Wrath of God- Divine action, produced as a reaction to, aimed at suppressing evil, subjectively perceived by rationally free beings, the objects of this action, as anger.

Does it change by pouring out wrath on the sinner?

Unlike human anger, which is characterized by the excitement of the irritable power of the soul, and sometimes by the loss of mental equilibrium, the wrath of God is never the result of a change in His internal state. God is not changed (). This means that He Himself does not change Himself, and nothing can change Him. If God, being angry, changed in emotions or inner mood, this would signify that He is conditioned by dependence on sinners, that He is not unlimited, not original, not absolute, not blessed, not free and not omnipotent.

What is the difference between human wrath and the wrath of God?

Human anger arises as a psycho-physiological reaction to the discrepancy between the actions of the person who serves as the object of irritation, the position of the one in whom anger is actually ignited. Sometimes this position is fair, but sometimes it is not. In addition, human anger often flares up spontaneously and often gets out of control.

God never acts contrary to justice. God's wrath is always righteous and always directed to the good of the one on whom it is poured out. God never gets out of balance, He is always equal to Himself, always the same. He knows about any human or demonic crime from eternity, as well as how He will react to every sinful act, every sinful thought.

Why is God's wrath called wrath?

Human judgment and punishment is often accompanied or even provoked by the expression of anger. By analogy with human judgment, God's judgment is also compared with wrath. In reality, God's punishment only outwardly looks like wrath. But in fact, in the exact sense of the word, God has never had any outbursts of anger and never will.

In the same understanding, one should also refer to the expression: "to anger God." To anger God does not mean to bring Him out of a state of peaceful rest, but it means to call, in relation to oneself, His righteous judgment.

The earth shook and shook, the foundations of the mountains trembled and moved, for [God] was angry; smoke went up from his anger, and out of his mouth a consuming fire; hot coals fell from Him. He bowed the heavens and descended, and darkness was under His feet. And fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the universe were revealed from Your terrible voice, O Lord, from the breath of the spirit of Your wrath. (Ps. 17:8-16).

He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36).

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth with unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18).

What is the wrath of God? The question seems to be simple, and yet it has its own depth and mystery. This is because God’s anger and human anger known to all have much in common: it kindles, it burns, anger is cruel, ferocious, indomitable, it cannot be extinguished by many waters, vengeance is committed in anger ... At the same time, God’s anger is righteous and holy, for everything that comes from the Lord is holy and perfect (James 1:17); but the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:20). But this opposition just helps to understand the essence of the phenomenon, to derive its definition - anger is a judgment that belongs exclusively to God: "There is only one Legislator and Judge, who can save and destroy; and who are you, who judge another?" James 4:12.

From the beginning of creation, God judged. Thus, Adam was expelled from the presence of God because he had taken into himself someone else's word, the lie of the serpent, and by believing in this lie, he showed disbelief in God, His word. And further, throughout the centuries, the judgments of God overtook human society for exactly the same reason. God told Moses: go and do this and that... Moses' fear is very understandable for us, his uncertainty and doubts that he will cope with the task, and he answers: I am not verbal... And as a human being we understand him, but this is not so God sees: Moses showed UNBELIEVE to the word of God! "And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, Have you not got Aaron the Levite? " Exodus 4:14.

This is where you need to understand the main thing: between God and a person (people), there is only one condition for condemnation - unbelief. It entails God's wrath and just punishment. Because God looks at His creation with the full right of His possession of it, so that a person, with all his free will, must, simply must absolutely believe in his Lord. This is what belongs to Him. God needs nothing more from man. He does not need gifts, He does not require a person to do anything for Him. Only faith. Therefore, the first commandment, the fulfillment of which the Lord God demanded from His people, is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me" Exodus 20:3. To accept another god is to express unbelief in the true God. Therefore, we see: "And Israel cleaved to Baal Pegor. And the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel" Numbers 25:3. The sequence is always the same: disbelief - jealousy - anger - judgment - punishment.

