the wrath of God

October 4, 2021

The wrath of God (Col. 3:6)

“On account of these actions,

The wrath

Of God

Is coming.”

δι’ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ·

Paul said, “On account of these actions (δι’ ἃ), the wrath (ἡ ὀργὴ) of God (τοῦ Θεοῦ) is coming (ἔρχεται).”  In Ephesians, chapter 5:6, Paul said, “Let no one deceive you (Μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς ἀπατάτω) with empty words (κενοῖς λόγοις)!  Because of these things (διὰ ταῦτα γὰρ) the wrath of God (ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ) comes (ἔρχεται) upon those who are disobedient (ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας).”  Paul explained or warned that they should not be deceived with shallow words.  Do not let anyone sweet talk them into believing that anything goes.  The anger or wrath of God was going to come down on these sons of disobedience, the people who willfully were obstinate in their actions.  They should not be fooled.  The wrath of God was coming for the evil ones.  Do you expect the wrath of God to come down upon you?

September 2, 2017

Gabriel explains the vision (Dan 8:19-8:22)

“Gabriel said.

‘Listen!

I will tell you

What will take place later

In the period

Of wrath!

It refers

To the appointed time

Of the end.

As for the ram

That you saw

With the two horns,

These are the kings

Of Media and Persia.

The male goat is

The king of Greece.

The great horn

Between its eyes

Is the first king.

As for the horn

That was broken,

In place of which

Four others arose,

Four kingdoms

Shall arise

From his nation,

But not with his power.’”

Gabriel told Daniel to listen to what he was going to tell him. This all would take place at a later appointed end time, when the wrath of God would be displayed. Then he went into details about the vision. The ram with the two horns represented Media and Persia. The male goat was the king of Greece. His broken horn represented the 4 people who took over after the death of Alexander the Great, Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy, the successors of Alexander. However, these 4 kingdoms would not be as strong as the first kingdom of Greece under Alexander.

March 18, 2017

Patience (Bar 4:23-4:26)

“I sent you out

With sorrow,

With weeping.

But God will give you

Back to me

With joy,

With gladness forever.

As the neighbors of Zion

Have now seen

Your capture,

So they soon will see

Your salvation

By God.

This will come

To you

With great glory,

With the splendor

Of the Everlasting One.

My children,

Endure with patience

The wrath

That has come upon you

From God.

Your enemy

Has overtaken you.

But you will soon see

Their destruction.

You will tread

Upon their necks.

My pampered children

Have traveled rough roads.

They were taken away

Like a flock

Carried off

By the enemy.”

The personification of Jerusalem continued as this city advised her exiles to have patience. She had sent them out of town with sorrow and weeping. However, God was going to bring them back to Jerusalem with eternal joy and gladness. Zion’s neighbors had seen them captured. They would soon see these Israelites safely coming back with the glorious splendor of the Everlasting One, not Yahweh. Jerusalem wanted her pampered children to endure patiently the wrath of God that had come via their enemies. They would soon tread on the necks of their enemies since they would be destroyed. Even though they had traveled rough roads and were taken away like a flock of sheep, they needed patience.

November 4, 2016

The wrath of God (Jer 10:25-10:25)

“Pour out your wrath

On the nations

That do not know you!

Pour out your wrath

On the people

That do not call on your name!

They have devoured Jacob.

They have devoured him.

They have consumed him.

They have laid waste his habitation.”

Jeremiah continues with his prayer. He wanted God to pour out his wrath on the nations that did not know him, nor Israel. He wanted Yahweh to pour out his wrath on those people who did not call on his name. These were the people who devoured and consumed Jacob. They also had destroyed their living area.

 

October 30, 2016

The lost peace (Jer 8:14-8:15)

“Why do we sit still?

Gather together!

Let us go into the fortified cities!

We will perish there!

Yahweh our God

Has doomed us to perish.

He has given us poisoned water to drink.

Because we have sinned against Yahweh.

We look for peace.

But we find no good.

