The Wrath of Jesus

    After they had crucified Jesus, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise'" (Matthew 27:62-63). Then they made plans to secure the tomb to prevent access to Jesus' body. 

    What I find interesting is that Jesus' enemies clearly understood Jesus' claim that he would literally rise from the dead. They may not have believed he would do so, but atleast they understood the nature of the claim. 

    On the other hand, Jesus' disciples didn't even understand the claim despite Jesus telling them plainly, "the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise" (Luke 24:7). 

    Why? How was this possible? Never underestimate the power of pre-existing beliefs, beliefs that the scriptures have not informed or shaped. When you hold on to predetermined beliefs, never questioning them in light of "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27), you blind yourself to what is clearly before you. Truth claims will remain obscure when they don't fit nicely into your worldview. The disciples had no room in their preconceived beliefs for a crucified messiah. The disciples had no room for a merciful savior who would reach beyond geopolitical Israel to gather a people unto himself. They had no room for a God who "so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:16–17). Today, we take the love of God for granted. We assume that "God is love" and never think to question it. Sadly, God's love is common and no longer amazing. If anything, it is obligatory. "It's his job to forgive," I've heard people say. This was not the case with the people of Bible times. They rightly saw God as holy, holy, holy. They feared God. God's love in Christ was too good to be true, or so it seemed. But it is true.     

    So God's love isn't a struggle for us, but God's wrath is. Our problem today is that we have no room for a wrathful Messiah. Peter may not have had room for a crucified messiah; we don't have room for a Messiah who will come "in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They [the unrepentant] will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:8–9). They don't have room for messiah "from [whose] mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty" (Revelation 19:15).

    So "kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him" (Psalm 2:12).