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

God's hatred is His aversion and enmity against all sin and evil. It is the opposite of His love for holiness and truth and righteousness. So it is in God's very nature to hate sin and execute His just wrath against it. It is unbelievable to some people to think that God could hate because they consider Him only as a God of love. The reason they have this kind of reaction is the result of faulty reasoning. They reason that love is the opposite of hate, therefore, God being love, cannot hate anything. This is wrong. It is true that God is love, but it is also true that God hates evil and all workers of evil.

What are the objects of His wrath and hatred? -- Idolatry and false religion (Deut. 12:31; 16:22; Isa. 1:14); Sin, wickedness, unrighteousness, ungodliness, evil (Ps. 11:5; Prov. 6:16-19; Zech. 8:17; Rev. 2:6,15); Unbelief (John 3:18,36). It is impossible for a holy being to love holiness and righteousness and not hate sin and wickedness. This is said of the Son of God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is very God of very God --

• Hebrews 1:8 -- But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. {9} Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

It is impossible for a just being not to carry out the just sentence of punishment against all sin. Condemnation is the just expression of God's wrath and hatred against sin --

• Romans 5:18a -- Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation;



• Romans 5:19a -- For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners,

Now, just as sin justly demands punishment and death; righteousness justly demands blessing and life --

• Romans 5:18b -- even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.



• Romans 5:19b -- so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.



• Romans 5:21 -- That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

If God hates all sin and all workers of iniquity (Ps. 5:4-5), if His justice demands His wrath against all unrighteousness, why didn't God destroy this world immediately when Adam sinned? The answer is that it is God's purpose to glorify Himself in the salvation of sinners conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ, based on His righteousness as He is the Mediator of the whole election of grace. This shows us that even the revelations of God's wrath and hatred against sin, even revelations of Hell, are intended not to frighten sinners into legal reformations and false professions of religion but to encourage sinners to flee from the wrath to come by believing the Gospel -- God's promise to save sinners and give them the whole inheritance of eternal life based on the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and received by faith.

• Romans 11:22 -- Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Here the Apostle Paul spoke of the "goodness AND severity of God." God's goodness is displayed in that He will save any sinner who comes to Him for salvation from wrath and from sin based on the blood and righteousness of Christ. God's severity is displayed in that He will save no sinner who comes pleading anything else. His just wrath abides on all who are either ingnorant of or not submitted to the righteousness of Christ, the only shield from the wrath of God. The Great Flood was one of the greatest expressions of God's wrath against sin and wickedness. But God allowed the earth to remain, not because He is not faithful both to His threats and His promises, but because God is longsuffering towards His elect, not willing that any of them should perish but that they all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Consider the following.

I. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN GOD'S LOVE AND HATE WITH OUR OWN --

We recognize there are things we love and things we hate. But God's love is not like our love. By the same token, God's hate is not like our hate. To think that God's love and hate is like our love and hate is just another way that sinful man tries to humanize God and fall into idolatry. This is why God must reveal Himself to us by His Word. Consider our own human reasoning in this matter. We conclude that all hatred is evil. But this is not so. It is not evil to hate that which is evil. David wrote, "Through THY precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way" (Psalms 119:104). What he is expressing here is a hatred of everything that opposes God's revealed will, God's Gospel, and all that opposes holiness and truth. It is not sinful for us to hate false gospels and wickedness. In fact, it is sinful for us not to hate these things. Our problem is that by nature none of us hate sin, evil, and false ways and that we do not love holiness, goodness, and the right ways of God. Our problem even after salvation is that we do not hate sin, evil, and false ways enough. After salvation we do hate these things, but not as we should, not as God hates them. A good example of this is seen in our attitude towards religious evil and wickedness. We are all ready to recognize and denounce the wickedness and evil of immorality, but we hesitate and maybe even try to hedge a bit when it comes to religious evil such as false preachers and false gospels. True believers cannot promote such religious wickedness and speak peace where there is no peace, but we still have a hard time in this area.

