Here’s what was on the back of the teaching outline tonight (relating to John 3:36):
1. “Is there really going to be a ‘coming wrath’?” (1 Thess 1:10; See Matt 3:7; Luke 21:23; Rom 2:5; Col 3:5-6; 1 Thess 5:9; Rev 6:16-17; 14:9-10, 17-20; 16:19; 19:11-15; Note also the present reality of God’s wrath: John 3:36; Rom 1:18; 1 Thess 2:16).
2. “What does the Bible mean when it speaks of God’s wrath?”
-It bears virtually no resemblance to human wrath (which is typically out of control and vindictive), although our occasional “righteous indignation” (intense anger aroused by something unjust) perhaps comes close.
-Rather, God’s wrath is an expression of his absolute holiness or purity whereby he actively opposes sin and punishes sinners (see, for example, Nahum 1:2-6; Rom 1:18-25; 2:5-8).
“[God’s wrath against sin] does not mean that he is likely to fly off the handle at the most trivial provocation, still less that he loses his temper for no apparent reason at all. For there is nothing capricious or arbitrary about the holy God. Nor is he ever irascible, malicious, spiteful or vindictive. His anger is neither mysterious nor irrational. It is never unpredictable but always predictable, because it is provoked by evil and by evil alone” (John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, p. 173).
-In other words, God is not indifferent to the evil we do: His holiness reveals our sin; his wrath responds to it in righteous judgment (see, for example, 2 Thess 1:5-10).
3. “Doesn’t this contradict the fact that God is love?”
-No—only if we misunderstand the nature of God’s love. Question: What do you mean when you share with someone, “God loves you”? What does the Bible mean? (See John 3:16, 36; Rom 5:6-10; 1 Thess 1:10).
-God’s wrath is actually a consequence of his holy love. Question: What would God be like if he didn’t oppose and punish sin? If he was not troubled by evil or, worse yet, took pleasure in it, would he be a truly loving being? (See Rom 12:9).
4. “But isn’t it true that ‘God hates the sin but loves the sinner’?”
-Not exactly. There is a biblical paradox here: God both loves sinners and hates them (see, for example, Psalm 5:4-6; 11:4-7).
“God loves sinners, not in the sense that he does not hate them along with their sin, but in the sense that he seeks their salvation in Christ. While his attitude to sinners as sinners is antagonism and wrath, his good will toward them actively seeks their conversion and forgiveness” (Tony Lane, “The Wrath of God as an Aspect of the Love of God,” p. 155).
5. “So how is it that Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath?”
-In a word (and a seldom used word at that): “Propitiation,” the turning away of wrath by an offering or sacrifice. Question: Is there anything we can do to compensate for our sins or turn away God’s righteous anger? (You know, persuade, cajole, bribe, clean up our act, etc.?)
-God’s wrath is averted only by Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross (see 1 John 4:10; 2:2). Get this, it’s huge: “God took his own loving initiative to appease his own righteous anger by bearing it his own self in his own Son when he took our place and died for us” (Stott, p. 175).
-But the rescue is not automatic; we must recognize our condition before a holy God and grab the lifeline that he offers us (see, for example, Ezek 18:30-32; John 3:16-21; Rom 3:21-26).
