God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
God is a righteous Judge who judges the righteous and is angry with the wicked every day, with His anger resting constantly upon them while they remain in sin. His anger is real and truly felt, yet it is just indignation against sin and wickedness itself, not hasty or cruel like human anger but the holy opposition of good to evil. His love and mercy for all do not cancel His holiness and justice, for perfect character includes perfect justice as well as perfect love. That daily anger does not burn forever, for the wicked bring death upon themselves by their own unrepented sin and will finally be destroyed completely until they are as though they had never been, when His anger toward them ends. Because sin makes the sinner subject to that anger, atonement is necessary to turn away His wrath, repentance and reformation are the conditions of forgiveness, and no one should presume upon His mercy or make light of sin.
Nature of Divine Anger
God judges the righteous and saves the upright in heart. He is a righteous Judge whose judgments are right because righteousness is essential to His character and to the stability of His kingdom. His anger is real, proving that He has real passions and truly feels anger as well as love, and is not without feeling. That anger is grounded in His punitive justice.
His anger is just indignation against those who persist in rebellion, not changeable human malice. It is not hasty, unjust, arbitrary, impatient or cruel like human anger, but the righteous opposition of good to evil, like light to darkness or a physician to disease. Such anger is perfectly fit in Him as Master of the house with power to command and enforce and the peculiar right to punish all offenders.
His anger is directed at sin and wickedness itself, which He hates because it opposes His nature and laws and with which He has no fellowship. God and sin cannot coexist and His holiness consumes sin, so He cannot regard sin with allowance but will denounce and punish it. He has compassion for misfortune, affliction and unavoidable ignorance, but not for sin. His anger rests upon the wicked every day, constant and continual while sinners exist and remain in sin. His love, mercy and fatherly care for all do not cancel, diminish or exclude His holiness, justice, moral discrimination and opposition to sin. Perfect character includes perfect justice as well as perfect love, and He will judge the wicked and repay them for their deeds.
Judgment and Destruction
If the wicked turn not, God whets His sword, bends and readies His bow, and prepares instruments of death and fiery arrows against him. Sin provokes His anger, and His wrath is revealed against human ungodliness and unrighteousness. The death the wicked suffers is brought upon himself by his own unrepented sin: he travails with iniquity, conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood, digs a pit and falls into the ditch he made, with his mischief returning on his own head and his violence coming down on himself.
His daily anger continues while the wicked are sinning and while He is inflicting punishment upon them, but it does not continue forever. His indignation is directed against them and continues while they remain in existence, and they cannot endure it forever. All with whom He is angry will finally be destroyed completely until they are as though they had never been, and in that destruction when sin and sinners cease to exist His anger toward them ends and He is angry no more. Endless torment under unceasing fiery indignation is therefore false, for the wicked will ultimately cease to exist rather than suffer conscious punishment eternally.
Because sin makes the sinner subject to that anger, an atonement is necessary as a propitiation to turn away God's wrath. Repentance and reformation are conditions of forgiveness. Unrighteous deeds testify against a person unless repentance and faith bring Christ's righteousness to cover them, and anyone condemned at the final judgment is condemned justly.
Human Response and Application
Anger directed always against sin itself is no sin but a virtue, a duty, and an evidence of holy character, because God is daily angry with the wicked in that He has no fellowship with sin or wickedness. It gives the pattern for perfected Christians to be angry and sin not, being seldom angry and then angry only against sin or wickedness, since repentance and reformation are conditions of forgiveness. Calm indifference toward wrongdoing is therefore not always righteous. That divine example does not make human anger a virtue and does not give permission to imitate it, since such anger in His dependent subordinates would be an unjustifiable assumption of power, while in Him it is perfectly fit and right because He is the Master of the house with power to command and enforce and with the peculiar right to punish all offenders.
His anger is just indignation against those who persist in rebellion, not the changeable malice people harbor, and sin provokes His anger so that His wrath is revealed against human ungodliness and unrighteousness. His warnings of anger show that no one should presume upon His mercy. Making light of sin is acting against His displeasure, and laughing at sin laughs at His displeasure and the judgment hanging over the sinner.
The verse stands against the idea that sin and wickedness no longer exist or that God is no longer concerned with them, for His love does not exclude moral discrimination or opposition to sin. Preaching God's love must therefore uphold His holiness and the law, and proclaim Christ crucified for sin. Preaching should therefore teach sin, repentance, and salvation. God is angry every day even with little ones that go astray, warning children not to sin as others do or they too will lie down in sorrow.
