Divine Anger.
ix. 17. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
I. Anger in God is a calm and just sense of displeasure against sin.[1] II. Has its expression in the judgments executed upon men in this life. III. These under an administration of mercy are designed to be corrective. IV. Cannot in the case of failure satisfy the purposes of the Divine anger. V. Hence in all cases of impenitence God’s anger is not turned away, &c.—J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury. Part I. p. 15.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The anger which God feels and displays is always against sin. It is never against sinners as offenders against Himself personally, but as violators of the eternal laws of righteousness and love. It is not possible for the most daring transgressor to injure God in the slightest degree, and therefore He can never feel anything approaching to that personal vindictiveness which we feel against those who have wronged us. There are some passages which at first sight convey a different impression, as when it is said, “Know therefore that the Lord thy God . . . repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his face” (Deut. vii. 10); and again, “God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance upon His adversaries” (Nahum i. 2). But terrible as such passages are, they admit of a ready explanation. In them God manifestly speaks as “the Judge of all the earth,” as the Representative and Administrator of righteousness. Some years ago, proclamations denouncing the severest penalties against Fenianism were issued in the name of our beloved Queen; but no one imagined that she cherished any personal hostility against those offenders against her authority. Every month it is her melancholy duty to sign documents that consign convicted murderers to the scaffold, but no one regards these death-warrants as any proof that she delights in the sufferings of those whose sentence she confirms. Nor will any thoughtful person interpret such passages as setting forth anything else than God’s resolve to be faithful to His duties as the supreme administrator of justice, notwithstanding that in being so He must perform many things that are revolting to His infinite tenderness and compassion. His expostulations with sinners to repent and turn from their transgressions are a sufficient confirmation of this interpretation (Ezek. xviii. 31, 32, &c.) His anger against sin and sinners is no passion of personal vindictiveness, but is the natural revulsion of purity from impurity, of honesty from fraud, of truthfulness for falsehood; this instinctive abhorrence of generosity for meanness, of benevolence for malice, of kindness for cruelty.
If God did not feel and manifest this anger against sin, it would be impossible to respect and love Him. If He could look down on the mean and dastardly things that are done every day, and yet remain cold and emotionless as an iceberg, as indifferent to the sufferings of His creatures as some Oriental despots have been to the miseries of their wretched subjects, our whole soul would rise up in righteous condemnation of Him.—R. A. B.
See outlines: [God Oppressed,] pp. 28–32; [A Terrible Resolve,] pp. 61, 62; [The Purpose of Punishment,] pp. 63, 64.