From Bad News to Good News

Love Revealed in the Wrath of God

Isaiah 48:18-19; 49

Old Testament wrath sobers me. Mountains rumble with the thunder of God’s presence. The earth cracks open to swallow lawbreakers in judgment. When God’s nation rejects his ways, conquerors carry them off into slavery. Throughout a turbulent history, Israelites wail under oppression. Affliction rules over them in their rebellion.

How do I reconcile God’s encompassing love with the hard discipline sent upon the promise-breakers?

Temptation beckons me to shrink back from those images of God—to judge him as severe. I would rather lean toward the New Testament and the comfort of John 3:16. Jesus says, “For God so loved the world…” How do I reconcile God’s encompassing love with the hard discipline sent upon the promise-breakers?

A Message in the Wrath

God does not leave his people in the dark about his dealings with them. He sends prophets to explain in graphic detail. They recount the good news of God’s commitment to his people and declare the bad news of a broken relationship. In one example, the prophet Isaiah delivers line after line describing the rebellious under discipline.

“…saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Zion says, ‘The LORD has abandoned me; the Lord has forgotten me!’ […] For your waste and desolate places and your land marked by ruins... I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive, exiled and wandering—but who brought them up? See, I was left by myself… (Isaiah 49:9a, 14, 19a, 21b CSB)

Isaiah recites the tragic results for those departing from God’s guidance and care: prisoners trapped in darkness, a land in ruins, families unable to conceive, exiles in endless wandering—they feel abandoned and forgotten. God does not minimize their pain; he acknowledges exactly what they suffer. And when he has their attention, he tells them why.

“If you had only paid attention to my commands. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains; their name would not be cut off or eliminated from my presence. (Isaiah 48: 18-19 CSB)

He reminds them of his promise to bring blessings under his guidance. He warns them of curses that will result when living outside his authority. And he keeps his word.

Does holy wrath trump love?

The Purpose of Wrath

...good discipline springs from a desire to protect their welfare—it’s a product of my love for them. I want to call them back to a safe space. I want them to flourish.

As a parent, I attempt to imagine on a small level the intense response from God when the people he blesses rebel against his care. When my own children risk their safety by violating curfew, or they reject my advice to assert their independence, thoughts like “ungrateful” or even “foolish” might pop into mind. In more serious events, my anger flashes out from fear for their well-being. But good discipline springs from a desire to protect their welfare—it’s a product of my love for them. I want to call them back to a safe space. I want them to flourish.

Similarly, the devastation in Isaiah 49 shifts to reveal the higher purposes of holy wrath:

Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed… Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save… Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, I am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 49: 23b, 25b, 26b NIV) (Emphasis added.)

Then you will know. Then all will know: God saves. He redeems. He is the Mighty One of his people. He reminds us that protection, provision, guidance, and love reside within the boundaries of obedience—the guardrails that keep us safe in his care.

Without a doubt, God’s wrath pours out in awful forms: fire from heaven, oppression by enemies, droughts and famines, to name a few. Yet the object of that wrath is not God’s people, but the sin which endangers them to a far worse destruction. Just as my “mama bear” instinct comes out in full fury when danger stalks my children, even if by their own choices, so too does God’s thunder raise the alarm. God roars loudly, because sin threatens his children with death and destruction.

God will always pursue his people with fierce determination. As a loving Father, he’s willing to do the hard thing and bring a warning of discipline for our benefit. He roars to call us back to the place where we can flourish as he intended. He’s willing to send the bad news to clear the way for living in the Good News. Holy wrath trumpets love.

If you are living in a passage of bad news, how might it lead you to a place of good news?


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