Our problem even after salvation is that we do not love holiness and goodness enough. We do love holiness and goodness, but not as we should. A good example of this is the fact that holiness and goodness demands that we love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us. We know we should do this. We ought to try and try very hard to do this, but it does not come easy because we love ourselves too much. This is why we rejoice that our salvation is conditioned on Christ and not on ourselves. Our love is an extension of ourselves. Basically, we love those who love us and those who let us have our way. We hate our enemies and things that oppose us. This is due to the sinful principles of self-love, self-righteousness, and pride.

Our love and hate is emotional and the fruit of self-love and self-righteousness. But God's love is an extension of Himself and His holiness. God's hatred is an extension of Himself -- His holiness and justice. God's love demands He engage Himself on behalf of the objects of His love. Therefore, when God chose His elect in Christ, He engaged every attribute of His character to insure their eternal well-being. This is proven in the fact that He sent Christ into the world to save His elect (John 3:16). Christ came as their Representative and Substitute to fulfill all the conditions of their salvation by establishing a perfect righteousness that enables God to be just and holy while at the same time merciful and gracious towards them. In Christ we see that God's love provided what God's holiness and justice demanded.

God's hatred demands He engage Himself in opposition to those who reject Him and His way of salvation. God's hatred is not an emotional hatred. It is the product of Divine justice. God's wrath abides upon all who reject Him and His way of salvation. This is necessary in that God is holy, righteous and true. God always does what is right, and His judgements are always according to truth (Rom. 2:2). "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25). God must punish sin. He can by no means clear the guilty, and the soul that sins must surely die (Ex. 34:7; Ezek. 18:4,20). This is so of all sinners without exception. Guilt and sin must be punished unto death either in the sinner's person or in the person of a suitable, God-appointed substitute. If sinners reject Christ and His righteousness, the only God-appointed Substitute and the only ground of forgiveness and peace, then they will experience God's hatred and wrath. Consider the case of Jacob and Esau --

• Romans 9:13 -- As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Here we are told that God purposed to deliver Jacob from wrath without any contribution from Jacob. Jacob was a sinner in need of a righteousness he could not produce. But God purposed to leave Esau in what Esau himself preferred according to his own self-love and self-righteousness. Esau was a sinner in need of a righteousness he could not produce. Esau had all the advantages of instruction in the Gospel, just like Jacob, but Esau despised his birthright which typified the coming of the Messiah and salvation based on His righteousness alone. Esau refused to believe the Gospel, and God's justice demands that His wrath be upon all who refuse to believe the Gospel. There was nothing in Jacob or Esau to deserve or earn God's love. There was everything in Jacob and Esau to deserve and earn God's wrath and hatred. But God in sovereign love and mercy chose Jacob and passed by Esau, not based on anything in them. Why did God choose Jacob and not Esau? We do not know. Only God knows, and God always does that which is right and just. All we know is that Jacob is an example of undeserved favor, love, and mercy. Esau is an example of a sinner who deserved God's wrath and hatred.

II. THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WRATH AND HATRED --

Expressions of God's wrath are particularly offensive to some people. The Old Testament is criticized for portraying a God who is merciless and arbitrary in His judgment. People often say, "I have no problems with the loving God of the New Testament, it is the angry God of the Old Testament I reject." The Bible paints an absolutely fearful and horrifying picture of God's wrath. Many reject the Bible because they consider this offensive. When we consider that men and women by nature see the Gospel, the good news of eternal salvation and final glory in Heaven conditioned on Christ alone, as offensive because it exposes that they are under God's wrath, it is no wonder that self-righteous men and women find the truth of God's wrath itself offensive. The Gospel addresses all lost men and women as guilty sinners who are justly under the wrath of God and who are deserving of eternal punishment --

• John 3:18 -- He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. {19} And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. {20} For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.



• John 3:36 -- He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

This is the light of the Gospel that shows how all men and women by nature are guilty, condemned, under the wrath of God, and that all their efforts at religion and morality aimed at saving themselves are wicked and evil. God's law and God's Gospel address all men and women by nature as guilty, defiled sinners who are in need of a righteousness they cannot produce. God's Gospel reveals how God sent His only-begotten Son to fulfill all conditions of the salvation of His people and produce for them a righteousness that would enable God to be just to justify them. The Gospel commands sinners to trust Christ alone for salvation and plead His righteousness as the only ground of salvation, the only refuge from God's just hatred and wrath. It demands that sinners forsake their own righteousness and cling to Christ.