Even when the Lord condescends to human weakness, and by this condescension makes a concession to a person or society, this spiritual law of judgment for unbelief continues to operate. The people asked for meat, began to murmur aloud to the Lord, and He descended: the east wind overtook the quails in the camp, but ..."... His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord was kindled among them, and began to destroy the end of the camp.... The meat was still in their teeth and had not yet been eaten, when the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.Numbers 11:1-33. Unbelief, expressed by grumbling, could not remain without judgment; the court expressed itself in anger; anger is a punishment. The Lord did not judge His people for meat, which He Himself gave them, for unbelief, which will never go unpunished.

Especially when God made a covenant with His people. Moses presented this covenant to the people, explaining in detail each of its points, interpreting each commandment. They could not but know or not understand that out of their unbelief they were betraying the Lord. But disbelief in God itself closed their eyes, hardened their hearts, and they changed: they served other gods. And from the Lord came judgment and the fury of His anger, a cruel punishment for the people:"With alien gods they irritated Him and with their abominations [their] angered Him: they offered sacrifices to demons, and not to God, to gods whom they did not know, new ones who came from neighbors and whom your fathers did not think about" Deut.32: 16-17 . “And all the nations will say, Why did the Lord do this to this land? What great fury of His wrath! went and began to serve other gods and worship them, gods whom they did not know and whom He did not appoint them: therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled on this land, and He brought on it all the curses [of the covenant] written in this book [of the law] "Tuesday 29:24-27.

He is the Creator, and by the right of the Creator, a person is required to perfect faith to every word of the Lord, regardless of any circumstances, and if this faith is not perfect and absolute, judgment comes on a person. Everyone knew that no one but sons of Kohath had no right to touch the ark of the covenant. But when they were transporting the shrine to the city of David in a chariot, which had already violated the rule, it swayed, and Uzzah took hold of it, for the oxen bent over it. It would seem that in the best of intentions, Oz came to the rescue so that the ark of the covenant would not fall from the chariot, but God does not appreciate the "best intentions", He appreciates faith in the word that everyone knew ( Numbers 4:15,19; 7:9). AND: "The Lord was angry with Uzzah, and God struck him there for his boldness, and he died there by the ark of God" 2 Sam. 6:7.

Job's friends also spoke in the "best of intentions", trying to convince him that God expects repentance from him, confession of sins and ungodliness, for which, according to friends, Job suffered. But they didn't really understand what was happening. They did not know God's providence, did not understand His will, and thus showed unbelief in God: their thoughts gave birth not to mercy pleasing to the Lord, but to judgment, to which they had no right. "And it came to pass after the Lord had spoken those words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My wrath burns against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me so well as My servant Job" Job.42:7 . It is wrong to talk about God, not to know Him, not to understand - there is unbelief, for which anger, judgment and punishment come.

What is this judgment, and what is His punishment? He chooses the Assyrians, a warlike and cruel people, and sends them to those whose sins have already filled the measure: "O Assyrian, the rod of My wrath! and the scourge in his hand is My indignation! I will send him against the wicked people and against the people of My wrath, I will give him command to plunder and get booty and trample him like mud in the streets" Is.10:5-6. At other times, He chooses Nebuchadnezzar, and with it, as a military tool, He humbles and punishes His people, as well as many neighboring pagan peoples. And he says to Babylon: "You are with Me - a hammer, a weapon of war; with you I struck nations and with you I destroyed kingdoms" Jer.51:20. And humanity sees in all this ... history, while God rules the world, judges, and by His judgment directs peoples to a goal that only His providential gaze sees. Thus, millennium after millennium, the history of peoples draws closer and closer to that day which Scripture calls "the day of the Lord," which is already in the full sense the day of wrath for the whole Earth: day of the Lord; then even the bravest will cry out bitterly! The day of wrath is this day, the day of affliction and distress, the day of desolation and destruction, the day of darkness and gloom, the day of cloud and darkness, the day of trumpets and shouts of abuse against fortified cities and high towers. And I I will oppress the people, and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood will be scattered like dust, and their flesh like dung, neither their silver nor their gold can save them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. and the whole earth will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for destruction, and, moreover, sudden, He will make over all the inhabitants of the earth" Zeph.1: 14-18.

