Is God angry right now? - rethink

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.

Introduction

There are many Christians who believe that God is filled with wrath, and that in some fashion He's anxious to let it rip. Thus they paint a picture of a God who is perpetually angry at sin and who longs to mete out punishment. 

We don't think that God is in a lasting posture of anger. Rather, in the endless present of His eternal existence we think His anger is brief, pointed, and specific. His wrath is a very small part of His nature and character:

Ps. 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime... \ 

 

Ps. 103:8-10 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger for ever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

This is the focus of today's rethink.

Wrath is Already Played Out

We think the moment of His anger is to a large degree already accomplished. John writes:

Jn. 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

This means the lost are in effect already judged and condemned, while the saved have had the condemnation lifted.

However, this does not mean we should be casual. We recognize that our God is also to be feared, that He will execute His judgments on the earth, and that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He. 10:31 

Impassible

And what about impassability? Impassability is the doctrine that God doesn't have emotions, though we describe His "mental state" is in terms of human emotion because there really isn't any other way for us to understand Him. One author makes an argument for impassability, but we find it lacking. We would agree that the nature of God is completely other, and that His "emotions" are unlike ours. This does not mean, however, that God is stoic, unmovable, or at arms length. 

He is certainly emotional in a way that we likely don't understand and lack the language to describe. Thus His wrath is a real thing. It's not the overriding feature of His nature, but it is real.

Angry Now

John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them." 

Ps. 7:11 God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.

Is. 34:2 The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. 

Not Always Angry

Ps. 103:9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger for ever...

Je. 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Was Angry

Ps. 95:10 For forty years I was angry with that generation...

Will Be Angry

1Th. 1:10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Col. 3:6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.

Re. 6:17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

His Anger Will End

Re. 15:1 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues — last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.

Conclusion

We should resist the urge to insist that God's nature corresponds with how we understand emotion. We should also be slow to accept the opinions and doctrines of men without scrutiny. God is infinitely varied and complex, so it is a mistake to attempt to systematize Him.

Here are some other aspects of God that are fundamental and endless:

Ps. 119:142 Your righteousness is everlasting...

Is. 54:8 In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you... 

Is. 26:4 Trust in the LORD for ever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal. 

Je. 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King.

Ps. 119:89 Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. 

There are many more facets to God. We are not called to worship only a one or two facets, yet for some reason we are content to know so little about Him. But if we are able to get past the few things we know and make the attempt to truly know Him, our eyes will be unveiled to a magnificent, delightful, varied, and nuanced God.