Here again we see that even expressions of God's hatred and wrath are meant to be encouragements for sinners to "flee from the wrath to come." The Gospel is good news, a promise of life and happiness with no conditions on the sinner as to the ground of salvation. In light of all this, why are Biblical expressions of God's wrath so offensive to men and women. When people assume that the Old Testament portrays a God who is merciless and arbitrary in His judgment, it reveals some deadly misconceptions concerning God's wrath and God's mercy. Consider the following --

A. The purity of God's wrath -- God does not judge anyone capriciously or arbitrarily. God never exercises His wrath without a reason or a just cause. Psalm 78 shows that God's judgment and expressions of temporal wrath against Israel were due to their sin and rebellion against Him. It shows how God favored them and blessed them temporally, yet instead of trust, honor, worship and obedience towards God, they answered with unbelief, ingratitude and rebellion.

• Psalm 78:21 -- Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; {22} Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

The Old Testament tells us in many places how God was slow to anger, how He was longsuffering with this rebellious people, and how He sent prophet after prophet who pleaded and begged the people to repent and turn to God, but they refused. Israel's history is a history of open rebellion and sin against God. This is a picture of fallen humanity in rebellion against God.

This holds true in the matter of eternal salvation and eternal damnation. The main issue of both the Old Testament and the New Testament is Heaven based on the righteousness of Christ or Hell based on our sins. Both the Old and the New Testament tell us plainly that God is love, that He is merciful and gracious, but that it tells us that it is just as true that God is holy, righteous, and just. Both tell us that Christ Jesus came to save sinners, but both also tell us that Christ Jesus sends sinners to Hell. When people talk about the God of wrath in the Old Testament in opposition to the God of love in the New Testament, it shows that they do not know the God of either Testament because He is one and the same.

The New Testament expresses some of the most vivid language concerning God's just wrath against sin. The greatest sin is unbelief of the Gospel because it strikes directly against God's greatest glory -- His redemptive glory. Unbelief is a slander against God. God has promised and engaged every attribute of His character to save sinners based on the imputed righteousness of Christ without the sinner's deeds of the law. For a sinner to reject Christ and His righteousness and go about trying to establish a righteousness of his own is to deny God and Christ. The Gospel is a message of hope, of love, of mercy, of grace and compassion, but it is also an expression of God's wrath and hatred of sin. Consider the Great Commission --

• Mark 16:15 -- And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. {16} He that believeth and is baptized SHALL BE SAVED; but he that believeth not SHALL BE DAMNED.

The Bible tells us, "For our God is a consuming fire," (Heb. 12:29). To whom is God a consuming fire? He is so to all who seek salvation or any part of it based on anything other than the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is their enemy, and He is justly engaged against them. God is engaged for all who seek salvation through Christ and plead His righteousness as the only ground of their salvation and their only entitlement to eternal life (Rom. 8:28-39). God is their Father (Rom. 8:15).

B. The justness of God's wrath -- God's wrath is never directed toward the innocent. God always judges according to truth (Rom. 2:2). God must do right. He justifies only the righteous, and He punishes only the guilty. Sin must be punished. We live in an age when sin is not taken very seriously, and few people will take responsibility for their sin. This is why the wrath of God against sin is so offensive to self-righteous sinners. Men and women by nature think nothing of the holiness and justice of God. In creation all sin against God is regarded as a capital offense. In the slightest act of rebellion against a perfectly holy and righteous God, we commit treason. Any sin against a perfectly holy and righteous God must justly result in death. Remember, the one sin of the one man, Adam, the representative of the whole human race, plunged the whole race into guilt and condemnation.

Someone might ask, "But what about mercy?" There can be no mercy at the expense of holiness, justice, and truth. But we know that God justifies the ungodly. And we know that God punished His holy, harmless, undefiled, sinless, Son. In fact, the cross of Christ is the greatest display of the wrath of God and His absolute hatred for sin found in the whole Bible. It is at this point that we can see mercy and truth come together, righteousness and peace in harmony (Ps. 85:10). Remember, God's wrath is never directed toward the innocent, yet God poured His wrath out upon His holy Son. God's favor is never directed toward the guilty, yet God justifies and glorifies sinners. Here we have the main issue of the Gospel -- HOW CAN GOD BE JUST AND YET JUSTIFY SINNERS? The answer is by imputation.

