The Wrath of God and the Wrath to Come

“The wrath of God,” the preacher bellowed, “must not be overlooked!”  

You could never spell it like the preacher said it. Deepening his raspy drawl, widening his consonant blends, and lengthening his vowel sounds, “the wrath of God” virtually exploded from his mouth like phonetic fireworks. Reminds me of when little Toto pulled the curtain back on the flame throwing theatrics of Oz’s exposed wizard. It was the boom and bam of an embellished sham. 

“You’re clearly missing something!”  

That was the contention of a sincere friend expressing deep concern over my rejection of endless torment, emphatically reproaching me that I had obviously overlooked what the Bible says about the wrath of God. As one who often challenges others to make a genuine and thorough search of the Scriptures, I certainly didn’t want to be the one to miss anything.  

Like a dime-store detective digging deep in file drawers sifting and sorting, I embraced the arduous task of exhaustively examining every verse that offered any enlightenment on the subject.

It was a very fulfilling and revealing endeavor, and led me to the conclusion that the fierce extent and merciful limit of God’s wrath unequivocally testifies against endless torment. It was a Toto curtain-pulling discovery.  

Bear with me as I trudge through a multitude of texts to highlight a mountain of evidence. It’s tedious stuff, but vital verification; boring, but definitive.

There is a wrath to come. John the Baptist asked the Pharisees and Sadducees:

O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Matthew 3:7  

The wrath to come is according to the righteous judgment of God: 

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Romans 2:5 

The prophets and apostles anticipate that “day” in the most fearful of terms as the most dreadful of prospects. And one day the cry will be heard:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:17

To be saved from the wrath to come is one of the grand benefits of redemption in Christ. Jesus “delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). It is expressly through Christ’s death and resurrection that those in Christ should eternally live and not finally die: 

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1 Thessalonians 5:9,10 

Paul explains: 

Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Romans 5:9, 10  

God’s purpose and grace 

…is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:9, 10  

This is the heart of Conditional Immortality.

As pointed out before, we often hear of “the wrath of God” as decisive evidence of the theory of endless torment: “Yes, God is a God of love,” it is said, “but He is also a God of wrath.” It is then asserted that the Scriptures are abundantly clear concerning the wrath of a “holy” and “just” God.  

This wrath, therefore, the reasoning goes, substantiates the belief that the God who infinitely “so loved” the world (John 3:16; Galatians 2:20) is also the God who will eternally “so torment” the wicked. It is the purpose of this and the next two chapters to expose this fiction.

That there is a wrath of God that God has displayed in the past and will unleash in the future - His anger toward His enemies - is without doubt a truth revealed in Holy Writ. But that this wrath suggests or supports endless torment could not be further from the truth. To the contrary, the wrath of God, as revealed in the Word of God, with its fierce extent and its merciful limit, is one of the most eloquent witnesses to the everlasting destruction, and not endless torment, of those justly judged worthy of it.  

The extent of God’s wrath is so awful in its operation and so terrible in its completion that it causes the human heart to tremble at its prospect:  

Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?” (Psalm 76:7).  

God’s wrath is even considered “cruel” in the inspired vocabulary, and His anger is “fierce”: 

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger. Isaiah 13:9  

But what is the result of such cruel wrath? What is the end of such fierce anger? 

Cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Isaiah 13:9 

The context also tells us: 

Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. Isaiah 13:6-8  

This passage concisely expresses what is consistently revealed in the multitude of other texts about God’s wrath, namely, the fierce extent of God’s wrath is the utter destruction of those condemned by it.

It has been argued that the consistent revelation of this multitude of texts is only temporal judgment, and therefore does not bear testimony to the final, eternal judgment. This contention limits temporal displays of God’s wrath as having little if any illustrative meaning of either the nature of the wrath of God, or the character of God in wrath.  

This limitation cannot be justified. At the very least, the “temporal” wrath provides examples that illustrate the wrath to come as it reveals the character of God and the nature of His wrath. It is the same God, and it is His wrath.   

But the weakest part of the argument of minimizing these examples as only temporal is the failure to notice the inspired vocabulary! The words chosen to express the extent of God’s temporal wrath are the very same words used by the Divine pen to repeatedly describe the final, eternal judgment of the wicked. God’s wrath consumes, kills, smites, slays, destroys, and devours the wicked who are cut off and perish and die. God’s wrath results in death, destruction, consumption, and desolation.  

If such expressions of His wrath powerfully picture its temporal nature, then the very same words equally depict its future scope.  

