The Bible leaves us in no doubt that God hates sin, and He abhors evil. It
also leaves us in no doubt that God is not the source or cause of evil. There
is no evil in God. In fact God so hates sin that He cannot even look at it.
"Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God,
even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows." Hebrews 1:9
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every
man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it
is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning." James 1:13-17
"The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works."
Psa. 145:17
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say
that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and
do not the truth:" 1John 1 :5,6
"He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil… In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother."
1John 3 :8,10.
Why does God hate sin? God hates sin because sin separates His creatures
from Him and thereby destroys them.
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." Isaiah
59:2
"Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be
desolate." Psalm 34:21
"For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the
ungodly shall perish." Psalm 1:6
Sin is telling God to depart. And God knows, and we need to know too, that
when He departs the end-result is destruction.
"Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown
with a flood: Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can
the Almighty do for them?" Job. 22:15-17
"O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed,
and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because
they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." Jer.
17:13
"And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be
together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed." Isaiah
1:28
Going back now to Isaiah 59:2 we see clearly that sin separates between
creature and Creator and hides His face from His creatures.
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his
face from you, that he will not hear." Isaiah 59:1,2
Furthermore Isaiah 54:7,8 defines the mechanism of wrath as the hiding of
God's face.
"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer." Isaiah 54:8
"How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath
burn like fire?" Psalm 89:46
"Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger:
thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of
my salvation." Psalm 27:9
"Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong:
thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled." Psalm 30:7
"Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from
me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit." Psalm 143:7
Now how does God exercise His wrath?
Perhaps the clearest New Testament answer (other than the Sacrifice of Jesus
Christ) was given by Paul in Romans Chapter One.
In Romans 1:18 Paul states clearly that the wrath of God is revealed from
Heaven against all sin.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness;" Rom. 1:18
In Romans 1:19-23 Paul shows that there is no excuse for sin or
godlessnesss. Then in verse 24 he also explains how God exercises wrath.
Paul states in Romans 1:24.
"WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP .…"
Paul repeats this explanation in verse 26
"FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP.…"
And in verse 28
"… GOD GAVE THEM OVER…."
Paul is clear in Romans 1:18-28 that God excercises His wrath by "giving
up" the sinner to reap the consequences of sin.
But where did Paul get this explanation from?
The only scriptures available in his day were the scriptures of the Old Testament.
Can we find this explanation in the Old Testament?
Yes!
Wrath, in all its various linguistic descriptions, was inflicted upon Israel and
Judah with frequent regularity in the Old Testament Era.
In Deuteronomy chapter 28, God, through Moses, had given to the Israelites
a list of the blessings of obedience (Deut. 28:1-15), and a very much longer
list of the curses of disobedience (Deut. 28:15-68).
Let us now examine the language used to describe the curses, as we examine
some of the verses in Deut. 28:15-68.
Consider these verses.
"The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all
that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed,
and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy
doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.The Lord shall make the
pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the
land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with
a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with
an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with
mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the
emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not
be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness,
and astonishment of heart:
Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of
thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore
sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they
shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which
is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon
thee, until thou be destroyed." Deut. 28:20,21,22,27,28,59,60,61.
Each of these texts describes Israel's punishment as striking them by a direct
decree or a direct act of God.
But wait a minute!
Let us turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy Chapter 31 verses 16-18.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods
of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and
will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with
them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I
will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall
be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that
they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because
our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day
for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are
turned unto other gods." Deut. 31:16-18.
Verse 17 explains very clearly the meaning and mechanism of wrath. When
the Israelites forsook God by rejecting His loving invitations and warnings,
He forsook them, His face was hid from them and all the evils which befell
them happened because God was not among them.
It is very clear then that the mechanism of God's wrath is the separation
caused by sin. It is this separation between God and sinners that produces
the "punishment."
For futher confirmation refer to the following texts:
"Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be
desolate." Psalm 34:21
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." Isaiah
59:2
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every
man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death." James 1:13-15
"Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will
forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they
will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our
God is not among us?" Deut. 31:17
The punishments do not come by the direct decreee or direct infliction by
God. NO! The punishments come from sin itself as it separates from God.
The problem with us is that we try to understand God's wrath in terms of
human wrath, but this is one thing we should never do. The reason is written
down in James 1:20.
"For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."
James 1:20
Human wrath transgresses God's law and therefore is sin. God's wrath is
righteous it does not act contrary to God's law of love. God exercises His
wrath by giving up those who reject Him. This "giving up" may be partial
or complete as we shall learn from later studies.
To further clarify this point, consider Hosea 11:7,8,9.
"And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called
them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give
thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make
thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned
within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the
fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I
am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will
not enter into the city." Hosea 11:7,8,9.
God asked His ancient people a question in Hosea 11:8. "HOW SHALL I
GIVE THEE UP, EPHRAIM? How shall I deliver thee Israel?"
And notice (in verse 8) that in giving them up He would be making them as
Admah and Zeboim, cities of the plain, which were destroyed with Sodom
and Gomorrah (See Genesis 14:2; 19:24, 25). This principle in these verses
will be important in our understanding of the flood and who/what brought
about the flood.
But understand from verse 9 that His giving them up was equivalent to:
(i) executing the fierceness of His anger and
(ii) destroying them.
Hosea chapter 11 verse 7,8,9 then, establishes the following identity of
meanings:
GOD'S WRATH = HIS GIVING THEM UP = THE EXECUTION OF HIS
FIERCE ANGER = HIS DESTROYING THEM
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