God punished Christ for imputed sin, sin that He Himself had no part in producing (2 Cor. 5:21). God's wrath was justly poured out upon Christ based on the sins of His elect being charged to His account. The sin was imputed to Christ, not imparted. It did not make Him a sinner in His character and conduct. Yet, it was charged to His Person and remained there until He fully satisfied God's law and justice, until He fully satisfied God's holy and just hatred and wrath against sin. Without this act, there is no mercy. By the same token God saves sinners based on imputed righteousness. God's favor is given to sinners based on a righteousness we had no part in producing (Rom. 5:18-19). The righteousness is imputed to them, not imparted. It does not make us righteous in our character and conduct. We are still sinners who fall short of the glory of God in our character and conduct. Yet, it is charged to our persons and remains there eternally as our ground of salvation and our entitlement to eternal life and all the blessings of it. Now, it results in the spiritual life and grace imparted to us, and this evidences itself in many ways, such as in saving faith, true repentance, Godly love, acceptable obedience, but the righteousness of Christ is not imparted. In all this, God's wrath poured out upon Christ, and God's eternal salvation bestowed upon sinners, God's judgments are according to truth. He is just in doing so. He is both a just God and a Savior (Isa. 45:20-22).

III. THE REMOVAL OF GOD'S WRATH --

How can God's wrath be removed? The Old Testament is a history of God's longsuffering with a rebellious people. Their main problem is shown in Psalm 78:22 -- "They believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation." What is God's salvation? It is God's way of honoring Himself in the salvation of sinners conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God's way of saving sinners based on the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and received by God given faith. The message of the Bible is a message of love and mercy, but God's love is manifested, honored, and magnified in that He sent His Son to fulfill all the conditions of His holiness and justice, His law, for a multitude of guilty sinners which no one can number --

• 1 John 4:10 -- Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word "propitiation" shows us that God's love is not and cannot be revealed or enacted apart from God's justice, His hatred of and wrath against sin. It speaks of satisfaction to law and justice. It speaks of atonement and forgiveness of sin based on satisfaction. It shows us that God's love provided in Christ what His holy law and justice demanded in the way of hatred of and wrath against sin. God's love, therefore, must be perfectly consistent with God's wrath and hatred. One thing no sinner can afford to misunderstand is God's wrath. And God's wrath abides, right now, upon all who are not submitted to Christ and His righteousness. A person cannot feel God's wrath. He can only know this as it is revealed from God's Word as we have already seen from John 3:36. God's wrath does not abide upon any who have submitted to Christ and His righteousness, those who believe the Gospel. A person cannot feel that God's wrath is removed from him. He can only know this as it is revealed from God's Word. Unbelieving sinners are commanded to believe the Gospel and be saved! They are commanded to admit that God's wrath abides upon them (Rom. 3:19), and seek the removal of God's wrath in God's prescribed way -- through Christ and His righteousness alone (Rom. 3:20-26).

Arminianism, free-will theology, universal atonement, and conditional salvation, all misrepresent the reality of God's wrath and hatred for sin. First of all they deny that God's wrath is totally removed by the death of Christ alone. They deny this when they say that multitudes for whom Christ died will ultimately end up in Hell suffering God's eternal wrath because they refuse to meet the condition of faith. To them, faith, not Christ's blood, removes God's wrath and gains His favor. They admit that God hates sin, that God must punish sin and display His wrath. They admit that God sends sinners to Hell, but they seek relief and safety from God's wrath based on something other than the imputed righteousness of Christ. They do not believe God's wrath can only be removed by perfect satisfaction to law and justice. This shows how low their thoughts are of God's holiness, justice, wrath, and how little they truly value God's love, mercy, and grace, because they hold such low thoughts of Christ and His righteousness. They deny that Christ's blood and righteousness, in and of itself, removes God's wrath and entitles sinners to the whole inheritance of eternal life. This is unbelief.