"They come from a distant country, from the end of heaven, the Lord and the instruments of His wrath to crush the whole earth. Wail, for the day of the Lord is near, coming like a destructive force from the Almighty. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, fierce, with wrath and burning fury to make the earth with a wilderness, and destroy its sinners from it. The stars of heaven and the luminaries give no light from themselves; the sun is darkened at its rising, and the moon does not shine with its light. I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquities, and I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud And I will put down the arrogance of the oppressors; I will make people more precious than pure gold, and men more precious than the gold of Ophir. For this I will shake the sky, and the earth will be moved from its place because of the wrath of the Lord of hosts, in the day of His burning wrath "Is.13:5 -13.

"I will punish the world for evil" - what kind of evil is this, for which the Lord will punish? This evil is described in Romans. And it does not mean that the person was not kind and did not, for example, do a lot of alms, but again it is said about faith in the truth, faith in God: “But, according to your stubbornness and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of anger. and the revelation of righteous judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds: to those who, by perseverance in good deeds, seek glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life; but to those who persist and do not obey the truth but indulge in unrighteousness - wrath and wrath "Rom. his faith, i.e., works are here called what a person believed in his life. Jesus answered and said to them: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" John 6:28-29.

Therefore, if anyone tries to "be good and right" before God, such deeds go against the faith of the New Testament, which is the death of the old man and the rebirth of a new creature. And only those believers who accepted this death for sin, for the law, for the world, gave themselves up to the leading of the Holy Spirit - will be able to escape judgment in the day of His burning wrath: "Go, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors behind you, hide yourself for a moment, until the wrath passes; for, behold, the Lord comes out of his dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will reveal the blood it has swallowed up and will no longer hide its slain "Is.26: 20-21. "Because God has not determined us to be angry, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Thessalonians 5:9.

Have we thought about why it is impossible for a person to see the face of God? The answer here is simple: God is holy, and only a saint can see His face. Holiness is achieved not by doing good deeds, not by keeping oneself from evil, not by prayers and keeping the commandments, but by union with God in one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), which is possible ONLY for those who are freed from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8: 1 -2) through acceptance by faith of death with Christ. For all others, the face of the Lord at His Second Coming will be a sizzling instrument of His judgment on sinful mankind: "And when He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became dark as sackcloth, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree, shaken by a strong wind, drops its unripe figs. And the sky hid, rolled like a scroll; and every mountain and island was moved from their places. And the kings of the earth, and the nobles, and the rich, and the commanders of thousands, and The mighty, and every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the ravines of the mountains, and they say to the mountains and stones, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath has come, and who can stand ?" Rev. 6:12.17.

White church. December 2014

“The wrath of God is not widely preached these days—even many good preachers are ashamed of it. Now weepy, sentimental words about love and kindness are heard more often, and warnings and exhortations are few where heard. But if we want human souls to be truly saved, we must speak directly and openly about the wrath of the Lord." Charles Spurgeon

"Do not be hasty in your spirit to anger, for anger nestles in the heart of fools" (Ecclesiastes 7:9). IN last years In everyday life, we are increasingly confronted with manifestations of human malice, intolerance, and anger. No, of course, these phenomena have dominated the earth for more than 6000 years, but still, if we look closely at them, we will see that today they have their own fundamental features. So, quite recently, 30-40 years ago, not to mention earlier history, anger, intolerance had, if I may say so, their justification. Justification, of course, from a human point of view. So the proletariat hated the bourgeois because they are rich. Noble families poured mud on each other because they fought for power. The papacy persecuted the reformers with inhuman malice because they denounced its false teachings, etc.

In our days, manifestations of malice and anger are mostly unmotivated, even from a human point of view, perverted by sin, character. To confirm this, it is sufficient, at least, to analyze crime, the analysis of which reveals that a significant percentage of crimes are unmotivated. Typical examples of this are such cases, which, unfortunately, have become widespread today. A group of young people, walking down the street in the evening, just killed a passerby they met, whom they saw for the first time and from whom they didn’t even take anything. To the questions of the investigators, what caused these actions, committed by them in a sober, completely sensible state, they could not answer anything. They just killed him, it was boring, he didn’t like his clothes, look or gait. And what manifestation of anger and malice is met today by an elementary remark made or accidentally touching someone in a transport, or even just a question about something. On the one hand, these seem to be trifles, but it is precisely these trifles that fill our whole life, poisoning it, leading to stress, to death.

