The Bible records God's wrath in numerous passages. Sometimes it is hard to reconcile what we commonly think of as "wrath" (anger, rage, or fury) with what we think of as a good God: kind, loving, and forgiving. But wrath can also refer to gentler feelings like displeasure, exasperation, or irritation. Indeed, the Bible teaches that God loves everyone, but he can also get very upset with us, both individually and together as the human race. It is easy to see how God might have such responses to many of the things humans do. See my theodicy 101 post for some general thoughts about the apparent discrepancy between his anger and love, but in this post I want to focus on one particular version of God's wrath, what it means and why it applies.
A longstanding and straightforward understanding of God's wrath is simply the natural consequences of going against God's will. Good parents will protect and love their children, but will also allow them to experience the consequences of their actions, both good and bad. If junior disobeys, then something "bad", from his perspective, happens to teach him that actions have consequences. This could be viewed, from junior's perspective, as the wrath of his parents. He may cry "unfair", or "you're mean" when a toy is taken away, or he is sent to a corner for a time out, or later when he is grounded for a week. Yet we understand that actions indeed have consequences, and parents need to discipline their children appropriately for them to learn and mature properly.
In some ways it is the same for us and God. If we are smokers, we should not blame God if we get lung cancer. If we turn our backs on his directives regarding our sexuality, instituted for our good, we should not complain to him if we get an STD, or if our relationships falls apart. If we are selfish, hard on others, deceitful, or otherwise behave poorly, we should expect consequences that work to our detriment: losing friends, being lied to in return, feeling cheated even when we are treated fairly, etc. In this way, much of God's wrath can be seen as the natural, or predictable results of our own actions or disobediences. Clearly, there is more to God's wrath than this, but this can be a good starting place. God gives us rules for our own good, and if we ignore them, we can expect unhappy results to follow.
Let's see how this plays out at a larger scale; for groups, nations and the entire world. For ancient Israel, God's wrath consisted of their nation being conquered by foreign armies and them taken into exile. This involved many deaths and cruelties: I won't pretend that these effects were one-on-one aligned with individual sins and personal disobediences, although there was doubtless some of that. No, in that case, God had often instructed, then berated and warned the people and their leaders against idolatry and injustice, but they kept falling back into sin and turning their back on God. Although slow to anger (hundreds of years), God eventually had enough and, for the nation's own good, destroyed their nation, and took them into exile in Babylon. Apparently they did learn that lesson and after their return to Israel, did not return to blatant idolatry.
Closer to here and now, let's look at modern Canada (or Europe, or the USA). Sixty or so years ago, Canada could reasonably have been called a Christian nation. Not everyone was Christian of course, but our laws, schooling, acceptable public behaviour, institutions, and mores were all based more or less on Judeo-Christian principles of truth, integrity, honesty, care for others, rule of law, fairness, etc. There were obviously glitches, and not everything was perfect, but most people honoured God to some extent and obeyed rules based largely on his precepts and commands.
Fast forward to the 21st century: now Biblical truths are unknown, derided, ignored, or put down as "oppression" or "bigotry" by many. Schools can teach anything except Christian values it seems, and can push ideologies directly counter to Christian doctrines. How many millions of God's highest and most innocent creatures do we deliberately kill off each year by abortion? And now we push for euthanasia, killing off those at the other end of life. Entertainment, the mass media, various government edicts and court decisions continue to pare away Godly influences, or undermine Biblical teachings, often promoting their opposites. Fewer people attend worship services, read the Bible, or even pray to God these days. If God smiled on Canada 60 years ago, is he still smiling, or has he begun to withdraw his blessings?
The ancient Hebrew blessing reads, "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace." (Numbers 6:24-26). If a nation or people turns its back to God, ignoring him, or worse, denying his very existence and demeaning those who seek to follow his ways, can that nation expect God to lift His countenance upon us? C.S. Lewis wrote, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." When we don't listen to God, he in effect says, "OK, have it your way, along with the consequences that come with your choices".
