Significance of God’s Wrath to Christians

Not many people talk about God’s wrath. It's not a popular topic among many. This is confusing though because just like God is a God of love, God is a God of wrath as well (Psalms 7:11). That aspect of Him should be examined and respected. Because God is a holy and just God, it causes Him to have to be a God of judgment towards sin that sometimes may look unfair or out of place when not fully understood. Having an understanding of God’s wrath is vital, not only in giving us a Holy fear of God, which we are called to have (Isaiah 8:13) but also in establishing a certain demeanor in our daily walk (Philippians 2:12) and interaction with God (Psalms 89:7) and others.

An example of one of the many moments in which God displayed His wrath in Scripture can be found in 2 Samuel 6:1-9, the Old Testament story of King David and the Ark of the Covenant.  In this story, King David, along with the Israelite people, were taking the Ark of the Covenant back with them after it had been taken from them by a foreign nation who stole it from them through battle. They were having somewhat of a parade bringing the Ark of the Covenant back home to the Israelites, where it belonged, and on the way home the oxen that were carrying the Ark of the Covenant stumbled, causing the Ark of the Covenant to almost fall.  Uzzah, who was a Levite of the tribe of Judah, celebrating, reached out and grabbed the Ark of the Covenant so it would not fall and immediately God, out of His anger, struck him dead for doing so. Now reading the story without context many would say, “Why did God kill him simply because he was trying to protect the Ark of the Covenant?” This story seems to portray from just looking at it and not doing further reading that God was just acting out in unjust rage or is somewhat of an unholy tyrant.

However, if you knew God, you would come to understand that God does nothing unjustly and for no reason. There is always a reason and a purpose behind what He does even if we may not understand. To give this story context, we need to go further back in Scripture. God in the book of Numbers gives the commandment of how the Israelites were to handle the Ark of the Covenant. Neither King David nor Uzzah followed that commandment given by God on that day. In Numbers 4:15 it says concerning the Ark of the Covenant that “only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die”. Not only were the Kohathites only to handle the holy articles of God, which Uzzah was not but they were also told by God not to touch the Holy articles of God or else they would die. So, as we can see God placed a command on how the Ark of the Covenant was to be handled and expected it to be followed. Scripture says that “obedience is better than a sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). Uzzah did what he determined to be right but in essence was in direct rebellion with God’s word.

Now it may seem that was just the way God conducted himself in the Old Testament, but there are stories in the New Testament that showed God’s righteous wrath as well which further proves this is an attribute of God’s character revealed to us throughout Scripture. There’s a story in Acts 5:1-11 concerning the early church in its conception. Acts 2:45 gives a depiction of how believers and the church functioned at that time in that “all who believed…sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all and all who were in need.” At the beginning of Acts 5, we are introduced to a couple, Ananias and Sapphira. In keeping with the practice of the church and fellow believers of that time, they too sold their property to give to the church. Yet instead of giving all they had,  they gave only a portion of the proceeds and lied about how much they had made from selling their possessions. So Peter, the apostle, asked Ananias, the husband, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart?” The scripture finishes as follows, “You did not lie to us but to God! Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last” (Acts 5:3-5).

Not only did Ananias choose to lie to God but also Sapphira, his wife, later lied to God about the same thing. Since she chose to lie also to God, Peter said to her, “How is that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?” and it says that “immediately she fell at his feet and died” (Acts 5:10).  God showing His wrath at this moment towards both Ananias and Sapphira, caused great fear to fall on the people who saw God’s might and power, compelling them to reverence Him (Acts 5:11).

So why is God’s wrath important to know of in this day and age? Well, in scripture it says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge” (Proverbs 9:10), meaning you can’t even know God or have a personal relationship with Him according to knowledge without having a certain level of fear of Him. Knowing that at any given moment He has the power of both death and life in His hands should cause us to revere Him for being God and Creator of all things (Matthew 10:28). God’s word and commands are not just suggestions to follow but they are what we should all strive to live according to because by it we shall be judged. The same God who struck down Uzzah, Ananias, and Sapphira is the same God that we serve today. We as Christians should have a holy fear of God that should reflect in our actions and in the way we live.