The opening verse to Isaiah 12:1 (ESV) is a
fascinating verse:
You
will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were
angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
A literal rendering of
the verse would read something like this: "I thank you, O Lord, because
you were angry with me." Dark , foreboding overtones
hang over the nation of Israel in the previous 11 chapters. But judgment is never the final word from
God. Salvation is His goal and
glory. The remnant, God's chosen seed,
know that and through the promise of judgment they also hear a promise of
redemption. “In
that day you will say: “I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have
comforted me.” (Isaiah 12:1, NIV)
Thanking God for His anger is not usually
on our lists of things to bless the Lord for!
Trent Butler[1], in his
commentary, gives us a great explanation of God's anger.
"Many people in the church today
seek to extinguish this topic from the church's vocabulary, dismissing it as
Old Testament religion replaced by the loving God of the New Testament. Such
theological moves reduce the Old Testament to something less than the inspired
Word of God and ignore much of the New Testament, especially the episodes of
Jesus cleansing the temple, Jesus arguing heatedly with the Pharisees and other
Jewish leaders, Jesus teaching on the end of the world in the parable of
Lazarus and the rich man, and in the sermons in Matthew 23-25; Mark 13; and
Luke 21. The Old Testament is rich in language describing divine anger. The
term in Isaiah 12:1 (Hb. ’anaph) introduces us to several of the concepts
associated with God's anger. Human sin rouses God's anger, leading him to
discipline his people (1 Kgs. 8:46; 2 Chr. 6:36). The entire history of Israel
can be described as a history of anger-inducing sin (Deut. 9:3–29). This
applies to the individual as well as the people collectively (Deut. 1:37; 1
Kgs. 11:9–11). Human sin and divine anger do not shut off communication; prayer
and repentance can actually call forth divine compassion, forgiveness, and
restoration (1 Kgs. 8:47–53). The psalms contain these kinds of prayers that
seek renewed relationship with an angry God who seems to have forgotten his
people and extended his anger forever (Ps. 85:4–7; cp. Ps. 60:1–5). Such
prayers can ask God to protect his reputation and punish the guilty nations
(Ps. 79:1–13). Israel knows God has a point of no return when anger becomes the
final word (Ezra 9:14–15). After experiencing God's anger, his people turn to
thanksgiving because God turns from his anger and comforts his people (Isa.
12:1)."
Divine anger and
righteous anger are not the same as human, sinful anger. We humans can express anger in sinful ways;
but God cannot. God's anger brings a
holy response to sin. It is righteous
and fair. For those who are in Christ, God's righteous anger was dispensed upon
the Lord Jesus on the Cross. That is
what that big word "propitiation"
means. For the Christian, “therefore, there is now
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1, NIV).
The Christian can
truly thank God for His anger. His anger
righteously and for all time dealt with our sin. We thank God for His Son who bore our sin and
took God's wrath. We thank God that He
is fair and just. We thank God that in Christ, we receive mercy instead of
justice.
[1] Butler, Trent. Holman
Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah (pp. 94-95). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition.
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