God’s Holiness Requires God’s Wrath — Introduction
In my last post I said that I was struggling to write a post on what seemed like a relatively simple idea — God’s holiness demands wrath in the face of sin and evil. Of course, this is true. But as I began to write I found that this is not such a simple topic. In order to understand the relationship between God’s holiness and God’s wrath I had to work through questions about holiness, creation, the origin of evil (a big one!), can a holy God create evil; and, finally how does a holy God respond to evil and sin in His creation, including in the lives of human beings.
And all the time I was praying, thinking, and writing I was being bombarded with negative thoughts like: who are you, writing about these things; you are going to make a lot of people mad, no one will read what you write so just stop, you are wasting your time, and other thoughts related to the lie: “you are not good enough”. I am not trying to elicit sympathy — just telling you why this has taken so much time and energy. So, for those of you who have been praying — thanks. The work is mostly done and in the next week or so I will be putting up about 4 posts. They are (or should be — don’t hold me to the exact titles or order):
God’s Holiness
God’s Creation — What Does It Encompass?
Whence Evil? Can a Holy God Create Evil and Sin?
God’s Holiness and God’s Wrath (finally)
Of course, this is not the end. These posts lead up to finale — The cross where the love of God and the wrath of God meet. As the song says (even though the PCUSA wants to change the words), “where the wrath of God was satisfied”. We worship a God of infinite power and amazing love. Hallelujah. Jesus is alive and He won a cosmic victory!!!
The next post is ‘God’s Holiness’
Grace and peace,
John