Some experts are trying to explain these unmotivated manifestations of malice by the bad economic situation in the republics. former USSR. But, firstly, this malice is also found today in Europe and the USA. And secondly, our country was going through much more difficult times, such as the blockade of Leningrad, Civil War, famines of the 1930s, and then all this did not exist. On the contrary, grief and need then united people. So, the unmotivated manifestation of anger is the first feature of our days.

The second, no less remarkable feature is to identify the main causes of anger. Exploring the ancient chronicles, reading the biographies of great figures in history and scenes from everyday life of different eras, we see that one of the leading causes of anger was the struggle for a cause, for ideas. Wrath on the enemies crashing down on native land, anger against the traitors of the country, anger against false witnesses. Today, these manifestations of anger are almost a thing of the past...

Nowadays main reason anger lies in the fact that they hurt me personally, my interests. At the same time, high ideals and decency are, unfortunately, outdated. We, if I may say so, complacently doze when they dishonor the country, some principles, others, but immediately come to life when they offend us. We immediately come out with "righteous" anger, regardless of whether we are right or wrong. We see something similar, sometimes, among believers who forget the words of Christ: “Jealousy for your house consumes me...” (John 2:17). No, zeal for the House of God, for His cause no longer worries me. There is no anger against sin, vice. There is no anger when others undeservedly offend your brother, it does not interest, does not touch. We prefer not to interfere in this. But on the other hand, when the interests of ourselves or our loved ones are even slightly affected, we act immediately. We are ready to destroy anyone who does this. We are no longer silent in membership meetings or in council. After all, they hurt us! But Christ and the apostles always behaved differently.

So Moses showed anger when he saw the sin of the people. “But Moses said, This is not the cry of those who overcome, nor the cry of those who are slain; I hear the voice of the singing. When he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, then he was inflamed with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them under the mountain; and took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it to dust, and scattered it on the water, and gave it to the sons of Israel to drink” (Ex. 32:18-20); Nehemiah also, when he saw the sin: “And there was a great murmuring among the people and among their wives against their brothers of the Jews. There were those who said: we, our sons and our daughters are many; and we would like to get bread and feed and live. There were those who said: we mortgage our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses, in order to get bread from hunger. There were those who said: we borrow silver to give to the king on the security of our fields and our vineyards; we have the same bodies as the bodies of our brothers, and our sons are the same as their sons; but behold, we must give our sons and our daughters as slaves, and some of our daughters are already in bondage. There are no means of redemption in our hands; and our fields and our vineyards with others. When I heard their murmuring and such words, I became very angry. My heart was indignant, and I severely reprimanded the most noble and commanding and said to them: you take interest from your brothers. And I called a great assembly against them” (Nehemiah 5:1-7). David, learning about the story told by Nathan: “David was very angry with this man and said to Nathan: As the Lord lives! the man who has done this is worthy of death” (2 Sam. 12:5). They were not protecting themselves, but others. We meet Christ, Who with righteous anger denounces the hypocrisy of the clergy, overturns the tables of money changers in the temple, but nowhere do we read that He defended Himself with anger. He defended others and the cause of God.

THE WRATH OF GOD IS A HOLY RESENT AT EVIL.

"And looking (He) at them with anger, grieving for the hardness of their hearts..." (Mark 3:1-5). We turned him into a manifestation of carnal nature, caused by wounded pride, self-willed revenge, stubbornness ...

The third characteristic associated with anger in our day is the attitude towards God's wrath.
Scripture tells and teaches us that those peoples who have rejected God's forgiveness and salvation, who have become stubborn in their sins, surrendering entirely to evil power, have comprehended the wrath of God, His Judgment. Assyria, Babylon, Media, Rome experienced it for themselves. No wonder Moses warned the people of Israel, saying: “For the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God; lest the wrath of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from the face of the earth” (Deut. 6:15). Yes, people have sinned in all ages, but the fear of God has never been so openly lost in people. Even the pagans of Nineveh trembled before God's Judgment, His righteous wrath... Sometimes the very concept of God, God's judgment made a person, if not correct, then at least humble himself. Of course, in this fear of God's wrath there was not only sincere love and reverence for the Lord. There was a great deal of superstitious horror. But in any case, there was a fear of God's name.

