We don’t like to think of God being a God of judgment (Eccl. 12:13-14) and wrath (Rom. 1:18). However, we need to keep in mind the reason for His exhibiting those particular characteristics – sin, unrighteousness, unfaithfulness, wickedness, evil – all of which are contrary to God’s very nature and self-destructive to those who practice such. God is totally righteous, and He created us in His own image. He holds us accountable for living up to that image as best we can. While God condemns sin and warns us to abstain from it (1 Thess. 5:22), He is also merciful and eager to forgive when we repent and seek His forgiveness (Dan. 8:8-9).
God not only has the ability and willingness to forgive, He also wants to forgive. But forgiveness must be preceded by repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Repentance is not just being sorry (2 Cor. 7:9). Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in behavior. It entails a turn around in practice that includes a turning away from sin.
When Jesus forgave the woman taken in adultery He told her to “sin no more” (Jn. 8:11); that’s repentance. Jesus taught His disciples to forgive a brother who might sin against them, even if he should sin against them on a repeated basis and in the same day. The condition for the forgiveness, however, was that the brother repent (Lk. 17:3-4). Repentance is required in the process of conversion (Acts 3:19), preceding being baptized for the remission of one’s sins (Acts 2:38).
All of us, in our walk through life, stumble and sin (Rom. 3:23). The consequence of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). But that same verse encourages us that God has a gift of eternal life. He wants to give us that gift. Obviously, forgiveness is available if we will repent and properly seek His forgiveness.
How can we know that God really wants to forgive us? How much does He want to forgive us? Both questions have the same answer – God sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for the guilt of our sins (Rom. 5:6-10). God offered His Son as the ultimate sacrifice to bear our sins (Heb. 9:26, 28). No greater statement of desire to forgive, or of seriousness in that desire, could possibly be made.
God offers us forgiveness through Christ (Col. 1:13-14). We receive that forgiveness as we’re baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38; 22:16) for the remission of our sins. God has emphatically demonstrated His desire to forgive. Now, we must take the initiative and seek His forgiveness, on His terms. How blessed we are, and how thankful we should be, to serve such a God, a God of forgiveness!…

If we have a problem with God bring a God of judgment, thinking of Him being a God of wrathis even more troublesome. We don’t like to think ofGod in that light. We like to focus on what we consider to be His positive characteristics – love, goodness, kindness, mercy, grace and forgiveness. We put a negative connotation on the concepts of judgment and wrathand even more so as they might apply to God.
Many folks do not want to hear about God‘s wrath. Some may reject the very possibility that He would exercise wrath. Others have rejected God altogether because they think wrath is ungodly. But the scriptures repeatedly speak of God’s wrath. Considering the motivation behind Hiswrath, it is justified and right.
The apostle Paul speaks of God dealing with individuals with both “goodness” and “severity” (Rom. 11:22). Of course, the circumstances dictate which God will use in a given situation. “Forbearance” and “longsuffering” demonstrate His goodness and are intended to lead us to repentance (Rom. 2:4-11). Those who are faithful and obedient will be blessed with “eternal life” (vs. 7, 10). Those with hard, impenitent hearts will face God’s “wrath” (vs. 5, 8-9). His “wrath” demonstrates God’s severity; it is “against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” (Rom. 1:18).
God’s wrath is not such as would be demonstrated by a human being. It is not uncontrolled rage. It is not mean-spirited hatred. It is not seated in evil. God’s wrath is righteous and justified and deserved. It is focused upon the person who lives an ungodly life in spite of all of God’s blessings bestowed upon and His goodness displayed toward that person. It is God’s response to a person’s chosen life of unrighteousness and sin.
Paul wrote something quite telling in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). The next verse notes that Christ “died for us.” That death was on the cross to pay the price for the guilt of our sin, and it was specifically directed by God. God did that for us, that we might be redeemed from the condemnation of our own sin. When we, in a sense, throw that sacrifice back in God’s face by continuing to live in sin, we deserve His wrath!
Someone might think that wrath is beneath a loving, merciful God ofgrace, that such a God would not resort to wrath. But that line of thinking ignores the reason that calls for and justifies the wrath – the terriblenessof sin! Sin is not incidental; it is not a minor matter. Sin sullied the unique, divine image in which man was created. Sin is eternally destructive. Because God recognized these facts, He devised the way, through the death of His own Son, for man to be cleansed, forgiven, reconciled. God’swrath is a reflection of the horrible awfulness of sin…

 ‎Devadas Prakash