“For our part,” Henry Constable writes in his classic apologetic for conditional immortality:

We are persuaded of the perfect propriety of applying the very same terms to judgments inflicted in this world and the next, because those judgments are essentially the same in their character. All through the sacred writings judgments here and hereafter are described by the same expressions. It is for those who suppose these judgments to be essentially different in character to explain how they are properly represented by identity of phrase.”

In the next two chapters we will consider first the fierce extent, and then the merciful limit of God’s wrath as revealed in Scripture. How far does God’s wrath go, and what is the outcome? And as we dissect dozens of passages, consider carefully that the very same words describing the past wrath of God are employed to depict the wrath to come.

My friend and the preacher are right. We must not overlook the wrath of God. When we actually look it over, we learn there is a wrath of God, but not a God of wrath, and no amount of phonetic fireworks can turn the God of the Bible into the Ogre of Endless.  

Pull the curtain, Toto.

There is a Wrath of God

There is a wrath of God. Scripture is clear. Comprehensive Coherency (what all the relevant texts consistently teach on the subject) reveal there is a wrath of God, but, and this will surprise many, there is not a God of wrath. God does get angry, but He is not a God of anger.  

The built-in dictionary describes the nature of His wrath by defining its fierce extent and merciful limit in unmistakable terms. This chapter will highlight the words consistently chosen to express the nature and result of God’s temporal and final wrath. This is what God’s wrath does.

The wrath of God consumes:

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. Exodus 15:7  

Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them. Exodus 32:10 

Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah. Psalm 59:13  

Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 22:31  

Thus the temporal wrath is described, and even so the final wrath: 

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  

For, behold, the day cometh (“the great and dreadful day of the LORD” – v. 5), that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1  

For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. They… shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. Isaiah 66:15-17

And as we have seen that God’s final wrath slays (“the slain of the LORD” above), God’s temporal wrath also kills, smites and slays.

And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. Exodus 22:24  

The wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague… there they buried the people that lusted. Numbers 11:33, 34 

The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel. Psalm 78:31

The wrath of God destroys: 

The day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty… Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Isaiah 13:6-9  

Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you. Deuteronomy 9:8  

They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out. 2 Chronicles 12:7. Note: Had he “poured out” His wrath, they would have been totally destroyed, not perpetually tortured!  

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. Psalms 78:38. Note: Had he stirred up all his wrath, they would have been completely destroyed, not continually tormented!  

Read it again. Think about that. God’s wrath stirred up and poured out results in destruction.

This is the same language of the future judgment:

Do ye not know their tokens, That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. Job 21:30. Note: “the day of wrath” = “day of destruction.”  

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. Romans 9:22  

Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. Revelation 11:18 

Peter speaks of the prophet of whom Moses foretold, even Christ, and affirms:

…that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people” (Acts 3:22).  

If this destruction is temporal, when did it happen, or when will it happen?

Consider also, “whose end is destruction” (Philippians 3:19), and “broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction” (Matthew 7:13). The wrath of God destroys.

The wrath of God devours:  

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Psalm 21:8, 9. “Swallow up” and “devour” is not the language of endless torment.

The LORD hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. Lamentations 4:11  

Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. Zephaniah 1:18. A speedy riddance by a devouring fire speaks of final destruction, not endless torment.

Is this not also the language used in the intimation of future retribution in Zephaniah 3:8?  

Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy (Cf. 2 Peter 3:7-12).   

Is not this “the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25)?  

For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. Hebrews 10:26, 27 

The point should be obvious: God’s judgment and fiery indignation devours! It did so in past temporal judgments, and will do the same in the judgment to come.

The wrath of God cuts off:  

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. Psalm 88:16  

He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the horn of Israel: he hath drawn back his right hand from before the enemy, and he burned against Jacob like a flaming fire, which devoureth round about. Lamentations 2:3  

And surely this is the anticipation of Psalm 37: 

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be… The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming… The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away… For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off… For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever… Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. 

A temporal meaning is certainly to be understood in “the days of famine” and a case could be made that the primary meaning of this precious Psalm is temporal in nature. But it is hard to imagine that its wording only speaks of then and there. Did the wicked consume into smoke then and there? Did the righteous see the wicked get cut off then and there? Did the meek inherit the earth then and there? This is not the testimony of history; it is the expectation of the future.  

