Last night I pondered the mystery of the story of Adam and Eve's fall and expulsion from the Garden of Eden - how one might expect a whole lot more anger from the wrathful God portrayed by certain Christians. Those terrible humans had fouled God's good creation and broken the relationship between God and man.
If it would prove too deadly to have fire and brimstone raining down in that moment, surely a light sprinkle would be an appropriate way to show a holy God's great displeasure.
Instead the Lord sews up some clothes for the naked couple and sends them on their way. It seems more sadness than anger.
But the Bible records an even greater missed opportunity for a wrathful God to really let His anger show: the Incarnation.
After all, Jesus told Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." (John 14:9)
And according to the Apostle Paul, "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:15)
And as the exact image of the invisible (and presumably wrathful) God, what was Jesus up to during His time on earth?
"God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." (Col. 1:19-20)
Rather than a Supreme Being defined by anger and wrath, we find One who is serene, determined, self-sacrificing, and ... loving.
Fancy that!
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