Love and Wrath
Devotions with Pastor Jason Lim

God’s love is amazing and unspeakable. But the riches of God’s love can never be fully understood unless we also understand God’s wrath. 

There is no contradiction between God’s wrath and God’s love. Jesus constantly loved and served the needy when He was on earth. But when He first entered Jerusalem, his first public act was an act of wrath. He cleared the temple of those who turned the house of God into a den of thieves. When Jesus preached, He spoke more about hell than heaven. And when Jesus hung on the cross, he received the full portion of God’s wrath, making him cry, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mat. 27:46)

Some are uncomfortable with the teaching of God’s wrath, because our idea of wrath is largely formed by how it is manifested in ourselves and others. We see people blow up excessively, impulsively or selfishly. But God’s wrath is always righteous, holy and just. 

So God is a God of wrath, and sinners sit under the wrath of God. And God is also a God of love. He gave His Son Jesus Christ to save sinful men from their sins. And that's why all men desperately need the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not optional, like a good-to-have. It is absolutely what people need to believe in, so they can be saved from God's wrath. 

My friends, when we begin to understand the wrath of God, we will start to fully appreciate the love of God. There is no contradiction. God is a God of love and a God of wrath. He is altogether glorious!