Wrath

Cross 

“Wrath”

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.” 1John 4:10

“God is angry!!!”  To hear these words brings a bewilderment to our understanding. It isn’t lingo that we are familiar with concerning the emotion of God. We long to see God as loving- and He is. We treasure God as good- and He is. But He is also angry.  In fact, it’s because God is both loving and good that He is made to be angry.  By “good” I mean say that God is law abiding; which is to say that God is just. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

The justice of God and the love of God cause quite a predicament for the demands of sin. In other words, if God were only just, His job would be simple; destroy the world and be done with us. His justice would allow Him to do so without any recompense or guilt.  However, God is not just only, but He is also love; (“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1John 4:8) therefore, the collision of justice and love produced Calvary’s cross and the Savior who would die for it.  It could be said, “Christ was the overflow created by the God’s demand for justice and the sinners need for mercy.”

What is sin?

Essentially, sin is the treasuring of anything above our satisfaction in God. It’s when we lose satisfaction in God that we act upon our need to be satisfied.  All sin is a display of searching elsewhere to find treasure.  God created us in His image, therefore all sin is against God (Col. 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”).

Because all things were made by Him and for Him, all sin is an insult to God. The seriousness of the insult increases with the honor of the one being insulted (think courtroom).  This brings a whole new appreciation for the love of God.  If His justice is no ordinary justice, His love must be no ordinary love (“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13).

Propitiation- (Who Killed Jesus?)

The word “propitiation” refers to the removal or transfer of God’s wrath by way of a substitute (think Abraham/Isaac). In order to fully appreciate the cross we must understand that God’s wrath was not eliminated when Jesus went to Calvary… it was transferred. 

Read Romans 3:23-31

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” John Piper

  

Cross

“Wrath”

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.” 1John 4:10

“God is angry!!!”  To hear these words brings a bewilderment to our understanding. It isn’t lingo that we are familiar with concerning the emotion of God. We long to see God as loving- and He is. We treasure God as good- and He is. But He is also angry.  In fact, it’s ___________ God is both loving and good that He is made to be angry.  By “good” I mean say that God is ______  ___________; which is to say that God is just. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:”

The justice of God and the love of God cause quite a predicament for the demands of sin. In other words, if God were only just, His job would be simple; destroy the world and be done with us. His justice would allow Him to do so without any recompense or guilt.  However, God is not just only, but He is also love; (“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1John 4:8) therefore, the _____________ of justice and love produced Calvary’s cross and the Savior who would die for it.  It could be said, “Christ was the overflow created by the God’s demand for justice and the sinners need for mercy.”

What is sin?

Essentially, sin is the ______________ of anything above our satisfaction in God. It’s when we lose satisfaction in God that we act upon our need to be satisfied.  All sin is a display of searching elsewhere to find treasure.  God created us in His image, therefore all sin is against God (Col. 1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”).

Because all things were made by Him and for Him, all sin is an insult to God. The seriousness of the insult increases with the honor of the one being insulted (think courtroom).  This brings a whole new appreciation for the love of God.  If His justice is no ordinary justice, His love must be no ordinary love (“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13).

Propitiation- (Who Killed Jesus?)

The word “propitiation” refers to the removal or transfer of God’s wrath by way of a substitute (think Abraham/Isaac). In order to fully appreciate the cross we must understand that God’s wrath was not eliminated when Jesus went to Calvary… it was transferred. 

Read Romans 3:23-31

“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” John Piper