The Compassion and Wrath of Christ
The Heart of Christ • Sermon • Submitted
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Why This Topic?
Why This Topic?
Why should we study whom Christ has compassion on and wrath upon?
For some Christians, they look at Jesus in the Gospels and they do not believe He is the same person now.
Ortlund mentions that Christians can struggle to fully grasp is the permanent humanity of Christ.
The false perception is that the Son of God came down from heaven in incarnate form, spent three decades or so as a human, and then returned to heaven to revert back to his preincarnate state.
Unfortunately, this is a serious Christological error, if not outright heresy.
The Son of God clothed himself with humanity and will never unclothe himself.
He became a man and always will be.
This is the significance of the doctrine of Christ’s ascension: he went into heaven with the very body, reflecting his full humanity, that was raised out of the tomb.
He is and always has been divine as well, of course. But his humanity, once taken on, will never end.
The same Christ who bore humanity, who was tempted as we are yet without sin, is the same Christ as is in Heaven.
The same emotions we see in the Gospels is the same Christ in Heaven.
We see this in Hebrews 2:17; 4:15.
Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Calvin put it, “the Son of God having clothed himself with our flesh, of his own accord clothed himself also with human feelings, so that he did not differ at all from his brethren, sin only excepted.”
B. B. Warfield broke this study into two areas: the compassion and anger of Christ. Warfield said,
The emotion which we should naturally expect to find most frequently attributed to that Jesus whose whole life was a mission of mercy, and whose ministry was so marked by deeds of beneficence that it was summed up in the memory of his followers as a going through the land “doing good” (Acts 11:38), is no doubt “compassion.” In point of fact, this is the emotion which is most frequently attributed to him.
For Whom Does Christ Have Compassion?
For Whom Does Christ Have Compassion?
In each of these instances Jesus is described as acting out of the same internal state .
The Greek word is splanchnizo, which often means one’s guts or intestines.
As noted before, Jesus is the same now as He was before - same perfect man.
Secondly, He is the perfect Man. If we were confronted by a leper or someone who has died we
Those who who see themselves as blinded by sin (Matt 20:29-34)
Those who who see themselves as blinded by sin (Matt 20:29-34)
In this passage there were two blind men sitting by the road as Jesus passed by.
As Jesus is passing by they cried to the Lord, Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David.
Blindness is often used of sin and its affects.
They were unwilling to be silent!
They asked Jesus to open their eyes; He touched their eyes and, immediately, they received sight.
So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.
Those who who see themselves as diseased by sin (Mark 1:40-45)
Those who who see themselves as diseased by sin (Mark 1:40-45)
A leper comes to Jesus and says, if Jesus is willing He can make him clean.
Jesus has compassion on him and pronounces him clean.
V. 41: Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”
Leprosy, while a real disease, is still a symbol of sin. Leprosy is a result of the Fall.
After He cleanses the leper he tells the leper to offer the sacrifice for cleansing.
Those who see themselves as dead in sin (Luke 7:11-16)
Those who see themselves as dead in sin (Luke 7:11-16)
This last example is the case where a man has died. They are carrying out the dead man for burial.
This woman has lost her only son and Jesus has compassion on her.
V. 13: When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep. Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.
For Whom Does Christ Have Wrath?
For Whom Does Christ Have Wrath?
Ortlund states, After noting that it is a matter of moral perfection not only to distinguish between good and evil but to be positively drawn toward one and repelled by the other, he says:
It would be impossible, therefore, for a moral being to stand in the presence of perceived wrong indifferent and unmoved. Precisely what we mean by a moral being is a being perceptive of the difference between right and wrong and reacting appropriately to right and wrong perceived as such. The emotions of indignation and anger belong therefore to the very self-expression of a moral being as such and cannot be lacking to him in the presence of wrong.
Ortlund says, A compassion-less Christ could never have gotten angry at the injustices all around him, the severity and human barbarity, even that flowing from the religious elite.
Those Who Oppress You Spiritually (Matt. 23:1-36)
Those Who Oppress You Spiritually (Matt. 23:1-36)
Jesus condemns the Pharisees and Scribes for their hypocrisy commanding the people to bear heavy burdens while they did not do the same.
Jesus condemns them for doing all they do as it was for the recognition from men.
Starting in v. 13 Jesus goes from milder language to Woes; v. 15 He states, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
The scribes and Pharisees are guilty of the blood of a whole string of righteous prophets (23:34–35).
Their heart for the people was the opposite of Jesus’s heart.
They wished to use the people, to build themselves up; Jesus wished to serve the people, to build them up.
Jesus wanted to gather the people under his wings the way a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings for maternal protection (23:37).
Jesus is declaring disaster and distress upon these men; He is declaring judgement upon them.
Those Who Pervert the House of Worship (John 2:13-17)
Those Who Pervert the House of Worship (John 2:13-17)
When driving the money changers out of the temple Jesus shows wrath and rage against the men.
Jesus made the whip Himself. Picture Him there, off alone, weaving back and forth, calmly constructing the weapon by which he would ferociously drive out the money changers, flipping over their tables.
Why did he do this? Because they had perverted the use of the temple. This was the house of God, the one place where sinners could come and offer sacrifices and enjoy fellowship with God, reassurance of his favor and grace.
Death (John 11:33-38)
Death (John 11:33-38)
This was the death of Lazarus.
The word groan is to have an intense, strong feeling of concern, often with the implication of indignation. Jesus was mad clear through!
Ortlund states, “He approaches the grave of Lazarus, in a state, not of uncontrollable grief, but of irrepressible anger. . . . The emotion which tore his breast and clamored for utterance was just rage.”
Ortlund says later, It is death that is the object of his wrath, and behind death him who has the power of death, and whom he has come into the world to destroy. Tears of sympathy may fill his eyes, but this is incidental. His soul is held by rage. . . . The raising of Lazarus thus becomes, not an isolated marvel, but . . . a decisive instance and open symbol of Jesus’ conquest of death and hell. What John does for us . . . is to uncover for us the heart of Jesus, as he wins for us our salvation. Not in cold unconcern, but in flaming wrath against the foe, Jesus smites in our behalf. He has not only saved us from the evils which oppress us; he has felt for and with us in our oppression, and under the impulse of these feelings has wrought out our redemption.
How Should This Change Our Lives?
How Should This Change Our Lives?
When you are angry against these things Jesus was angry against He is with you in that emotion
When you are angry against these things Jesus was angry against He is with you in that emotion
Those who religiously oppress - those Legalists - He is enraged too.
Those who pervert the house of worship, He is enraged too.
When you are enraged at death, He is engaged too.
When you have been wronged Jesus hates it too, and He will bring judgment
When you have been wronged Jesus hates it too, and He will bring judgment
His anger, unlike yours, has zero taint of sin in it. As you consider those who have wronged you, let Jesus be angry on your behalf. His anger can be trusted. For it is an anger that springs from his compassion for you.