From the series, "Seeing God (and Ourselves)" at Church of the Apostles.
Isaiah 9:8-17; 10:1-4
John 3:16-21
Amidst the wealth of Israel, God sent Isaiah to help the people of Israel see their situation from his prospective.
Our guiding question: how does this passage help us see?
This is a difficult passage to wrestle with.
Why God’s Anger is Appropriate
The people are arrogant. (9:8 - 12)
The leaders of the people are corrupt. (9:13 - 17)
The society is in turmoil. (9:18 - 21)
The poor are being oppressed. (10:1 - 4)
God’s wrath toward us is a just response to our anger toward him.
Regardless of whether we are deeply conservative or very progressive, there are things any the Bible that will cut against us.
Why God’s Anger is Atypical
When we hear a metaphor about Got we have to understand that it is partially true and partially untrue.
To be angry is to be against something. It’s oppositional.
The issue with human anger is that it rarely stays as anger. It can too easily turn to bitterness, violence, and hatred.
Unlike humanity, God’s anger is aroused by love, and never divorced from love.
How God’s Anger is absorbed
Isaiah 51:17
Love in the presence of opposition can often be experienced as anger.
In John 18:11, the cup comes from the Father.
God drinks his own cup. He absorbed the consequences of our sin, and his wrath.