We look for a time of healing,

But there is terror instead.”

Here Jeremiah presents the views of the people of Judah. They were sitting together, before they went to their fortified cities. There they expected to perish because Yahweh had doomed them to die. He gave them poisoned water to drink, which was the wrath of God. They finally admitted that they had sinned against Yahweh. They wanted peace, but there was none. They looked for healing, but there was only terror instead.

July 17, 2016

The wickedness destroyed (Isa 9:18-9:21)

“Wickedness burned like a fire.

It consumed briers.

It consumed thorns.

It kindled the thickets of the forest.

They swirled upward

In a column of smoke.

Through the wrath of Yahweh of hosts

The land was burned.

The people became

Like fuel for the fire.

No one spared another.

They gorged on the right.

But they were still hungry.

They devoured on the left.

But they were not satisfied.

They devoured

The flesh of their own kindred.

Manasseh devoured Ephraim.

Ephraim devoured Manasseh.

Together they were against Judah.

Thus his anger has not turned away.

His hand is still stretched out.”

Isaiah says that wickedness burned like a fire consuming all briers and thorns, like a forest fire. The northern Israelites would be like swirling smoke because the wrath of God would come upon them. He would burn their land with the people on it as fuel for the fire. No one would be spared because they would become like cannibals, eating their own relatives, but never satisfied. They would turn on each other. Even the 2 northern brother tribes of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, would turn on each other. They would also attack Judah. Once again, this statement ends with the refrain that the angry hand of Yahweh was still outstretched against northern Israel.

June 23, 2016

The taking up of Elijah (Sir 48:9-48:11)

“You who were taken up

By a whirlwind of fire.

You were taken up

In a chariot

With horses of fire.

At the appointed time,

It is written,

That you are destined

To calm the wrath of God

Before it breaks out in fury.

You are destined

To turn the hearts of parents

To their children.

You are destined

To restore the tribes of Jacob.

Blessed are those

Who saw you.

Happy are those

Who were adorned

With your love.

We also shall surely live.”

The story of the taking up of Elijah is recorded 2 Kings, chapter 2, in the so-called Elisha cycle. Elijah, like Enoch, was taken up to heaven without dying, being the only 2 in all these biblical stories. Not even Moses, Aaron, David, or any other of the patriarchs, prophets, or kings had this privilege. Thus near the Jordan River, the chariots of fire came and took Elijah away in a whirlwind of fire. Elisha took Elijah’s place, as he was able to part the waters of the Jordan River. Other prophets went looking for Elijah, but to no avail. However, it is not clear where the idea of the second coming of Elijah comes from at some appointed hour. For many Christians, Jesus was the Messiah of the Second Coming. However, some believe it was John the Baptist, or as the Mormons believe with Joseph Smith in 1836. At the appointed hour, Elijah will calm the wrath of God, turn parents to their children, and restore the tribes of Jacob. Happy and blessed are those who saw and loved Elijah for they will live on.

April 18, 2016

The plague on the righteous (Wis 18:20-18:25)

“The experience of death

Touched also the righteous.

A plague came upon the multitude

In the desert.

But the wrath did not long continue.

A blameless man was quick

To act as their champion.

He brought forward the shield of his ministry.

He brought forth prayer.

He brought forward propitiation by incense.

He withstood the anger.

He put an end to the disaster.

He showed that he was your servant.

He conquered the wrath

Not by strength of body,

Not by force of arms,

But by his word

He subdued the avenger.

He appealed to the oaths given to our ancestors.

He appealed to the covenants given to our ancestors.

When the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,

He intervened.

He held back the wrath.

He cut off its way to the living.

On his long robe

The whole world was depicted.

The glories of the ancestors

Were engraved on the four rows of stones.

Your majesty was on the diadem upon his head.

The destroyer yielded to these.

The destroyer feared these.

Merely to test the wrath was enough.”