Notice the consistent contrasts:

Evildoers - cut off

Those who wait on the Lord - inherit the earth

The wicked - they shall not be

The upright - inheritance shall be for ever

They that be cursed - cut off

Such as be blessed - inherit the earth

The wicked - shall perish, consume away

His saints - preserved for ever

Seed of the wicked - cut off

The righteous - dwell in the land for ever

And the final contrast powerfully reiterates the contrast of the whole:

The perfect man - the end of that man is peace

The transgressors - destroyed; the end of the wicked shall be cut off

What does it mean to be “cut off”? It is paralleled and interwoven with shall not be, perish, consume away, and be destroyed. And to be “cut off” is contrasted with inherit the earth, inheritance shall be for ever, preserved for ever, dwell in the land for ever, and the end is peace. The built-in dictionary convincingly defines how the wrath of God cuts off.

God’s wrath causes His enemies to perish and die:   

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17  

Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Psalm 2:11, 12   

Perishing from God’s wrathful presence is reiterated throughout the Psalms: 

9:3: they shall fall and perish at thy presence

37:20: the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord 

68:2: let the wicked perish at the presence of God

73:27: they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee

80:16: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance

92:9: For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish  

And the parallel of the day of wrath with death is compelling: 

Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death. Proverbs 11:4 (Cf. “the day of wrath” paralleled with “the day of destruction” in Job 21:30).  

In summary of the fierce extent of God’s wrath, the abundant testimony of Scripture is that God’s wrath completely consumes, devours, and destroys the wicked so that they are cut off, perish and die. Myriad examples of God’s temporal wrath illustrate the nature of the coming final wrath, and are indicative of the character of God in wrath. The inspired vocabulary uses the same precise wording for the temporal wrath of then and there as it does for the when and where of the wrath to come.

Clearly, there is a wrath of God. Just as clearly, there is not a God of wrath. 

There is Not a God of Wrath

Is the Almighty mighty angry, mean and mad? Is Jehovah a Jekyl and Hyde with a hostile side? Is the Sovereign of the Universe unusually sullen? Is our Father God a Godfather who loves the family but operates an eternal fiery furnace to forever fry His foes? The offended will object, but I find that much of the rhetoric of defenders of the endless dogma present such a dark Deity, even as they extol His everlasting love.

As we have discovered in the last chapter what God’s Word says about God’s wrath - it consumes, destroys, devours, kills, smites, slays, cuts off, and causes to die and perish - the discerning reader will surely hear the silence of the Scriptures and be instructed by what God’s Word doesn’t say. While it says so very much of wrath resulting in death and destruction, it says nothing of wrath administering perpetual torment.  

Could we not conclude that God’s wrath does not endlessly torment?  

The language of Scripture is of finality, a miserable end, but nonetheless an end to misery, not endless misery. It speaks of endless life to the righteous, but an end of life to the wicked. With bold strokes of orange and red on a black canvas, God’s Word vividly pictures God’s wrath, but there’s no iota of torment beyond destruction.  

If God’s wrath inflicts or allows on-going agony, wouldn’t you think there would be at least one reference to wrath that would spell it out? But it never does. Scripture does not say that God’s wrath ever perpetually tormented anyone, or even tormented for any extended length of time. That should mean something to every Berean searcher.   

Conditional immortality given to those in Christ, and final destruction of the wicked, is without question (in my sincere understanding) the plain, unadorned meaning of Scripture (whether anyone else believes it or not). It is John 3:16 in a nutshell. It is certainly what it says, and there are no compelling reasons to believe it’s not what it means.  

So, my goal is to help people see what I honestly believe is there to be seen - not to see it my way, but to see it the way it is. Belief or disbelief does not affect reality, only our recognition of it. From where you sit, dear reader, you may not see what I see, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there to be seen. Perhaps the difficulty is with where you sit.  

If my argument from silence (of what is not said) concerning the fierce extent of God’s wrath (that it does not say that God’s wrath endlessly torments) does not get you out of your seat to enable you to see what I’m saying, then it is my hope that what Scripture does say in a very loud and clear way of the merciful limit of God’s wrath, will move you to such a vantage point that the glorious vista of this Biblical truth will be clearly seen and joyfully embraced.  

What if God takes the witness stand to defend Himself against the slander of endless wrath? What if God Himself tells us that His wrath has a merciful limit? He has: 

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. Isaiah 57:16  

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. Jeremiah 3:12  

Could there be a more reliable testimony? “I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth.” “I will not keep anger for ever.”  

And though God will not keep anger for ever, Scripture repeatedly tells us “His mercy endureth for ever” (over 40 times).