We do not observe anything even remotely similar in our days of modern history, when churches were destroyed, priests were killed, Bibles were burned, biblical heroes and stories were ridiculed. Even worse is the fact that today desecration comes, sometimes, from the bowels of the church itself. Thus, during worship services in many churches, satanic rock music is performed in order to lure young people, resounding with their demonic rhythms in the halls of temples. Church kiosks sell Cahors wine, supposedly for communion. A appearance those who came to worship God resembles a more beach or club. On the one hand, this is a detail, but a very remarkable detail, because no one will come to a high-ranking official in this form. And God can! This attitude is supported and strengthened by the modern Christian ideology of many churches, teaching that, in His essence, God is not capable of judgment, He forgives everyone, and even the devil will eventually be forgiven. No matter how you live, what you do, God still loves and forgives you, anger is not inherent in Him. The ten-word law was abolished at Calvary and now is the time of full grace.

Of course, a person is saved by faith. But he will be judged not by convictions, but by deeds.
Both the Bible as a whole and the book of Revelation, which tells about future events on earth, speaks a lot about the wrath of God. “And they say to the mountains and stones, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rev. 6:16,17); “And the angel cast down his sickle to the ground, and cut the grapes on the ground, and threw them into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Rev. 14:19); “And I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth” (Rev. 16:1); “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the nations. He shepherds them with a rod of iron; He tramples on the winepress of the fury and wrath of God Almighty” (Rev. 19:15); “And fire fell from heaven from God and devoured them; but the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever...” (Rev. 20:9,10). Such is the fate of the wicked...

Such is the fate of those who rejected God, trampled on His law, gave themselves into the hands of evil power. But an even greater question arises when we know all this, we know the Truth. We know about the wrath of God, which destroyed Sodom, Nineveh, Babylon in its time. We know about the wrath of God, which scattered the chosen people for apostasy. We know about the wrath of God that will destroy the wicked at the end of time. We know what causes the wrath of God: the violation of His Law, Truth, dislike for one's neighbor. And so, knowing all this, we continue to gossip, slander, secretly commit adultery, gloat, hiding behind the outward mask of Christianity. But God knows all this. And this mask cannot keep us from His wrath. And even, moreover, will only strengthen it. For, as Bishop Titmar of Merseburg rightly noted back in the 11th century, “hypocritical righteousness is not righteousness, but double wickedness.” So what to talk about when we, knowing, do it all the same.

Doesn't this mean that, having forgotten about the fear of God, we forget about God in general, presenting Him as somehow very far from us. Or maybe we have completely lost or are losing faith in Him. Of course, faith should not be based on fear of God's wrath, but at the same time, we must accept all manifestations of God, one of which is righteous anger, which we often do not want. We do not accept God as a Personality, as a truly Living God... So, have we not become believing atheists? Believing atheists who have forgotten about the wrath of God, but who cultivate their carnal human anger...

Comparative characteristics of God's and human wrath.

God's wrath is caused by the violation of the truth, the truth.
Human anger is caused by personal resentment.

God's wrath is directed against sin.
Human anger is directed against a person.

God's wrath is open.
Human anger operates mostly in secret.

The purpose of God's wrath is to save.
The purpose of human anger is to destroy.

The duration of God's wrath is as long as a person lives.
The duration of human anger is until a person corrects himself or as a final verdict.

The methods of God's wrath are chastisement and judgment.
Methods of human anger - reprisal.

The result of God's wrath is the triumph of Truth.
The result of human anger - kills the most angry.