God is a righteous Judge who judges the righteous and is angry with the wicked every day, with His anger resting constantly upon them while they remain in sin. His anger is real and truly felt, yet it is just indignation against sin and wickedness itself, not hasty or cruel like human anger but the holy opposition of good to evil. His love and mercy for all do not cancel His holiness and justice, for perfect character includes perfect justice as well as perfect love. That daily anger does not burn forever, for the wicked bring death upon themselves by their own unrepented sin and will finally be destroyed completely until they are as though they had never been, when His anger toward them ends. Because sin makes the sinner subject to that anger, atonement is necessary to turn away His wrath, repentance and reformation are the conditions of forgiveness, and no one should presume upon His mercy or make light of sin.
Nature of Divine Anger
God judges the righteous and saves the upright in heart. He is a righteous Judge whose judgments are right because righteousness is essential to His character and to the stability of His kingdom. His anger is real, proving that He has real passions and truly feels anger as well as love, and is not without feeling. That anger is grounded in His punitive justice.
His anger is just indignation against those who persist in rebellion, not changeable human malice. It is not hasty, unjust, arbitrary, impatient or cruel like human anger, but the righteous opposition of good to evil, like light to darkness or a physician to disease. Such anger is perfectly fit in Him as Master of the house with power to command and enforce and the peculiar right to punish all offenders.
His anger is directed at sin and wickedness itself, which He hates because it opposes His nature and laws and with which He has no fellowship. God and sin cannot coexist and His holiness consumes sin, so He cannot regard sin with allowance but will denounce and punish it. He has compassion for misfortune, affliction and unavoidable ignorance, but not for sin. His anger rests upon the wicked every day, constant and continual while sinners exist and remain in sin. His love, mercy and fatherly care for all do not cancel, diminish or exclude His holiness, justice, moral discrimination and opposition to sin. Perfect character includes perfect justice as well as perfect love, and He will judge the wicked and repay them for their deeds.
Judgment and Destruction
If the wicked turn not, God whets His sword, bends and readies His bow, and prepares instruments of death and fiery arrows against him. Sin provokes His anger, and His wrath is revealed against human ungodliness and unrighteousness. The death the wicked suffers is brought upon himself by his own unrepented sin: he travails with iniquity, conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood, digs a pit and falls into the ditch he made, with his mischief returning on his own head and his violence coming down on himself.
His daily anger continues while the wicked are sinning and while He is inflicting punishment upon them, but it does not continue forever. His indignation is directed against them and continues while they remain in existence, and they cannot endure it forever. All with whom He is angry will finally be destroyed completely until they are as though they had never been, and in that destruction when sin and sinners cease to exist His anger toward them ends and He is angry no more. Endless torment under unceasing fiery indignation is therefore false, for the wicked will ultimately cease to exist rather than suffer conscious punishment eternally.
Because sin makes the sinner subject to that anger, an atonement is necessary as a propitiation to turn away God's wrath. Repentance and reformation are conditions of forgiveness. Unrighteous deeds testify against a person unless repentance and faith bring Christ's righteousness to cover them, and anyone condemned at the final judgment is condemned justly.
Human Response and Application
Anger directed always against sin itself is no sin but a virtue, a duty, and an evidence of holy character, because God is daily angry with the wicked in that He has no fellowship with sin or wickedness. It gives the pattern for perfected Christians to be angry and sin not, being seldom angry and then angry only against sin or wickedness, since repentance and reformation are conditions of forgiveness. Calm indifference toward wrongdoing is therefore not always righteous. That divine example does not make human anger a virtue and does not give permission to imitate it, since such anger in His dependent subordinates would be an unjustifiable assumption of power, while in Him it is perfectly fit and right because He is the Master of the house with power to command and enforce and with the peculiar right to punish all offenders.
His anger is just indignation against those who persist in rebellion, not the changeable malice people harbor, and sin provokes His anger so that His wrath is revealed against human ungodliness and unrighteousness. His warnings of anger show that no one should presume upon His mercy. Making light of sin is acting against His displeasure, and laughing at sin laughs at His displeasure and the judgment hanging over the sinner.
The verse stands against the idea that sin and wickedness no longer exist or that God is no longer concerned with them, for His love does not exclude moral discrimination or opposition to sin. Preaching God's love must therefore uphold His holiness and the law, and proclaim Christ crucified for sin. Preaching should therefore teach sin, repentance, and salvation. God is angry every day even with little ones that go astray, warning children not to sin as others do or they too will lie down in sorrow.