Scripture provides many examples of the wrath of God, but I wonder if we’re trapped in a narrative that has emphasized anger and wrath and judgment to the point that we fail to see how loving, tender, and merciful God truly is.

John tells us that God is love. It’s a defining quality of his nature. Peter says that God “is patient … not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” And the same Jesus who prophecies judgment over Jerusalem weeps for its destruction. Unlike the picture that Edwards paints, the Lord is compassionate and does not desire our judgment.

Paul says that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Isn’t this the most basic fact of the Gospel, that God sent his Son because he loved the world just that much, that while we wanted nothing to do with him, he nonetheless worked the plan for our reconciliation?

The Good Shepherd doesn’t grumble about the sheep that wandered off. Out of worry and love, he goes to find it. The father doesn’t excoriate the prodigal upon his returns. He doesn’t hold his folly over his head. Nor does he demand an accounting of his squandered inheritance. He runs out to meet him and wraps his arms around him.

Read the whole thing: Into the hands of a loving God | Joel J. Miller.

Three comments on Joel’s post:

1. I think that Edwards point was that, despite their sins and unbelief, God still held them up and refused, yet, to throw them in. I think, if memory serves, that God’s patience was in view. We’d need to get a survey going to see about how Edwards understood God’s essential character. I hope he agreed with Joel.
2. I couldn’t help but think of Jeremiah 10.24-25:

   Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
   not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.

   Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
   and on the peoples that call not on your name,
   for they have devoured Jacob;
   they have devoured him and consumed him,
   and have laid waste his habitation.

3. And how does God’s love deal with those who pursue unbelief and disobedience? My thinking is that final condemnation still shows God’s love in a way. Proverbs 27.4:
   

   Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
   but who can stand before jealousy?

   And Canticles 8.6

   Set me as a seal upon your heart,
   as a seal upon your arm,
   for love is strong as death,
   jealousy is fierce as the grave.
   Its flashes are flashes of fire,
   the very flame of the LORD.