Sabbath School Summary

By Elder Dr Masimba Mavaza

The Wrath of Divine Love

Lesson 5

Memory Text: “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath” (Psalm 78:38, NKJV).

Introduction

What comes to mind when you think of the word “love?”
Your first thought when you think of love is probably not anger. The two terms seem in complete opposition to one another, yet the Bible describes God as a jealous and angry God, while also describing him as loving and comforting.
The entire story of the gospel is centered around God’s unconditional love for us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world…”
So, how do we reconcile the love of God in the New Testament with the wrath of God of the Old Testament?
First of all, there is nothing to reconcile. It’s important to note that God does not have a character change between the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly states that God is consistent and never-changing. “For I the Lord do not change…” (Malachi 3:6).
In a world that puts a lot of emphasis on love, it’s easy and comforting to think of God’s love for us. But when we think of his anger, it doesn’t always make sense. That’s because the world we live in often thinks of “love” as a synonym to “support” and “agreement.”
That’s not what God’s love is at all.
God sent Jesus to be with us because our sin separated us from God. Without Jesus’ sacrifice, we couldn’t have a relationship with God. Because God is all good, He hates sin, and when we sin, he becomes angry. He becomes angry because of how much he loves us. When we sin, he doesn’t agree with our sin yet he still loves us in his anger. That’s what real love is.
Though God’s compassion is often celebrated, many find the idea of His wrath disturbing. If God is love, they think He should never express wrath. That notion, however, is false. His wrath arises directly from His love.
Some claim that the Old Testament God is a God of wrath and that the New Testament God is a God of love. But there is only one God, and He is revealed as the same in both Testaments. The God who is love does become angry at evil—but precisely because He is love. Jesus Himself expressed profound anger against evil, and the New Testament teaches numerous times about the righteous and appropriate wrath of God.
God’s anger is always His righteous and loving response against evil and injustice. Divine wrath is righteous indignation motivated by perfect goodness and love, and it seeks the flourishing of all creation. God’s wrath is simply the appropriate response of love to evil and injustice. Accordingly, evil provokes God to passion in favor of the victims of evil and against its perpetrators. Divine wrath, then, is another expression of divine love.

SABBATH:
If there be a God, He must have an utter hate for sin & its results. Sin caused the fall of man. God’s wrath against sin is always His righteous & loving response against sin & injustice. Even when He grows angry with men, it is because they’ll not let Him bless them or save them from evil. It’s false to think that a God of love should not be angry at sin or that the God in the OT is full of wrath & the God in the NT is full of love. Divine wrath is a form of divine love.

Grieved by Evil

SUNDAY:
Evil always hurt God’s people. That’s why God abhors evil & those who commit evil, even self-inflicted evil. In the Bible, God is repeatedly provoked to anger by His people who join in a circle of rebellion; the people do evil such as child sacrifice, God withdraws due to their choices, other nations oppress His people, the people cry to Him, He delivers them, & the people rebel again. God always meet their unfaithfulness with faithfulness (Ps. 78, Neh. 9:7-33).

God Is Slow to Anger

MONDAY:
God is so compassionate & gracious that Jonah, a minor prophet, chastised Him for being too merciful. Jonah despised the Assyrians for what they had done to Israel that he did not want God to show them mercy (Jonah 4:1-4, Matt. 10:8). From the story, Jonah was hardhearted & God is loving. “Slow to anger” & “long-suffering” in Hebrew literally is “long of nose”. Anger is linked with nose (i.e., God is slow to anger). He justifies all believers (Rom. 3:25, 26).

Righteous Indignation

TUESDAY:
A mother watching her 3-year-old daughter get attacked at a playground would rightfully feel anger. Similarly, God feels anger towards evil & injustice which afflicts His children. The Bible calls it a “righteous indignation” (Matt. 21:12, 13, John 2:14, 15). Jesus was indignant when the people sold at the temple, the disciples rebuked kids from seeing Him, & the Pharisees falsely accused Him (Matt. 21:12, 13, John 2:14, 15, 16, Mark 10:13, 14, 3:4, 5).

God Does Not Afflict Willingly

WEDNESDAY:
If there were no evil, God would not be angry. His anger is only & always against that which harms us. It’s hard for God to get angry at evildoers. But love finally requires justice (Lam. 3:32, 33). Before God’s wrath is born, He repeatedly gives sinners the chance to repent (Jer. 35:14-17, Ps. 81:11-14). Sin made God withdraw from His people & Babylon oppressed them (Ezra 5:12). Yet, He loved them (Jer. 51:24, 25, 44; Zech. 1:15, Judg. 2:13, 14, Ps. 106:41, 42).

Show Compassion

THURSDAY:
The wrath of man can be bad but God’s wrath is terrible. Yet, it’s not immoral or unloving. Divine wrath is loving & only in response to evil. Where there is no evil & injustice, there is no wrath. In the end when out of love He wipes out sin from the universe, anger & wrath will be removed too. In the new world, there’ll only be an eternity of love. For now, divine anger is not a license to human vengeance (Deut. 32:35, Prov. 20:22, 24:29, Rom. 12:17-21, 5:8, 9, Heb. 10:30, 1 Thess. 1:10, 5:9).

Further Thought

FRIDAY:
The Israelites sinned against God, who had blessed them & whose authority they had willingly accepted. To uphold divine justice, punishment was necessary, yet God’s mercy allowed for repentance, not sparing only those who persisted in rebellion. This punishment served as a testament to surrounding nations about God’s disapproval of evil. God’s love required judgment to ensure that the suffering of a few would prevent greater calamity for the many.

—Ellen G. White, “Idolatry at Sinai,” pp. 315– 330, in Patriarchs and Prophets.

Keywords

“God gave the people”- It is an expression to depict God’s withdrawal of His presence from His people who persistently rebel against Him. Additional texts for Wednesday are Judg. 10:6–16, Deut. 29:24–26.

God’s wrath- It stems from love & His desire for the final good of the universe, which itself has a stake in the whole question of sin and rebellion and evil.

Discussion Questions

📌 Why do you think so many people struggle with the concept of divine wrath? What helps you to understand it?

📌 What problems always arise when people seek vengeance that never arise when God seeks it?

📌 How was God’s judgment against Israel after the golden calf rebellion also an instance of divine mercy? What other examples in Scripture show that even God’s judgment is an act of love?

📌Even though we understand that God righteously becomes indignant against evil and brings judgment with perfect justice, how important is it for us to refrain from condemning others? Discuss this particularly in light of 1 Corinthians 4:5.

For January 25–31. Happy Sabbath!