
5:23; 1 John 3:2.)
The Holy Spirit, who
pours out God’s love within you, is a burning fire of
anger against evil, not to destroy you but to make you
new. In steadfast love, He remakes us, not by tolerating
our sin, but by hating our sin in a way that we
learn to love! The process is not always pleasant
because suffering, reproof, guilt, and owning up don’t
feel good. But deliverance, mercy, encouragement….
Who is the angriest person in the Bible? Satan.
His anger, also, does not turn away. He has “great
wrath,” being a “murderer from the beginning” even
until now. (revlation and john 8)Satan’s anger springs from malice and
the desire to hurt people. His anger, the paradigm of
all sinful anger, is the antithesis of God’s. Satan’s hostility
aims to make things wrong, in service to his own
cravings. This also tells us something very important.
Anger can be utterly wrong, bad, inappropriate, ugly,
a completely destructive response. Such anger summarizes
the very essence of evil: “I want my way and
not God’s, and because I can’t have my way, I rage.” Sinful anger usurps God and does harm; godly anger loves, enthroning God and doing good to people.--powlison
RP:That is a huge idea: my anger is either reflecting God or Satan. When my anger is turned on someone for malice and to hurt them… I am the tool of the other side. I’m in the employ of Voldemort, The Dark Side, Saruman, Satan!
Memories of Bilbo’s face when he almost stole the ring from Frodo.
Harry’s thoughts of hatred and wanting to kill Dumbledore in Order of Phoenix.
That is gripping for me to be in the employ of those who I truly hate.
are entirely consistent with each other as different
expressions of His goodness and glory. The two work
together: “Jesus burned with anger against the
wrongs He met with in His journey through human
life, as truly as He melted with pity at the sight of the
world’s misery: and it was out of these two emotions
that His actual mercy proceeded.” warkield You can’t understand
God’s love if you don’t understand His anger.
Because He loves, He’s angry at what harms.
But notice the way God’s children experience His
anger: His anger is expressed on their behalf as
supremely tender love! As we will see, the Bible is
consistent about this truth. Yet anger is by definition
against things, with an intent to destroy, so how can
God’s wrath become something God’s children love
and trust rather than something they fear or dislike?
In what way is God’s anger an expression of how He
is for us, rather than the expression of how He is
against us?
Powlison
Second, in love, God’s anger works to disarm the power
of your sin. His anger at sin is again expressed for your
well-being. In the present, He deals continually with
indwelling sinfulness itself. (Awork that will be completed when we see Jesus return on
the day of wrath. See, for example, Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians
5:23; 1 John 3:2.)
The Holy Spirit, who
pours out God’s love within you, is a burning fire of
anger against evil, not to destroy you but to make you
new. In steadfast love, He remakes us, not by tolerating
our sin, but by hating our sin in a way that we
learn to love! The process is not always pleasant
because suffering, reproof, guilt, and owning up don’t
feel good. But deliverance, mercy, encouragement….
Who is the angriest person in the Bible? Satan.
His anger, also, does not turn away. He has “great
wrath,” being a “murderer from the beginning” even
until now. (revlation and john 8)Satan’s anger springs from malice and
the desire to hurt people. His anger, the paradigm of
all sinful anger, is the antithesis of God’s. Satan’s hostility
aims to make things wrong, in service to his own
cravings. This also tells us something very important.
Anger can be utterly wrong, bad, inappropriate, ugly,
a completely destructive response. Such anger summarizes
the very essence of evil: “I want my way and
not God’s, and because I can’t have my way, I rage.” Sinful anger usurps God and does harm; godly anger loves, enthroning God and doing good to people.--powlison
RP:That is a huge idea: my anger is either reflecting God or Satan. When my anger is turned on someone for malice and to hurt them… I am the tool of the other side. I’m in the employ of Voldemort, The Dark Side, Saruman, Satan!
Memories of Bilbo’s face when he almost stole the ring from Frodo.
Harry’s thoughts of hatred and wanting to kill Dumbledore in Order of Phoenix.
That is gripping for me to be in the employ of those who I truly hate.
posted by Rob | 8:47 AM
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