For Reading: Isaiah 5:18-25
"They have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty... Therefore the Lord's anger burns." (5:24-25)
Wrath is not a defect in the divine character; rather, it would be a defect if wrath were absent from Him. Those who see God's wrath as petulance or retaliation, inflicting punishment just for the sake of it or in return for some injury received, do not really understand it. Divine wrath is not vindictiveness; it is divine perfection, issuing forth from God because it is right.
Human beings tend to make God in our own image. He made us in His image, but we want to return the compliment, and it is there that so often we go wrong. Instead of reasoning from the divine down to the human, recognizing that sin has marred the divine image within us, we reason from our fallen condition and project our own feelings and ideas onto God.
Thus, when thinking of the wrath of God, we tend to look at what happens in our own hearts when we get angry, and we imagine God to be the same. But divine anger must never be confused with human anger. Most of what goes on in our hearts whenever we are angry is a mixture of unpredictable petulance, retaliation, hostility, and self-concern. God's anger is always predictable, always steadfast, and always set against sin. We must never forget that God's nature is uncompromisingly set against sin. We may tolerate it; He never.
Sin has been defined as "God's one great intolerance," and for that we ought to be eternally grateful. As His children we ought to rejoice that He will not tolerate anything that is harmful to us.
Prayer:
O Father, what a change comes over me when I realize that Your wrath is not so much directed at persons but at the sin that demeans and destroys them. You are not against me for my sin, but for me against my sin. I am deeply, deeply grateful. Amen.
Further Study:
How did the psalmist express God's great intolerance?
What does the Lord hate?
It's not often that the prayer at the end of the devotion is what speaks to me (okay, let's be honest - NEVER). But when the author said, "You are not against me for my sin, but for me against my sin," it all kind of clicked with me. The point that he makes is true. God is never against us, but he is against our sin because it destroys us. As a good parent, he wants to remove what is bad for us.
ReplyDeleteYes, sin can be fun for a season (and not even, really, once you realize that it's sin). But there are always consequences, and more often than not, the consequences are way more than we expected. And they're never worth it. So it's really quite amazing when you realize that God's wrath is only against that sin because he's angry that anything would harm his children.
Boy, this post begs the question of "What is sin?" In christian circles is just lightly mentioned and assumed that everyone knows what you are talking about. I would wager that 95% or higher do not know.
ReplyDeleteVerse 20 of Isaiah 5 stands out to me..."woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light darkness; who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!"
ReplyDeleteWow. Is it possible for someone to be earnestly seeking what is light and good and sweet and yet be so blind as to think it the opposite? I see parallels between this and between Mark 4:12.
Thats an excellent verse. Look what it means in light of 1 John 3:4?
ReplyDeleteWhoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
So according to Isaiah those calling the law evil then are the woeful ones. I think this is a good parallel with Matthew 5:19:
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
I have to say that the pray said volumes and gives me a sense of renewed hope. I know that God is against sin and teaches us to be so as well, but just getting the reassurance that he stands against it with us makes me smile. It is great to have a silent comforter to aid in times of strife, and to just be reminded in so many different ways that he is always watching over us and standing alongside.
ReplyDeleteParenting has added a new lens to how I view God. I tend to compare the parent-child relationship with the Creator-created relationship. He is the perfect parent. He sets up the perfect and most fair rules for the household. He disciplines perfectly every time be it with a firm hand or a gentle word. His “wrath” is never abusive or in appropriate. His grace is never permissiveness or inattentiveness. His gifts, blessings, rewards, honor, freedoms are distributed with the utmost precision. At the core, the foundation of all of this is LOVE!
ReplyDelete“This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you!” No matter how many times my parents said it, I was pretty confident that it didn’t! As a parent, that’s changed. I can only try to imagine how Judah’s sin was breaking God’s heart and flaring His nostrils during the writings of Isaiah.
Our “image” as the author notes, tends to polarize God’s love and justice rather than seeing them as the unified characteristics of God that they are. He never subverts one over the other. When we reason “from the divine down to the human” we come closer to understanding God - though my finite mind comes pretty close to popping!
With this, I can totally understand Nathan’s generalization of the church turning “God into an all peace, loving and a tip-toeing around the issues kind of God.” That seems to be the direction the pendulum has swung during this cycle of history. We miss the awe and reverence due our God. The concern is spot on in my opinion!
But is this because of blatant disregard or blindness to sin, or is it recoil from years of teaching brimming with wrath and judgment? Is the pendulum simply swinging the other way?
May we have an appropriate balance of God’s love and mercy coupled with His holiness and judgment!
Does Christ’s life shed light on how to strike this balance? He’s intolerant of sin, that’s for sure. He’s holy! But what can we derive from His approach with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:1-27)? He did not overlook her sin, but neither did He raise His hand in judgment. Yet, recorded just a couple chapters earlier, our perfect parent-become-flesh administered His rightful wrath against those in the temple! Why didn’t Christ call out Zacchaeus’ sin like He did the pharisees and teachers of the Law (Mt 12 & 23) affectionately called a “brood of vipers”? Is there a pattern?
Lot of thoughts and ideas...thanks for yours!
I think there is actually a pretty significant pattern with those instances you mentioned, mike. You wouldn't discipline or "bring judgment" on your child who is 16 years old and should know NOT to do something the same way you would an infant who hasn't been taught yet? Yeshua came against the pharisees and teachers of the law the way He did because they knew the laws better than anyone and should have known the reasons for the law, yet they imposed THEIR OWN RESTRICTIONS all while trying to accuse Him. Because of their knowledge, He demonstrated a different type of judgment than he did with the Samaritan woman. She wasn't a jew or a torah follower, so he extended His grace. There was love for the Father in both actions.
ReplyDeleteMike, I love your parallel. I don't feel like I could fully understand a lot of aspects about God until I became a parent myself. Now I look at his character and try to think about how I would react to my own child. It brings a new level to my understanding of Him that is really amazing.
ReplyDelete