TWO NATURES AND THE WRATH OF GOD By Paul Washer According to Scripture, the power of God’s anger and fury is beyond all comprehension. (Psalm 90:11). The earth quakes at His judgments, and not even the combined strength of the nations can endure His indignation. (Jeremiah 10:10). It is not without reason that the mightiest of men will one day cry out for the mountains to fall upon them to hide them from His wrath. (Revelation 6:16). Even the psalmists and the the prophets who dwelt in the presence of God were awestruck by the devastating power of His fury. On beholding it, they asked, “Who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?” (Psalm76:7). “Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?” (Nahum 1:6). Finding no answer for their fearful musings, they could only conclude, “You, Yourself, are to be feared.” (Psalm 76:7). In light of what we know about the wrath of God, it is right to conclude that if Jesus of Nazareth had been a mere man or created being, He never could have endured the wrath of God against the sins of His people. However, He was able to bear it to the very end and come forth victorious because He was God in the flesh and was sustained by His own divine omnipotence. The Westminster Larger Catechism agrees: “Question 38: Why was it requisite that the mediator should be God? Answer: It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the wrath of God, and the power of death.” In light of the power of God’s wrath, we must acknowledge the truth of Christ’s deity, and yet we must be extremely careful not to deny of diminish an equally essential truth: Christ suffered the wrath of Almighty God as a man. We must take care to maintain that on the cross of Calvary, real wrath fell upon a real man and caused Him real suffering of untold magnitude. Although Christ’s deity sustained Him, it in no way provided a buffer against a wrath poured out upon Him. He suffered “in His own body” (1 Peter 2:24) the exact measure of divine wrath that was necessary to satisfy divine justice and bring peace between God and His people. For this reason, He was truly a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” Isaiah 53:3). To be continued..
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:02:21 +0000
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