This section takes part of the Exodus story in chapters 32 and the Numbers presentation in chapter 17 and combines them into one episode. In other words, the righteous (δικαίων) were not free from the wrath of God. A plague came upon them in the desert (ἐν ἐρήμῳ) that nearly killed 15,000 of them because the Israelites had rebelled against Moses and Aaron. However, Moses instructed Aaron to make reparation by prayer (προσευχὴν) and incense. The blameless man was Aaron, and not Moses, but there is no indication of his explicit name here since in the Exodus story Aaron had rebelled also. This blameless man subdued the avenger by his prayerful sacrificial actions. He remembered the oaths and covenants that his ancestors had made. The use of the robe is definitely the Levitical robe of Aaron from Exodus, chapter 28. His lovely robe had 4 rows of stones. He also had a diadem on his head (διαδήματος κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ). Obviously, this is from the time of the settled Israelites, but it was enough to scare off this destroyer. The Israelites learned from this episode.

June 12, 2015

The seventh son speaks out (2 Macc 7:30-7:38)

“While she was still speaking, the young man said.

‘What are you waiting for?

I will not obey the king’s command.

I obey the command of the law

That was given to our ancestors through Moses.

You have contrived all sorts of evil against the Hebrews.

You will certainly not escape the hands of God.

We are suffering because of our own sins.

If our living Lord is angry for a little while,

To rebuke and discipline us,

He will again be reconciled with his own servants.

You are an unholy wretch.

You are the most defiled of all men.

Do not be elated in vain.

Do not be puffed up by uncertain hopes,

When you raise your hand against the children of heaven.

You have not yet escaped

The judgment of the almighty, all-seeing God.

Our brothers,

After enduring a brief suffering.

They have drunk of ever-flowing life,

Under God’s covenant.

But you,

By the judgment of God,

You will receive just punishment for your arrogance.

I, like my brothers,

Give up body and life for the laws of our ancestors.

We, appeal to God,

To show mercy soon to our nation.

By afflictions and plagues,

We will make you confess that he alone is God.

Through me and my brothers

To bring to an end the wrath of the Almighty

That has justly fallen on our whole nation.’”

The last young son finally spoke out. He asked the king what he was waiting for. He was not going to obey the king. He only obeyed the Mosaic laws. In fact, he threatened the king, saying that he would not escape the wrath of God. They were suffering for their sins, being disciplined for a little while. However, King Antiochus IV was an unholy wretch, the most defiled of all humans. The judgment of the almighty God was coming to him. He could not escape from the all seeing God. His brothers would have an ever-flowing life. He would receive an eternal judgment. They were giving up their bodies for the laws of their ancestors, hoping for mercy. Perhaps this would help others to see that God alone was in charge. This was a very strong theological development of about the meaning and person of God.

April 23, 2015

A poem about Judas Maccabeus (1 Macc 3:3-3:9)

“He extended the glory of his people.

He put on his breastplate like a giant.

He tied on his armor of war.

He waged battles.

He protected the camp by his sword.

He was like a lion in his deeds.

He was like a lion’s cub roaring for prey.

He searched out

He pursued those who broke the law.

He burned those who troubled his people.

Lawbreakers shrank back for fear of him.

All the evildoers were confounded.

Deliverance prospered by his hand.

He embittered many kings.

He made Jacob glad by his deeds.

His memory is blessed forever.

He went through the cities of Judah.

He destroyed the ungodly out of the land.

Thus he turned away wrath from Israel.

He was renowned to the ends of the earth.

He gathered in those who were perishing.”

Somehow this poem about Judas Maccabeus is here at the beginning of his adventures, and not at the end. He was the commander of the army of revolutionaries in Judea. He was like a giant of his time. Like a giant, he wore the armor and breastplate of a fighter waging wars. He was like lion or lion’s cub as he went after his prey. He searched out those who broke the Mosaic Law. He made many people fear him, but he made the memory of Jacob proud. He destroyed the ungodly of the land so that the wrath of God was turned away from Israel. He became renowned to the ends of the earth.