86th Meditation on God the Father
“I will not give rein to my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I shall not come to you in anger” (Hos 11:9).
Undoubtedly many acts committed by man attract the wrath of God, for He is merciful but also just. Let us remember, for example, how Jesus expelled the merchants from the Temple (Jn 2:14-16), because they, instead of worshipping God, were doing their business in the sacred precinct, thus contributing to its profanation.
Let us also think of the many sins that offend the Lord, among which we know that idolatry in particular – behind which the demons hide – arouses the wrath of God.
However, unlike how pagan deities are often represented, our Father is not a wrathful God, who arbitrarily punishes man. But He is a just God! Man’s transgressions require forgiveness and atonement, especially when they are grave sins. As long as a person does not accept the reconciliation offered in Christ, he lives, so to speak, “under the wrath of God” (cf. Jn 3:36). This means that the love and presence of the Redeemer – who justifies us and reconciles us with God – cannot penetrate his heart, and the powers of darkness have free access to his life, to confuse and enslave him.
But this is not the intention of our Father! He – the Holy One in our midst – acts according to the eternal love, which is Himself (1 Jn 4:16b). And this love does not want to punish, but to forgive and to save (cf. Ez 33:11). Thus He takes upon Himself the burden of the guilt of mankind and wants to lead all men back home, even the greatest sinner. And this love suffers when it is rejected.
“Mercy triumphs over judgment” (Jas 2:13). That is why God does not come in His fierce anger, but as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29b).
If the world does not accept this grace, it remains under the wrath of God…