Carnal anger kills and makes insane the most angry, firstly, because by giving himself to this feeling of malice and revenge, a person comes under the complete control of evil forces, which lead him to death. And secondly, this feeling of anger deprives a person of the opportunity to adequately and critically think, which does not allow him to escape from the hands of demons and stop before the catastrophic steps where they are pushing him. No wonder they say that in anger a person is like a drunkard. Anger kills a person physically as well. For in anger, a person experiences terrible stress. And considering that, as we have seen, this feeling is cherished, sometimes for years, then stress becomes chronic. Under the influence of stress, the cortex is overexcited hemispheres brain, starting through the nervous and humoral pathways to stimulate the production of various biologically active substances, many of which (in particular, adrenaline) act as a poison in large doses, and, in addition, disrupt the work internal organs and body systems, leading to heart attacks, strokes, asthenia, neurosis and psychosis. It is quite clear that the children of such a person are destined for an unenviable fate. “Thus, anger kills a fool, and irritability destroys a fool.
I saw how a fool takes root, and immediately I cursed his house. His children are far from happy, they will be beaten at the gate, and there will be no intercessor. The hungry one will eat his harvest, and through the thorns he will take it, and those who are thirsty will swallow up his property. Thus, grief does not come out of the dust, nor does trouble grow out of the earth..." (Job 5:2-6).

“So, grief does not come out of dust, and trouble does not grow out of the earth ...” Everything has its reasons.
Nothing just happens. Nothing grows in empty space. Here one involuntarily recalls a place from " dog heart" M. A. Bulgakov, where Professor Preobrazhensky, referring to his assistant Bormental, says that "devastation is not an old woman with a stick that knocked out all the windows. The devastation is, first of all, in the minds of people!”. There are also interesting saying that everyone is satisfied with his mind, but not everyone is satisfied with his condition. And really, who do we always blame for our troubles, failures, problems? Many... but not myself. We are least of all inclined to think about our spiritual life, our relationship with the Lord, the Great Controversy that is going on on earth today, about the fear of God, which we spoke about above. But it is precisely these factors that, in the main, predetermine our life.

When people sin, it upsets God very much and causes His just wrath.
Great love overwhelms Jesus the Judge, but that Day will come, terrible and terrible, and then the fire of His wrath will destroy the wicked. The Bible says that the roaring lion is terrible, but the angry Lamb is even more terrible. At His First Coming, Jesus Christ stood in the synagogue, looking in turn at each of those gathered around. The scribes and Pharisees sat solemnly in the synagogue. He stood, looking at each of them in turn, and His gaze expressed anger and sorrow, indignation and spiritual sadness. "Looking at them with anger, he grieved for the hardness of their hearts..." (Mark 3:5).

Are we going to hesitate until the wrath of God strikes us down?...
Shall we neglect the mercy of God until His judgment strikes us?...
Soph. 2:1-3 -- "Search yourselves attentively, search yourselves, you unbridled people, until the determination has come - the day will fly by like chaff - until the fiery wrath of the Lord has come upon you, until the day of the Lord's wrath has come upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble lands that do His laws; seek righteousness, seek humility; it may be that you will hide yourself in the day of wrath.
of the Lord."

Wrath of God

Wrath of God- a dispassionate, love-based, providential action of God in relation to the one who distances himself from Him by sin, expressed in a certain punishment (from the word “mandate, instruction”), teaching, admonishing the erring one, so that he, having seen through the instruction of God, corrected his life, repented, and inherited salvation.

The wrath of God is also called the final rejection of unrepentant sinners from God at the terrible judgment, in accordance with the choice of their own will in earthly life.

1. Conventionality of the expression "the wrath of God"

According to patristic teaching, the very concept of "anger" in relation to God is conditional and humanoid. Divine Revelation allows the use of expressions that attribute anger to God, out of condescension to the weakness of human religious perception, and also because of the natural limitations of our thinking, which does not contain the Divine.

