God of Anger, God of Love

Sermon by the Rev Jeffrey Khoo at True Life BPC, 13 February 2011

 

What kind of God is the God of the Bible? The liberals claim that in the Bible there are two different Gods, an Old Testament God and a New Testament God. The OT God is a God of wrath, and the NT God is a God of love. Some say the God of the Bible is an evolving God. In the OT He was immature, very impatient, easily provoked, hot-tempered, and vengeful. But in the NT He grew up and became mature and that is why in the NT we see Him very patient, loving, and forgiving. What kind of God do we have?

Is the God of the Bible so changeable like man? Do not be mistaken, man may change but God cannot. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “God is … infinite, eternal and unchangeable.” It goes without saying that God being God is always constant and consistent in His being and in His ways. The God of the OT is the same God of the NT. He does not change. The Lord says in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the LORD, I change not.” In Hebrews 13:8 we read, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Our God is immutable.

Now, the one living and true God is both a God of anger and of love. This is clearly revealed by the Prophet Nahum, “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” (Nah 1:2, 3).

The God of the Bible Is a God of Anger

“God is jealous.” The jealousy of God is quite different from the jealousy of man. The jealousy we often feel is sinful and wrong; for instance, being jealous of another person’s promotion, or wealth, or success, etc. Proverbs 6:34 says, “For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.” Sinful jealousy stirs up vengeful anger which is very destructive. It moves a man to hate and to steal and to kill because what he knows he cannot have, he does not want others to have. Often we call this green-eyed monster “envy” and envy leads to strife (Phil 1:15, 1 Tim 6:4).

However, there is such a thing as godly jealousy, the kind that God Himself manifests. The word “jealous” here in  Hebrew has the idea of protective zeal. When God is jealous, it means He is zealous in protecting His holiness and His truth. For instance, God is rightly jealous when human beings worship other gods. This is because there is only one living and true God, and only He is worthy of worship, no other. We provoke God to jealousy when we worship other gods. Commandments I and II of the Decalogue make it very clear, “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me” (Exod 20:1-5). Exodus 34:14 says, “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

And because He is a jealous God, He judges and punishes those who disobey and rebel against Him. Nahum minced no words when He said, “the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.” The Lord takes revenge and He is the only one who has the right to, simply because He is perfectly just and righteous. The Lord in Deuteronomy 32:35 says, “To me belongeth vengeance and recompence.”

Do not follow what the movies teach, “I must take revenge.” It is for God the righteous Judge to take punitive action when we are wronged. It is not for us to take vengeance. We can only pray and cry out to God for justice for He alone knows how to deal with all who do wrong according to His good judgement and perfect time.

How should we treat our enemies? God commands us to bless and do good to them. Romans 12:19-21 says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

God is sure to execute judgement on those who rebel against Him. Nahum was prophesying against Nineveh—the capital of Assyria (Nah 1:1). Assyria was a superpower at this time (c 700 BC). Assyria had already conquered Ephraim (721 BC), and was planning to conquer Judah next. Although God had used Assyria to punish Ephraim, Assyria herself was not without sin. Assyria’s successful war against the northern kingdom of Israel caused her to be proud. The Assyrians boasted foolishly that their gods were more powerful than the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that the God of Israel was no match for their gods. Now, to speak like this is very dangerous. It is blasphemy. Any and every evil word spoken against God will be judged by God for God will not allow His name to be taken lightly nor would He share His glory with anyone. “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”

Today we see many who hate God and speak against Him and His Word. Do not think that such will get away without any punishment. You can be sure God is furious. He is very angry with those who deny His existence, and reject the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is very angry with this very evil and wicked world—with all its pride, unbelief, idolatry, and immorality, all the killing, adultery, cheating, stealing, lying etc. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge this world, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev 19:15).

The God of the Bible Is a God of Love

“The LORD is slow to anger.” Indeed, our God is not a God with a short fuse. Psalm 103:8 says, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God does not take a delight in the destruction of the wicked. He is not trigger happy to condemn sinners to eternal damnation. In fact, He is a very patient God. Although sinners deserve their just condemnation, God desires their repentance. So God waits and waits. He keeps on waiting for sinners to confess their sins to Him and repent of their ways. When a sinner repents, God is very ready and quick to forgive. Ezekiel 33:11 tells us, “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The Prophet Jonah who was Nahum’s predecessor knew this very well, how the Lord God of Israel was slow to anger. Jonah was a reluctant prophet to the Ninevites for we read in his book, in chapter 4, verse 2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” A hundred and fifty years earlier, Jonah had preached judgement against Nineveh, and the people repented. God forgave the Ninevites. The same word was preached to them by Nahum. God “is slow to anger.” He was ready to forgive them if they would only repent of their pride and confess Him as the only living and true God to whom they should accord all glory and honour. The Ninevites knew how merciful and forgiving God could be. This should have moved them to repentance.

Did the Ninevites repent? Not this time. God had to take punitive action for He the God of justice “will not at all acquit the wicked.” God finally judged and destroyed the Ninevites, but consider how patient He was. He only took action in about 600 BC, a hundred years after Nahum’s word to them.

God will wait for sinners to repent, but He will not wait forever. One day God will judge this world again. He did so once before by a worldwide Flood, and waited for 120 years for the people to repent but they refused, the souls “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing” (1 Pet 3:20). Noah preached while he built the ark but none repented. The Flood came and all were swept away, save Noah and his family.

Are you still outside of God’s Ark of salvation? Are you still unrepentant of your sins, still unbelieving, refusing to trust in Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Saviour? God is still waiting for you, but He will not wait for long for judgement is coming soon. The signs of the times tell us that Jesus Christ is coming back soon. Take heed to this warning, “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” (2 Pet 3:3-15).

Do not delay, salvation is today!