David, a man after God’s own heart, reveals God’s heart with this testimony: 

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. Psalm 103:8, 9  

Micah, that woe-bearing prophet of judgment, ends his inspired utterances with this wonderful witness to the merciful character of our incomparable God: 

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Micah 7:18  

And consider these lovely lyrics from Jeremiah’s Lamentations (3:31-36): 

For the LORD will not cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not. Lamentations 3:31-36

Do not you who have the love of God spread abroad in your hearts respond to these testimonies with a knowing Amen! Here are these positive proclamations of a merciful limit to the wrath of God:

1. I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth. Isaiah 57:16 

2. I will not keep anger for ever. Jeremiah 3:12

3. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. Psalm 103:9

4. He retaineth not his anger for ever. Micah 7:18

5. He will not cast off for ever. He doth not afflict willingly. Lamentations 3:31, 32. 

God’s final wrath may not be a temporal wrath, but it is a temporary wrath! That should mean something to every Berean searcher.

Here is a good place to challenge some creedal cliches that have been repeated so often that many have believed their truth to be unquestionable. I’m convinced they are wholly smoke - myths that are the inventions of clever foxes and incantations of lazy parrots.  

First, that “God is a God of wrath.” God is not a God of wrath. This maxim/mantra is piously affirmed as indisputable dogma: "Yes, God is a God of love (violins), but God is also a holy God of wrath (drums)." The emphasis is on also and holy as if holiness is the necessary agitation to turn gentle Dr. Banner into a hostile Hulk. It's a Jekyll and Hyde theology that purports to reconcile the incompatible divine extremes.

There is a wrath of God, but God is not a God of wrath. My meaning is that though God can get angry, anger is not the essence of His character. There is a difference between an act and an attribute. There is a difference between what God does, and what He is. “God is merciful.” “God is just.” “God is good.” Is it ever said, “God is wrath”?    

It does say that “God is angry,” yes, but it continues “with…” - this is what God does as an act, not what God is as an attribute. It never says, “God is anger.” John tells us “God is love,” but no inspired writer ever dares impugn God’s character with the assertion “God is wrath.” 

Wrath may be a part of the Divine weather, and a final storm of it is to come, but wrath is not the Divine climate. While in college in Jacksonville, Florida, I remember a light frosting of snow that ever so briefly turned the ground white and had all the natives abuzz. It was the very temporary weather of an early winter morning. I can assure you after my four years of sweltering and perspiring it wasn’t the typical climate. And though it once hit 100° F at Fort Yukon, Alaska (June 27, 1915) I’d still pack a parka were I to visit. There is a wrath of God, His passing weather; there is not a God of wrath, a permanent climate.

And how did holiness ever become the scapegoat for Hell anyway? This concept is an absorbed assumption; the squawk of lazy parrots, not noble Bereans; the language of creeds, not the Bible. It’s astounding this brazen slander has obtained such currency in the pious vernacular, when in Scripture holiness is clearly connected to mercy, not wrath. That’s right - holiness is tethered to mercy.  

God is a holy God of mercy, not a holy God of wrath. I’ll prove it. 

God is holy, but His holiness compels His mercy to limit His wrath: 

Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment. Psalm 30:4, 5  

For his anger endureth… (if the verse ended here it could serve as proof that God’s holiness demands ongoing agony, but we read on and learn the wonderful reason to sing:) For his anger endureth but a moment.

“His holiness” is hinged (“for”) to the merciful limitation of his anger, which “endureth but a moment.” His “anger endureth but a moment,” but His “mercy endureth for ever.” 

God is holy, but His holiness does not induce His wrath to continue unabated through the unfathomable reaches of eternity. His holiness compels His mercy to limit His wrath: 

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name. Ezekiel 39:25 

Does our Great God’s jealousy for His holy name provoke His anger? No, His mercy! God is jealous for His holy name - He doesn’t want it tarnished - so He has mercy. That should mean something to every Berean searcher. 

The beauty of holiness is God’s everlasting mercy: 

And when he (king Jehoshaphat) had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Chronicles 20:21  

To praise the beauty of holiness is equated with praising the Lord because “his mercy endureth for ever,” not his wrath.

The Holy One defends His honor: 

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. Hosea 11:9 

Why would God not execute the fierceness of His anger? Because He is holy! The Holy One says I am God, and not man. Angry men may execute the fierceness of their anger, but not God - He is holy.  

The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. James 1:20  

Enough of the malicious charge that imputes endless wrath to Divine holiness!  

Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Luke 6:36  

God is not like men; men should be like God.

A defensive defender deflected, “Yes, but when did God say that about not executing the fierceness of His anger?” suggesting that it was in and of this temporal life, but could and would be different in the afterlife.  

“But God’s character remains the same,” I insisted, “and God bases His benevolent behavior on His holy character. He’s God and not man both in life and after. That doesn’t change.” 

