And now, The Wrath of God.
And now, The Wrath of God.
starring Jesus as “The Wrath”
Updating, reposting, and adding to the TIG compilation.
(Full disclosure: I’m feelin’ spicy. Let’s goooo)
What do we do with the wrath of God in a descriptive Gospel?
If the truth of the Gospel is that we're adored and whole and cherished from the beginning as God's favorite creatures, and that none of our sinfulness can ultimately keep us separated from him, where does a destructive and condemning wrath possibly fit in? Am I denying the reality of God's wrath against sin and injustice by claiming the Gospel is descriptive?
Nope. But am I going to explore the topic with different lenses? Yep, I sure am.
We usually think of Jesus as being peace, being meek, and being the buffer that saves us from direct impact of the wrath of God, and for good reason*, but in this thought experiment we’re going to explore the way Jesus also plays the role of The Wrath™ itself. If you’re resistant to that, don’t forget that Jesus is the master of double-duty. Remember that time he was both God and man? Mkay. Let’s continue. (1)
If Peace is the perfect fruition of all things in right relationship with each other, and Justice is the action Peace takes to bring things back into alignment, I would say that Wrath is just Peace, dressed to kill.
Ack! But kill who, tho? Kill sinners? Is the wrath of God the executor of eternal condemnation?
Mmm, not for sinners, no.
Here, let me explain my premise, starting with my definition for sin:
Sin is misalignment from Love.
Think about it like your body and chiropractic care: when your body is in perfect alignment, health and peace are what you'll experience, because your blood and all your body's systems are flowing and operating smoothly to nourish and detoxify itself without interruption. When you're out of alignment – when you have subluxations and therefore blockages – your systems are being disrupted in either small ways or big, and you start having backups, stagnation, pain, loss of health, and in the extreme, death itself.
The presence of misalignment is death at work in us (however slowly), whereas alignment is life at work.
I'll also assert that being in perfect alignment with Love is the Truth of who we are. That state of being is the Truth of who God made us to be. Any misalignment that occurs may be a fact of our experience, but it isn't Truth, and while it can assume our identity, be very convincing, and cause us to behave in atrocious ways, it can't ever fully subvert the Truth. The Truth about you is still true no matter what your experience to the contrary. You were created as Love, by Love, for Love, and that is who you inherently are.
So let's get back to who exactly that Wrath has it in for, and the hint that I'll give you is it's not you.
What did Jesus come to do?
Conquer Sin, Death, and the Devil.
Huh. Are you any of those things? (This is not a trick question, don’t raise your hand.)
What is working death in you?
Sin: misalignment from your source of being – from Love, the Truth of your very self – by way of the devil, who questions and accuses his way to convincing you to give up your alignment with Love.
What actually p––d Jesus off?
Anytime people were gatekeeping love, forgiveness, and wholeness from the hurting, vulnerable people who were seeking them, or
When anyone tried to stand in the way of him doing the job he came to do in order to reach those people.
Both the pharisees and the disciples came in for his exasperation and his ire, but I think the situation was bigger than it being about them personally. The thing that was causing the pharisees and disciples to try to hoard the prestige of God’s favor by keeping out everyone they deemed unworthy was in fact holding them hostage, trying to keep them from receiving the kingdom of God. The perpetrators are also victims – they’re perpetrators because of what they’ve become captive to – and the Lord hates the one who holds his children hostage.
In order to “finish it” (as in: “I don’t care who started it, I’m gonna…”), Jesus embodied the wrath of God and dealt death to Death, to do violence to what was doing violence to us. The Wrath of God was satisfied, because Jesus as the Wrath did everything he needed to do** to subvert the Subverter, to overthrow the Overthrower, to free us from the chains that kept us captive,, stunted, and wicked (twisted, broken, and breaking). He completed his objective, and now eternal condemnation need not, and truly, cannot, apply.
BUT. What about all the wickedness we still experience, and even embody and commit ourselves?
Healing and adjusting (aka, “sanctification”) take time, but rest assured, the Lord is coming for every manifestations of misalignment in us. And even though sometimes it feels like we’re suffering the wrath of God when they’re removed, he continues to release us from the things we are not so we're free to be the full, true expression of who we are – of who he is.
(For a lot more on this, see my Trauma-Informed Gospel Compilation.)
*(ex: it’s the blood of a perfect lamb that causes the wrath of God that’s meant for the Egyptians to pass over the Israelites, just as it’s the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, that causes his wrath to bypass us on its way to the enemy of our souls)
**which of course, ironically, didn't look like being dressed to kill in any way, and instead started out looking like being stripped to be killed. He is a wily Jesus.
(1.) “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself . He is clothes in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Revelation 19:11-16
(2.) “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘take here things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written,
‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”
John 2:13-16
(note: in Matthew 21:13 Jesus calls it a “den of robbers,” and as I’ve heard it explained that’s because the rates of exchange from money bearing Ceasar’s face [illegal in the temple] into shekels, as well as prices for animals to sacrifice, were so high it was basically extortion of the people who didn’t have the appropriate animal to offer as a sacrifice to what? obtain forgiveness. I’d be pissed, too.)
~Matthew 23:1-36~
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’”
Matthew 18:1-6
“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’”
Matthew 19:13-14
“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’”
Matthew 16:21-23
(3.) General scriptures for this post:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
“For it was fitting that he (God the Father), for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.’ And again, ‘I will put my trust in him.’ And again, ‘behold, I and the children God has given me.’ Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
Hebrews 2:10-15
“ But now in Christ Jesus you who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace., who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments, expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.” Ephesians 2:13-17
“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is.”
1 John 3:2
“So we have come to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
1 John 4:16-18
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2