God’s righteous, healing wrath
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:19-20
If I were to tell you that God got mad at His own Son, Jesus, because of our sin, would you get mad at me? Would you say that I am a heretic? Well, the Word of God tells us that He poured out all of His wrath upon Jesus on the cross.
The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God because man’s wrath is always based upon the works of the Law. Man’s wrath does not reflect nor represent God’s wrath. When religious men get up in the pulpit, and preach a “hell fire and damnation” sermon, they are in no way speaking for God nor on behalf of His wrath. But there is a sense in which the wrath of God does work His own righteousness because He poured out all of His wrath upon Jesus when He died on the cross. And when we see that God poured out all of His wrath upon Jesus, we believe on Him unto righteousness (Romans 10:9-10). The wrath of man will never work the righteousness of God because man’s wrath always leads us to do the works of the Law. But Paul says – for the Law worketh wrath, but where there is no Law, there is no transgression. God’s wrath poured out on Jesus will always work the righteousness of God because this means that there is now no Law (condemnation) to them who are in Christ. God’s wrath poured out upon Jesus will always work His righteousness because according to Romans 3:21, the righteousness of God is manifest without the Law. And God’s righteousness is manifest without the Law because He already poured out all His wrath upon Jesus on the cross. In other words, God funneled His wrath through Jesus on the cross, and when this wrath came through on the other side of His death, it no longer looked like wrath, but grace, justification, sanctification, blessings and unconditional love.
The wrath of man will always lead us down a religious path of rules and regulations. But God’s righteous wrath, which has been satisfied by Jesus, will always take us by the hand, and guide us to that place of healing rest in His finished work on the cross.