A New Understanding of God's Wrath

Meditating on the concept of 'wrath.'

In Part 4 of "The Suffering Gospel" a sermon on Job, Tullian Tchividjian makes an interesting point:

"Jesus experienced God's dreadful wrath in a way Job never did. Up until the cross Jesus experienced nothing but the Father's unrelenting love, and now on the cross he cries out 'My God My God, Why have you forsaken me.' He is, in that moment, experiencing the Father's unrelenting Wrath, for sinners like you and me. Jesus himself experienced a dreadful withdrawal that was more serious than any withdrawal you will experience or that Job experienced."

In my mind I picture God's wrath as an act of aggression, kind of like a "God-slap." Would most agree? Is that how most people view God's wrath?

No matter His purpose, whether it be for discipline or punishment or judgement or whatever...His wrath is violent. But portraying wrath as an act of 'aggression,' begs the question; "if God is 'good' why does He allow 'bad' things to happen?"

So, knowing that God is 'good' and reflecting on what Tullian said, I get a glimpse why this view... my view... the world's view of God's wrath might be misguided.

Perhaps God's wrath is not something 'aggressive' but 'passive.'

When I look around, the general state of my natural surrounding appears 'safe.' But, it's entirely possible that I am surrounded by a sea of destruction, waiting to wreck me, and I am oblivious to it only because God's protection is holding it at bay.

Is there a flood-gate that only His 'goodness' is keeping closed. I wonder if God's momentary withdrawal is like opening the door a crack, so that wrath can pour out.

He will never abandon us, and His withdrawal is nothing like the abandonment that Jesus experienced in my place.

God uses his slight withdrawal as a tool, a tempered wrath, just enough as is necessary, for discipline or growth.

And although God's withdrawal is painful, and the wrath is painful, it's not a 'bad' thing, It's a necessary reminder of how good God is and how much I need His protection. Even when I unwittingly withdraw from Him.

It's a fair warning, a taste of total abandonment that is 'hell'