The Rationale of God's Wrath

1. Black is not a color; a black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them to the eyes. The grey area about black: Ablack object may look black, but, technically, it may still be reflecting some light.

Last Sunday we identified 3 key characteristics that Joshua and the Israelites displayed in the battles they fought against the Canaanites.

Relentless, Readiness in Righteousness.

This morning I want to address some weighty issues, that have surfaced throughout the book of Joshua. In the past, I’ve merely made mention of the fact that God was just in commanding Joshua to conquer the land and devote the people and at certain times, even their belongings to destruction. This morning, I’d like to address this in greater detail. I hope to answer some of the questions or concerns these kinds of situations may raise and help us to be prepared to guide others to right thinking about God and His ways.

You may be wondering why I am taking the time to address these questions and concerns now. I am addressing this now because of what is said in Joshua 11:19-20.

Joshua 11:19–20 ESV

19 There was not a city that made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took them all in battle. 20 For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Joshua 11:20 ESV

20 For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

We live in a day and age when truth is considered something that is relative to one’s own beliefs. A day when many people avoid the absolute truth, or attempt to alter it in such a way that it aligns with their own wisdom and their own desires. At some point each person will be required to stand before the God of the Universe and face His judgement.

God is not real, and there is no afterlife.

God is Love and therefore He would never condemn someone to Hell. Hell is not real.

If God is really Sovereign and He is really going to judge sinners, He is unjust, because all people are His workmanship, and His creation.

Relentless, Readiness in Righteousness.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Hebrews 9:27–28 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

This is not a comforting thought for many people. And to be quite frank, it is up to us the body of Christ, to warn, and educate the people whom God directs our paths to cross with, to the truth about the Judgement of God, but also of the blessed Hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

It is not enough for us to simply understand and believe the Word of God, we are commanded to confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and to love our neighbors. Loving our neighbors includes being willing to address the difficult topic of eternity with those who may be lost and facing eternal death and separation from God. So my intention this morning is to help us to be better prepared to give an answer for the reason of the hope that lies within us, even for those of us who believe in a God who condemns some of His creations to death and destruction.

Prevailing False Thinking today.

God is not real, and there is no afterlife.

God is Love and therefore He would never condemn someone to Hell. Hell is not real.

If God is really Sovereign and He is really going to judge sinners, He is unjust, because all people are His workmanship, and His creation.

4 Framework Questions of Any Worldview

Why is there something versus nothing?

Creation

Evolution

Creation

What’s gone wrong in the cosmos?

Fall/Original Sin

Man is inherently good/Society is to blame

Suppression of instinctive desires

Behaviorism- poor training/nurturing

Biological/Medical/Genetic

Fall/Original Sin

Is there any hope?

Positive Thinking

It takes a village- Socialism/Communism

Redemption

How will history End?

Nothing beyond this life

We can’t know

Eschatology-

God’s Judgement

Inheritance

Why is God’s Wrath Necessary?

Why was it necessary for something to go wrong?

Why does God harden certain hearts and devote some to destruction?

This is a weighty, ultimate and difficult subject!

Joshua 11:20 ESV

Deuteronomy 9:5 ESV

5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Exodus 4:

God was providentially hardening their hearts, in order that He might accomplish His will and keep His word. It was necessary, in order that He maintained truth and justice in the sight of His creation.

God speaking to Pharoah stated,

Exodus 9:16 ESV

16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

is a key passage, in which Paul addresses this very difficult question.

Romans 9:14–23 ESV

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Romans 9:14-

“Why does God find fault, if no one can resist His will?”

To Show His Wrath

To Show His endurance

To Show His patience

To Show His Power, His justice and Holiness

To Show the Riches of His Mercy, Love and Grace

To Show the Riches of His Glory and Sovereignty

Romans 9:19–23 ESV

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

Rom 9:19

Jonathan Edwards, a man who thought deeply about the things of God, and passionately pursued a correct understanding of the Word of God, in order that he might increasingly comprehend the character of the God of the Bible.

Jonathan Edwards states,

“It is a proper and excellent thing for the infinite glory to shine forth; and for the same reason, it is proper that the shining forth of God’s glory should be complete; that is that all parts of His glory should shine forth, that every beauty should be proportionately profulgent [= radiant], that the beholder may have a proper notion of God. It is not proper that one glory should be exceedingly manifested, and another not at all . . .

Thus it is necessary, that God’s awful majesty, His authority, and dreadful greatness, justice and holiness, should be manifested.

But this could not be unless sin and punishment had been decreed, so that the shining forth of God’s glory would be very imperfect,

both because [1] these parts of the divine glory would not shine forth as the others do, and also [2] the glory of His goodness, love and holiness would be faint without them; nay, they would scarcely shine forth at all.

If it were not right that God should decree and permit and punish sin, there could be no manifestation of God’s holiness in hatred of sin, or in showing any preference, in His providence, of godliness before it.

There would be no manifestation of God’s grace and true goodness, if there was no sin to be pardoned, no misery to be saved from.

How much happiness soever He bestowed, His goodness would be not so much prized and admired, and the sense of it not so great. . .

So, evil is necessary, in order to the highest happiness of the creature, and the completeness of that communication of God, for which He made the world; because the creature’s happiness consists in the knowledge of God, and the sense of His love.

And if the knowledge of Him be imperfect, the happiness of the creature must be proportionately imperfect.”

The Decrees: The works of Jonathan Edwards.

The Rationale of God’s Wrath

To reveal Himself glorious in all His matchless character!

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