Thoughts on Wrath

Generally Christians avoid the subject of God’s wrath.
Or, they indulge in His wrath and judgement without mentioning His other traits,
and in general other Christians avoid them.

It’s always an awkward topic - especially with nonbelievers - and even more so with skeptics.
But I believe that the root of the problem is a misunderstanding & clouded view of what the wrath of God truly is.

There are a couple things that need to be realized when talking about God’s less popular side:

First of all, the Bible has clearly established that God is Perfect - the epitome of complete, without blemish or mark, omnipotent, almighty. So much so that, in His owns words, He declares that He wants to be called simply: “I AM” (Exodus 3:14)

Secondly, the Bible openly speaks of God’s anger and wrath -
Jeremiah 25:15-16
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.”
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God’s wrath remains on them.
Psalm 52:5-7
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, "Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"
There are many, many more verses that seem to hold much, much more venom towards humanity.

God does not seem ashamed of this characteristic of His - so why do we as Christians act like we are?

Because we live and grow in this world, we’ve developed a worldview on wrath - it is painful, overpowering, undeserved, and usually seen within an unjust and power-hungry ruler.

Americans especially seem like we’d have a hard time grasping a leader who is wrathful - could you ever imagine the President of the United States to act out on the people in wrath? He would be instantly shut down and kicked out.

Let me share with you a huge quote on the subject, that really helped open by eyes, by A W Pink:

“It is sad to find so many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology, or at least they wish there were no such thing. While some would not go so far as to openly admit that they consider it a blemish on the Divine character, yet they are far from regarding it with delight; they like not to think about it, and they rarely hear it mentioned without a secret resentment rising up in their hearts against it. Even with those who are more sober in their judgment, not a few seem to imagine that there is a severity about the Divine wrath which is too terrifying to form a theme for profitable contemplation. Others harbor the delusion that God’s wrath is not consistent with His goodness, and so seek to banish it from their thoughts.
Yes, many there are who turn away from a vision of God’s wrath as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the Divine character, or some blot upon the Divine government. But what saith the Scriptures? As we turn to them we find that God has made no attempt to conceal the fact of His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him.
A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God, than there are to His love and tenderness.
Now the wrath of God is as much a Divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power, or mercy. It must be so, for there is no blemish whatever, not the slightest defect in the character of God; yet there would be if ‘wrath’ were absent from Him!
The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God’s government shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is which they despise, and how dreadful is that threatened wrath which they so little regarded. Not that God’s anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it, or in return for injury received. No; while God will vindicate His dominion as Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive.”