God's wrath...reasonable or unreasonable?

The wrath of God seems unreasonable and unfair unless and until we understand how great God is and how infinitely short we come in giving God his just and due honor i.e. the recognition of His greatness and the full extent of our rebellion in not recognizing it. 

It is only as we come to see how infinitely great God is, and ²wrestle with the depth and extent of our rebellion to Him by refusing to recognize it, that we see how just God's wrath is. The more we do, the more clear this becomes. 

But if God is so great, why are we not struck down on the spot for our rebellious disregard for His infinite greatness? If God's majesty is that great and our rebellious refusal to acknowledge it/Him is that pervasive, shouldn't we be? 

We assume God's ³lack of ⁵action means our rebellion must not be that big a deal. When in reality, it is only because of His kindness and mercy we are not destroyed, not because our rebellion is insignificant. 

2Pe 3:4  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”... 

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

His patience and goodness are why we are not struck down. ¹Ironically, His patience, goodness, and mercy are a significant part of what makes God so great. He is great not only in power and righteousness but in grace, mercy, and patience toward us in our rebellion. 

The suffering of Christ...a key reminder of our true condition

The reason the humbling, rejection, suffering, and death of Christ is so offensive too many is it screams out that our rebellion towards God is so great and offensive that it required Christ, the flawless Son of the Fathers infinite love, to go through all the emotional, spiritual and physical pain He did to restore us back to his Father. Because of our rebellion, we down play and even mock Christ's suffering. 

The dishonor our rebellion brought -- and brings -- to God and Christ, with the resultant harm it causes others is genuine, not ethereal, or without consequence. Disregard for who He is and all He did is real with very real consequences. 

To assert that God's anger at rebellious unbelief is overly harsh is to minimize the pain it causes ⁴others as well as the dishonor it brings to God. It can not be casually or simply dismissed or ignored. God is too great, and we as his image-bearers are too significant for Him to ignore the harm our unbelief causes others. Christ's willingness to suffer and go through a brutal death for us is our greatest proof. 

It is only when we wrestle with the extent of our own personal rebellion that we see how great it truly is and begin to fully appreciate the extent, necessity, and significance of what Christ went through to restore us. 

As well, the more we grasp the extent of what Christ went through, do we begin to see how far short we come in giving him his just and due honor. 

For a further discussion on the necessity of God's judgment, click here. 

For a discussion on what makes hell, hell click here. 

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¹the unexpected irony is the greatness of our rebellion is seen clearest against the backdrop of God's love and mercy which is the primary expression of that greatness. The greatness of God is expressed not only in his power but in his humility by His willingness to suffer on our behalf. The more we see the greatness of God through the emptying of Christ's rightful glory, the more we realize how far short we come in properly recognizing and acknowledging that greatness.

For a further discussion of the humility of God, click here. 

²our wrestling only comes over time through persistent pursuit of God. There are no shortcuts. It is something we must go through/experience ourselves, not simply grasp in our heads through the experience and stories of others. The greater and longer our persistence in pursuing God, the more we wrestle and see, through first-hand experience, the depth of our rebellion. 

However, time alone does not bring about the needed development of faith but only when coupled with an earnest pursuit of God i.e. time enables our spiritual advancement quantitatively but is not required to experience it qualitatively. To say it another way, the more (quantitatively) we engage God, the greater the quality of our walk with God can be. 

This truth is captured and illustrated well in the struggle of Jacob when he wrestled with God the night before he faced the wrath of his brother Esau. 

Gen 32:24  And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25  When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26  Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27  And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28  Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29  Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.   

30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (the face of God), saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 31  The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. 32  Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh. 

This event resulted in two permanent changes to Jacob... 

A change in his identity (he was no longer Jacob the clever and self-reliant "heel-grabber" or "supplanter" but Israel, the Prince of God) 

and 

A physical change (see vs 25, 31 above) was a reminder of his dependence on God. 

This was also experienced and expressed by Job after a period of intense suffering. 

Job 42:1  Then Job answered the LORD and said: 2  “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3  ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Job 4  ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ 5  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6  therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” 

And of course the experience of Joseph also from the time of boasting about his vision as a cocky adolescent until he was reunited with his brothers and father as an adult with a family of his own. 

³I find it interesting whenever a nation experiences some kind of great calamity (such as hurricanes or other natural disasters) that we begin to hear whispers that this is evidence of God's judgment. It's as if we have this intuitive or instinctive sense we are not giving God his due honor and are therefore under his just judgment. 

⁴Downplaying the harm our wrongdoing brings to others is the fruit of this view. This results in greater sympathy for the offender than the offended; the opposite of what it should be. 

⁵The reality is God did take action by sending his Son to take on the consequences of our rebellion. His long-suffering is such that we have the opportunity to receive his gift of forgiveness and the righteousness necessary to enter his presence. These are offered to us freely so we might be restored to God.