Consider also that it is in “the most holy place” that we find “the mercy seat” (Exodus 26:34)! And when we pray to our God, we should lift “up holy hands, without wrath” (1 Timothy 2:8), which is apt because Christ, our high priest who “ever liveth to make intercession” for us is “holy, harmless” (Hebrews 7:25, 26).  

The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated. James 3:17  

Holy - mercy. Holy - without wrath. Holy - harmless. Pure - peaceable. 

We began this chapter with God’s tender promise:

I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. Isaiah 57:16  

Behold it now in the full glory of it’s context: 

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth. Isaiah 57:15, 16  

The One whose very name is Holy, who dwells in the high and holy place, will not be always wroth. Mercy, not wrath, is welded to holiness.

Let’s put it all together:

His holiness = his anger endureth but a moment

Jealous for my holy name = Now will I… have mercy

The beauty of holiness = his mercy endureth for ever

The Holy One in the midst of thee = I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger 

The most holy place + the mercy seat

Holy hands + without wrath

Such an high priest is holy + harmless

The wisdom from above is first pure + then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated

The high and lofty One… whose name is Holy; for I dwell in the high and holy place = I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth”

Second, it is a myth that there is “eternal wrath.” There is no such thing as eternal wrath. There is a wrath that is not temporal in the sense that it is final; it is ultimate; it is to come at the end of time and commencement of eternity.  But there is no wrath that endures eternally, that continues unabated without end.  

“The LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 100:5), and “everlasting to everlasting” (103:17), but as we have just learned, his wrath and anger have a merciful limit - He will not keep His anger for ever!  

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  

There is also an “everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3), but there is no “everlasting wrath." That should mean something to every Berean searcher.

It’s a speedy riddance, not perpetual torture. Zephaniah tells us that the fierce extent of God’s wrath is so awful that the wicked will not be “delivered,” but will be “devoured” - but that the merciful limit of God’s wrath is such that “he shall make even a speedy riddance” (Zephaniah 1:18).  

The fierce extent of God’s wrath is so terrible that Sodom and Gomorrah suffered “the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude v. 7) and became “a perpetual desolation” (Zephaniah 2:9) - but the merciful limit of God’s wrath is such that those cities of the plain were “overthrown as in a moment” (Lamentations 4:6) and turned “to ashes” (2 Peter 2:6).  

How else may we make sense of “few stripes” (Luke 12:48), and “more tolerable” (Luke 10:13, 14)? Try to reconcile few and tolerable with endless and torment and you make a mockery of language and a caricature of justice. It is not less stripes, but few, and it is not more horrible, but more tolerable. The sadistic speculation of hotter flames or lower temperatures, and yet endless duration, is ridiculous beyond comprehension. 

The fierce extent of God’s wrath ends in the result of “everlasting destruction” - the merciful limit of God’s wrath forbids that the process of destruction continues without end, but rather limits it to “that day” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).  

The fierce extent of God’s wrath is so horrifying that the day that cometh “shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble” - but the merciful limit of God’s wrath is such that “the day that cometh shall burn them up” and “they shall be ashes” (Malachi 4:1-3).  

The fierce extent of God’s wrath is so terrifying that the smoke of Babylon’s destruction “rose up for ever and ever” - but the merciful limit of God’s wrath is such that “in one hour is thy judgment come,” and “in one hour so great riches is come to nought,” and “in one hour is she made desolate” and “shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:10, 17, 19, 20).

The fierce extent of God’s wrath is so terrifying that “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” - but the merciful limit of God’s wrath is that “this is the second death” (Revelation 20:14, 15; 21:8).  

I could go on and on with these parallels, but may this last one suffice to settle the matter. The fierce extent of God’s wrath is that the wicked perish - but the merciful limit of God’s wrath is... the wicked perish. 

And that is exactly why God’s wrath gives eloquent expression to the truth that the wicked are not endlessly tormented, but rather completely destroyed - that the chaff does not burn on, it burns up; the ungodly do not eternally boil in the lake of fire, they finally die the second death; those who know not God do not suffer everlasting destroying, but everlasting destruction; those cast out do not endure the process of everlasting torment, but experience the result of everlasting punishment.  

That should mean everything to every Berean searcher. 

God’s Word clearly and conclusively says, in the wording of the wrath of God and of the wrath to come, in the language of the nature of the wrath of God and the character of God in wrath, that the wicked perish. The righteous Judge will ultimately and completely destroy the wicked. The fierce extent of His wrath will go that far; the merciful limit of His wrath will go no farther.