Wrath of God-Revisited

5 min read

20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Revelation 9:20-21

A third of humankind had been killed by the “plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur” (verse 18), and that in the aftermath of the scorpion-locusts tormenting everyone except the people of God for five months (verses 3-10).

Reading this, one would think that humankind would get the message and repent. But such is the power of sin. We see the rebelliousness and stubbornness of the human heart throughout Scripture, especially in the history of Israel. The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

The word of God bears witness to that truth over and over again. But we see our world and our lives bearing witness to that unfortunate over and over again, as well.

COVID exposed the weakness and corruption of the human heart so clearly. By 2022, an estimated 15 million people died of COVID. Who knows, how many died from COVID-related deaths. If not for God’s grace, a third of humanity could have easily been wiped out. And yet, the corrupt human heart insists on believing that human resourcefulness is what brought COVID under control. But it is that very over-estimation of human ingenuity and control that probably led to the outbreak of COVID in the first place.

Jeremiah 17:9 and COVID (and all the other tragic events in human history) are the reason I sometimes feel that humanity’s sin against God’s world is the direct cause of “God’s wrath.” In other words, the “wrath of God,” as it unfolds in the Bible, is really just the direct result of human sinfulness, stupidity, rebelliousness, and stubbornness.

And that doesn’t really diminish the fact that God is the One who is in control. But when we look at all the stupid things that we do to shoot ourselves in the foot, really what we see is God directly applying His hand to rescue us from our stupidity.

I know. Some people will object, saying that God also directly applies His hand in His wrath too. They could be right. I could be wrong. And maybe there is a “both-and” at work here too.

One thing that we know—and history bears witness; our lives bear witness; the Holy Spirit and Holy Scriptures bear witness—

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:8-10

Father, if not for Your mercy and grace, where would we be? Help me never to trust in my own heart and mind and body, but to trust in You alone. But discipline me according to Your grace, that my body may glorify You. And be merciful, LORD. In Jesus’s name. Amen.