St. John Chrysostom explains:

“When you hear the words 'fury' and 'wrath' in relation to God, then do not understand anything human by them: these are words of condescension. The deity is foreign to all such things. It is said in this way in order to bring the subject closer to the understanding of more rude people. So we also, when we converse with barbarians, use their language, or when we speak with an infant, we babble like him, even though we ourselves are wise men, condescending to his infancy. And is it any wonder if we do this in words when we do the same in deeds, biting our hands and showing an air of anger to correct a child? In the same way, God used similar expressions to influence people who were more rude. When He spoke, He did not care about His dignity, but about the benefit of those who heard. In another place, suggesting that anger is not characteristic of Him, He said: "Do they anger me, the food is not for themselves" (But do they grieve Me? says the Lord; do not they themselves to their shame?) (Jer. 7, 19). Would you really like Him, talking with the Jews, to say that He does not get angry and does not hate the evil ones, since hatred is a passion, that He does not look at human deeds, since sight is characteristic of bodies, which He does not hear, so how does hearing belong to the flesh? But another impious doctrine would be deduced from this, that everything happens without Providence. If they avoided such expressions about God, then many would not know at all what God is, and if they did not know this, then everything would perish. When the doctrine of God was introduced in this form, it was soon followed by its correction. Whoever is convinced that there is a God, although he has an improper conception of Him and posits something sensible in Him, will in time become convinced that there is nothing of the kind in God. And whoever is convinced that God does not provide, that He does not care about what exists, that He does not exist, how will he benefit from impassive expressions?

St. Gregory of Nyssa:

“That God allows a conversation with a man, we believe that the reason for this is philanthropy. But since the small by nature cannot rise above its measure and reach the superior nature of the Most High, therefore He, reducing the human-loving power to our weakness, as much as we can accept, gives His grace and what is good for us. ... and the power of God, ... infinitely exceeding our nature and being inaccessible to communication ... gives to human nature what it is able to accept. Therefore, in various theophanys to people, she takes on a human form, and speaks humanly, and is clothed in anger and mercy and similar [human] passions, so that through everything that is characteristic of us, our infant life is guided, being brought into connection with Divine nature by the instructions of Providence. .

... although it is said that God rejoices over His servants and is angry with rage at the fallen people, then that He has mercy, but if He has mercy, He is also generous (Ex. 33, 19), but ... through our properties, God's providence adapts to our infirmities, so that those who are inclined to sin, through fear of punishment, keep themselves from evil, those who were previously carried away by sin did not despair of returning through repentance, looking at mercy ... and rightly leading lives were more delighted with virtues, as those who rejoice with their lives the Overseer of the good.

Rev. Efrem Sirin:

"You, Lord, are not embarrassed when you are indignant, and you are not angry when you punish. If you were angry when you punish, then the world would not endure your wrath."

By thought teacher John Cassian“Divine wisdom, speaking to people, must of necessity (to express sublime truths) use human words and affects.”

Rev. John of Damascus writes "On what is said about God in a bodily image":

“Since we find that in the divine Scriptures a lot is said symbolically about God in a bodily image, we should know that it is impossible for us, people and clothed with coarse flesh, to understand or speak of the divine lofty and immaterial actions of the Deity, except through images, types and symbols that suit us. Therefore, what is said about God in a very bodily way is said symbolically and contains a very high meaning, since the Deity is simple and has no form. So, by the eyes of God, the eyelids and vision, we must understand His all-beholding power and His inevitable (for no creature) knowledge, since through this feeling we also acquire the most perfect knowledge and conviction. Under the ears and hearing - His favor and acceptance of our prayer; for we also, when we are asked, by more mercifully inclining our ears to those who ask, through this feeling we show our favor to them. ... Under the face - His revelation and revelation of Himself through actions ... Under the hands - His active power ... Under the right hand - His help in just cases ... Under the feet and walking - His coming and presence ... Under the oath - the immutability of His decision, so just as we confirm our mutual agreements with an oath. Under anger and fury is His hatred and aversion to evil, since we also hate what is not in accordance with our thought and are angry with it. Under oblivion, sleep and slumber - the postponement of revenge on enemies and the slowing down of ordinary help to Your friends. In short, everything that is said about God in a bodily way contains a certain hidden meaning that teaches us through what is ordinary for us, what is higher than us ... "

St. Gregory the Theologian:

