“God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11), David affirms. People may react against the thought that God can be angry. But God, let us remember, is absolutely righteous and must therefore react against sin; every sin must be punished. To speak of God’s anger – and we have already quoted an example of this from the Bible – is to take something that is true about human beings and use it to describe what is true of God, but everything inappropriate is strained out of the idea when it is applied to God. So what is meant by God’s anger? It is His settled purpose to punish sin. And those sinners who keep on along the broad way of unbelief and wilful rebellion will suffer God’s anger eternally in hell.
But in the Bible, God makes clear how we may escape His anger. It is possible to do so because of what Christ Jesus did when He suffered unto death in the place of sinners. We are pointed to the love of God in making this provision for sinners: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). A propitiation is a sacrifice which turns away the anger of God; Christ was taking the place of sinners, and God’s anger was directed against Him instead of them. That was God’s love to the guilty, to those who deserve nothing except His anger. They had no love to God, but He had an eternal love to them and an eternal purpose to do them good by making a complete provision for their salvation – one that was entirely suited to sinners in their need. Through faith in Jesus Christ, sinners are forgiven; they are accounted righteous – just as if they had themselves kept the law of God perfectly. And all the other benefits which flow from Christ’s saving work are made theirs.
Let us notice also that God is righteous when He forgives sin; Paul states explicitly that God is just when He acts as “the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom 3:26). He can be so, as David Brown says in commenting on this verse, for “justice has full satisfaction” in the work of Christ. We can say that God is righteous when He no longer threatens to direct His anger against the sinner who believes in Jesus, but only because He has directed that anger against His own Son, the One who became a propitiation – who
turned away the anger of God by taking the place of sinners and suffering their punishment instead.
So the believer, having been forgiven, may say, “O Lord, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away” (Is 12:1). God is worthy to be praised for what He is: because of His glory, His majesty and, indeed, all His attributes. In particular, He is to be praised for His goodness to sinners: though He was justly angry with them because of His sins, He has made a righteous, effective provision so that His anger will be turned away when the sinner believes in Jesus.
The forgiven sinner may not only say, with praise in his heart to God, “Thine anger is turned away”, but also, “Thou comfortedst me”. But how does God comfort the believer? It must be through His Word, applied to the soul by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. In this connection we may remember the title that the Saviour used for the Spirit: “the Comforter”. Christ calls not only to unsaved sinners to look to Him and be saved (see Is 45:22) but He continues to call saved sinners to look to Him – in other words, to believe in Him, or, to trust in Him, as the One who “came into the world to save sinners” and who goes on working in the soul until He brings it to everlasting glory and who will unite a perfect body to a perfect soul at the resurrection.
How solid is the comfort granted to the believer by the promises of God’s Word! For instance, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” (Is 41:10). When other human beings tell us not to be afraid, they may have no solid basis on which to do so, or their encouragement may only amount to a wish that things will turn out well. But when God speaks with power to the soul, when the words of the promise are applied authoritatively by the Holy Spirit, the words have a solid foundation and the believer has every reason to take encouragement.
Because He promises to “be with” His children, there is no reason for them to be afraid. Matthew Henry comments, “They may depend upon His presence with them as their God, and a God all-sufficient for them in the worst of times. Observe with what tenderness God speaks and how willing He is to let the heirs of promise know the immutability of His counsel.” He is “not only within call, but present with them; [He says,] ‘Be not dismayed’ at the power of those that are against thee, for I am ‘thy God’ and engaged for thee. Art thou weak? ‘I will strengthen thee.’ Art thou destitute of friends? ‘I will help thee’ in the time of need. Art thou ready to sink, ready to fall? ‘I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness’, that right hand [God’s power] which is full of righteousness in dispensing re-
wards and punishments.” In the end, what God will give the believer is all reward and no punishment, though in this life believers may experience chastisement from Him, acting in a fatherly way for their good.
God’s children are to remember that these promises are made to them, not as strong believers or weak believers, but simply as believers, who are united to Christ. Ultimately, strength lies not in them but in God, whose word is sure. So when the Spirit applies the promise to the believing soul, there is real, solid comfort.
Let us notice another verse which He has given for the encouragement of His children: “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded” (1 Pet 2:6). The chief corner stone, of course, is Christ, on whom believers rest; they trust in Christ as revealed in the Word – in particular, in its promises – and they are comforted; they are not confounded – not put to shame. The corresponding expression in Isaiah 28:16 – from which Peter quotes – is “shall not make haste”. It is easy to imagine that the foolish virgins, in the Saviour’s parable, made haste when the bridegroom came: they panicked. What panic there must be when eternity looms large before the sinner who went on rejecting the gospel, who did not trust in the chief corner stone, who never found Christ precious! But the believer, resting in Christ, however feebly, will not be left to panic; he or she will have no reason to be ashamed of an ungodly life and of rejecting Christ. What comfort flows from such verses to those who are graciously enabled to receive them as God’s promises!
And what about believers who feel that they are making no progress, or very little, in the Christian life? The Lord promises them that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). If He has begun a saving work in their hearts, turning them from their sins and enabling them to look to Christ Jesus, then He will not leave the work half done; He will complete it. He will make every grace perfect that He has implanted in their souls; He will subdue every form of sin until He has eliminated it completely; and on the day of Jesus Christ – the Day of judgement – He will present His people faultless at last, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but . . . holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27). They will be perfectly holy and without the least stain of sin.
Believers are to take comfort from these promises – indeed, from all God’s promises, for His anger has been turned away from them. He has shown them mercy; He will always show them mercy, not anger. Let them then “run with patience the race that is set before [them], looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [their] faith” (Heb 12:1,2). The comforting promises in the Bible assure them that they will at last arrive safely in eternal glory.