What are those consequences? We don't have to look far. While our standard of living has risen since mid 20th century, has our level of happiness also increased? It seems more people are lonely and stressed than ever; we have higher personal and national debts, there are more demands on our time, rising mental health problems, and societal pressures abound. The list goes on. The sexual revolution of the 1960's was supposed to bring more freedoms, but instead brought diseases, abuse, broken and complicated families, insecure and anxious children, rampant divorce, the flood of abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, widespread loneliness, relationship headaches, and so on. We have growing wealth, but also pollution, inequality, underemployment, the rat race, heavy competition for jobs and promotions, rising anger and discontent. Politically, there are increasing deficits, taxes, political conflicts, distrust, suspicion, and polarization. Not many blessings in all that!
The picture is a bit less clear at the global level. Christianity, however defined, is the largest religion in the world, with over two billion adherents of one affiliation or other. In a global population around eight billion, Christians are still a minority. The faith is growing in some places, but retreating in others. Moreover, there is a growing hatred of Christianity world wide. Communism still holds in some countries, with its atheist biases and the oppression of churches and free expression. Islam, and even Hinduism and Buddhism now have a growing dislike for Christianity: think of the "blasphemy" laws in Pakistan, the near eradication of Christians in Iraq and Syria, and Islamic extremists targeting churches, for example. Christians are the most persecuted faith group in the world.
To this we may add the growing negative view of Christianity in Western secular nations, as noted above, much of it irrational: suspicion of clergy, biased media reporting, the narrowing of tolerated religious practice, forced behaviour and speech laws, and so on. For example, why do secular westerners appear to accept widespread Muslim practices counter to liberal principles, while also attacking Christianity, when Judeo-Christian principles undergird much of what liberals hold dear? Or contrast Christian and secular views of the Israel-Palestine conflict, along with repeated UN votes against the modern state of Israel. Tally it all up and it looks like half the world is anti-Christian (and anti-Semitic) to some extent or other. Why is that? Most of the reasons on offer do not hold up to serious scrutiny.
In this context, what do you suppose God thinks of the world and where it is headed these days? Is he just going to sit back and dismiss widespread denial and hatred, or is he just, meting out justice in the form of fair consequences for these worldwide anti-God trends? I cannot say, but I do pray for mercy and God's forgiveness. In another context, what might God think when his beautiful creation, in all its stunning variation and complexity, is passed off as merely the result of random chance and natural processes, with no purpose, direction or intelligence allowed? If most scientists cannot bear even the possibility of a divine hand at work, should those researchers expect divine inspiration in their work?
Are some of the global problems we are encountering as a species at least partly the result of God's wrath? The nuclear doomsday clock, global warming, pandemics, species extinctions, poverty, hunger, international tensions, inequality, violence and warfare; are these consequences of our anti-God words and behaviours, our flouting and denial of God's expressed directives? Some people certainly think so. Can we afford to go on ignoring God's plans and guidelines for humanity and the natural consequences of going against them?
Closely associated with God's wrath in the Bible is the broader concept of the "fear of the Lord". While this is a good topic for another post, suffice it to say that this "fear" is usually taken to mean reverence or awe; God is so awesome that contemplating his omnipotence can bring on trepidation and a sense of our smallness, unworthiness and vulnerability. Then again, it is right to truly fear God in the sense of dread or foreboding, if we do not humbly seek his grace and mercy. God may condemn those who deny and work against him to the natural consequences of their lack of faith and their wish to have nothing to do with him.
Fortunately for us, it is not all wrath, fear and condemnation. God still looks after his creation and provides for humanity, even if he lets his creatures, by their own choices, slip away from him. God made us good and loves us still, providing everything we need in this world and this life. Rather than despair, I am bouyed by hope that God's people, who still honour him and seek to follow his precepts, will be enough to blunt, or delay further instances of his wrath on mankind. In this I am encouraged by two Bible stories. In Genesis 18:16-33, father Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and talks God into withholding his destructive wrath if only ten righteous people remain there.
Later, in 1 Kings 19:14-18, the prophet Elijah complains that everyone is against him and he is the only one who honours God. God tells him that there are still 7000 in Israel who have not worshipped idols, and that is enough for God to send Elijah back for Israel's benefit. Perhaps having a billion Christians around the world holding to God's ways and truths will be enough to hold back any worse effects of God's wrath. I pray that it will be so, and that our repentance and seeking him will instead bring forgiveness and continued blessing.
