Recently, during a discussion with other staff, I had a new understanding of God’s wrath. Though I’ve accepted it, perhaps because of no longer being under it, there is still the hard part of understanding God having people wiped out in His wrath.
Romans 1 has these verses:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, (Romans 1:18, 24 ESV)
I’ve heard these verses explained as God’s wrath being where people are left to whatever they are desiring. Instead of any connection to Him, they are left to things that will not fully satisfy.
In the discussion we brought up a parable in Luke 16. A rich man who treated a poor man terribly dies and goes to Hades/Hell. His reaction in speaking to an angel is this: And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ (Luke 16:24 ESV)
Really? A drop of water when there is anguish and fire all around? Wouldn’t you want out? But, if wrath is about being given up to what we’ve always wanted, we think we’ll still be satisfied.
But, still, there’s the death of people through God’s wrath. How does this fit in. Well, the reconciling of these things came in a thought about a human example of wrath: divorce. When one spouse is unfaithful to the other, divorce is an option. The way I realized this human form of wrath is that the faithful spouse can separate themselves from the other and leave the unfaithful to continue in what he or she wants. It’s not without love. The faithful can still say “I love you, but you don’t love me, so the best that I can do is let you go your way. This will probably lead to unsatisfaction with future spouses and destruction in other relationships. But, go ahead. Be on your way.” The partner is “killed.”
God is divorcing people, in a way. He has not stopped to love. The worst thing He could do is force us to stay when we are fully in love with other things. Death is the means to separate. And a person goes to Hell forever left to what they fell in love with, but it is not God. Nothing seems to quench, so they ask for a drop of water when they are engulfed in flames. It’s the only thing that makes sense to a mind consumed with something that is also a small drop compared to God.
chris
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Recently, during a discussion with other staff, I had a new understanding of God’s wrath. Though I’ve accepted it, perhaps because of no longer being under it, there is still the hard part of understanding God having people wiped out in His wrath.
Romans 1 has these verses:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, (Romans 1:18, 24 ESV)
I’ve heard these verses explained as God’s wrath being where people are left to whatever they are desiring. Instead of any connection to Him, they are left to things that will not fully satisfy.
In the discussion we brought up a parable in Luke 16. A rich man who treated a poor man terribly dies and goes to Hades/Hell. His reaction in speaking to an angel is this: And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ (Luke 16:24 ESV)
Really? A drop of water when there is anguish and fire all around? Wouldn’t you want out? But, if wrath is about being given up to what we’ve always wanted, we think we’ll still be satisfied.
But, still, there’s the death of people through God’s wrath. How does this fit in. Well, the reconciling of these things came in a thought about a human example of wrath: divorce. When one spouse is unfaithful to the other, divorce is an option. The way I realized this human form of wrath is that the faithful spouse can separate themselves from the other and leave the unfaithful to continue in what he or she wants. It’s not without love. The faithful can still say “I love you, but you don’t love me, so the best that I can do is let you go your way. This will probably lead to unsatisfaction with future spouses and destruction in other relationships. But, go ahead. Be on your way.” The partner is “killed.”
God is divorcing people, in a way. He has not stopped to love. The worst thing He could do is force us to stay when we are fully in love with other things. Death is the means to separate. And a person goes to Hell forever left to what they fell in love with, but it is not God. Nothing seems to quench, so they ask for a drop of water when they are engulfed in flames. It’s the only thing that makes sense to a mind consumed with something that is also a small drop compared to God.