The Bible leaves us in no doubt that God hates sin, and He abhors evil. It also leaves us in no doubt that God is not the source or cause of evil. There is no evil in God. In fact God so hates sin that He cannot even look at it. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Hebrews 1:9

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:13-17

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Psalms 145:17

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:” 1 John 1:5-6

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil… In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” 1 John 3:8; 1 John 3:10.

Why does God hate sin? God hates sin because sin separates His creatures from Him and thereby destroys them.

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2

“Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” Psalms 34:21

“For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” Psalms 1:6

Sin is telling God to depart. And God knows, and we need to know too, that when He departs the end-result is destruction.“Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?

Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?” Job 22:15-17

“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah 17:13

“And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” Isaiah 1:28

Going back now to Isaiah 59:2 we see clearly that sin separates between creature and Creator and hides His face from His creatures.

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2

Furthermore Isaiah 54:7-8 defines the mechanism of wrath as the hiding of God’s face.

“In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” Isaiah 54:8

“How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?” Psalms 89:46

“Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.” Psalms 27:9

“Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” Psalms 30:7

“Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.” Psalms 143:7

Now how does God exercise His wrath?

Perhaps the clearest New Testament answer (other than the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ) was given by Paul in Romans Chapter One.

In Romans 1:18 Paul states clearly that the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all sin.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” Romans 1:18

In Romans 1:19-23 Paul shows that there is no excuse for sin or godlessnesss. Then in verse 24 he also explains how God exercises wrath. Paul states in Romans 1:24.

“WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP .…”

Paul repeats this explanation in Romans 1:26

“FOR THIS CAUSE GOD GAVE THEM UP.…”

And in Romans 1:28

“… GOD GAVE THEM OVER….”

Paul is clear in Romans 1:18-28 that God excercises His wrath by “giving up” the sinner to reap the consequences of sin.

But where did Paul get this explanation from? The only scriptures available in his day were the scriptures of the Old Testament.

Can we find this explanation in the Old Testament?

Yes!

Wrath, in all its various linguistic descriptions, was inflicted upon Israel and Judah with frequent regularity in the Old Testament Era.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28, God, through Moses, had given to the Israelites a list of the blessings of obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1-15), and a very much longer list of the curses of disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).

Let us now examine the language used to describe the curses, as we examine some of the verses in Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

Consider these verses.

“The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they

shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 28:20-22; Deuteronomy 28:27-28; Deuteronomy 28:59-61.

Each of these texts describes Israel’s punishment as striking them by a direct decree or a direct act of God.

But wait a minute!

Let us turn in our Bibles to Deuteronomy Chapter 31 verses 16-18.

“And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.” Deuteronomy 31:16-18.

Verse 17 explains very clearly the meaning and mechanism of wrath. When the Israelites forsook God by rejecting His loving invitations and warnings, He forsook them, His face was hid from them and all the evils which befell them happened because God was not among them.

It is very clear then that the mechanism of God’s wrath is the separation caused by sin. It is this separation between God and sinners that produces the “punishment.”

For futher confirmation refer to the following texts:

“Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” Psalms 34:21

“But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:13-15

“Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?” Deuteronomy 31:17

The punishments do not come by the direct decreee or direct infliction by God. NO! The punishments come from sin itself as it separates from God. The problem with us is that we try to understand God’s wrath in terms of human wrath, but this is one thing we should never do. The reason is written down in James 1:20.

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:20

Human wrath transgresses God’s law and therefore is sin. God’s wrath is righteous it does not act contrary to God’s law of love. God exercises His wrath by giving up those who reject Him. This “giving up” may be partial or complete as we shall learn from later studies.

To further clarify this point, consider Hosea 11:7-9.

“And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city.” Hosea 11:7-9.

God asked His ancient people a question in Hosea 11:8. “HOW SHALL I GIVE THEE UP, EPHRAIM? How shall I deliver thee Israel?”

And notice (in Hosea 11:8) that in giving them up He would be making them as Admah and Zeboim, cities of the plain, which were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (See Genesis 14:2; Genesis 19:24-25). This principle in these verses will be important in our understanding of the flood and who/what brought about the flood.

But understand from Hosea 11:9 that His giving them up was equivalent to:

(i) executing the fierceness of His anger and

(ii) destroying them.

Hosea 11:7-9 then, establishes the following identity of meanings:

GOD’S WRATH = HIS GIVING THEM UP = THE EXECUTION OF HIS FIERCE ANGER = HIS DESTROYING THEM

And remember Isaiah 59:2; Isaiah 54:8 which explain that God’s wrath is the hiding of His face caused by sin. It is the terrible separation, caused by sin, which produces destruction according to the principles of Jeremiah 17:13 and James 1:13-15.

Another term employed in scripture to describe wrath is the term HE SPARED NOT. Consider 2 Peter 2:4-6.

“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;” 2 Peter 2:4-6.

We now come to a crucial point. Jesus suffered the wrath of God for us. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”2 Cor. 5:21

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32

God spared not the angels who sinned.

God spared not the pre-flood world.

God spared not the cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim.

God spared not His Son!

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6.

Now the critical question.

Will He spare us? Yes, but only in Christ!

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;” Hebrews 2:1-3.

It is no part of Christ's mission to compel men to receive Him. It is Satan, and men actuated by his spirit, that seek to compel the conscience. Under a pretense of zeal for righteousness, men who are confederate with evil angels bring suffering upon their fellow men, in order to convert them to their ideas of religion; but Christ is ever showing mercy, ever seeking to win by the revealing of His love. He can admit no rival in the soul, nor accept of partial service; but He desires only voluntary service, the willing surrender of the heart under the constraint of love. There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, or who act contrary to our ideas. {DA 487.3}