“According to the Scriptures, God sleeps, wakes up, gets angry, walks and has cherubim as his throne. But when did He have infirmities? And have you heard that God is a body? Here is what is missing. For, in proportion to their conception, they also called the things of God by names taken from themselves. When God, for reasons known to Himself, stops His care and, as it were, neglects us, this means He is sleeping; because our sleep is such inactivity and carelessness. When, on the contrary, he suddenly begins to do good, it means that He awakens... He punishes: and we have made of this - he is angry; because we are punished by anger. He acts now here, now there; but according to ours, He walks; for walking is the act from one to another. He rests and, as it were, dwells in the holy forces; we called it sitting on the Throne, which is also ours. And the Divine rests in nothing so much as in the saints. Speed ​​of movement is called by us flying, seeing is called by persons, giving and calling - by hand. And also any other God's power and every other act of God is depicted with us, by something taken from the bodily " (word 31, about theology fifth, about the Holy Spirit).

Blzh. Theodoret of Kirsky:

“He calls the punishment “the wrath of God,” not because God punishes in passion, but in order to instill fear with the help of the name in those who tried to object to him.”

Diodorus of Tarsus:

“The apostle calls the punishment of God wrath, not because it arises with God as a passion, but because it is difficult for people to understand the retribution sent by God without hearing the usual name of anger. And since people feel anger and rage towards those who sin against them, Scripture attributes them to God so that the majority can hear and understand.

2. The meaning of the expression "the wrath of God"

The Word of God reveals to us that "God is a Spirit, eternal, all-good, all-knowing, all-righteous, all-powerful, omnipresent, unchangeable, all-satisfied, all-blessed" (Large Christian Catechism of the Orthodox Church of St. Philaret of Moscow). This means that no passion, no change is characteristic of the good God, unchangeable Love. Providence of God, His grace always contribute to the salvation of man .

So, Saint Maximus the Confessor lists goals apostasy of grace:

"There are four main types of God's abandonment. There is providential abandonment, as was the case with the Lord Himself, in order to save those who are left by a seeming abandonment. as it was with the apostle Peter, in order to preserve in him an excess of grace with humility. And, finally, there is abandonment out of disgust, as was the case with the Jews, in order to turn them to repentance by punishment. All these types of abandonment are saving and filled with God's goodness and love of mankind."

That is, when the apostasy of grace occurs, the reason for this is not anger (in the anthropomorphic, human understanding), but the saving action of grace. The Holy Fathers write about this:

St. Theophan the Recluse:

“Grace carries the soul like a mother carries her child. When the child becomes naughty, and instead of the mother, she begins to stare at other things; then the mother leaves the child alone, and hides. Noticing herself alone, the child begins to scream and call for the mother ... ", takes the child ... and the child clings even tighter to the mother's breast. Grace does the same. When the soul becomes conceited and forgets to think that it is worn and held by grace, grace retreats ... and leaves the soul alone ... Why? - then, so that the soul would come to its senses, feel the misfortune of the apostasy of grace, and begin to cling more strongly to it and seek it. - Such a retreat is not an action of anger, but of God's admonishing love and is called an instructive retreat. Macarius the Great and others have a lot about this ... and Diodochus...

Rev. Anthony the Great:

"God is good and passionless and unchangeable. If anyone, recognizing as blessed and true that God does not change, is perplexed, however, how He (being such) rejoices in the good, turns away the evil, is angry with sinners, and when they repent, is merciful to them: then it must be said that God does not rejoice and is not angry, for joy and anger are passions. It is absurd to think that God was good or bad from human deeds. God is good and does only good, but does not harm anyone, always remaining the same. But when we are good, we enter into communion with God, according to our likeness to Him, and when we become evil, we move away from Him, according to our dissimilarity with Him. rejected from Him, and this does not mean that He had wrath on us, but the fact that our sins do not allow God to shine on us, but unites us with tormenting demons. that we have pleased God and changed Him, but that through such actions and our turning to God, having healed the evil that is in us, we again become able to taste God's goodness; so to say, "God turns away from the wicked," is the same as saying, "the sun hides itself from the blind."

What Rev. Anthony the Great, it is also said in the Holy Scriptures: “And love the oath, and it will come to him: and do not desire blessing, and depart from him. And he put on an oath like a robe, and entered like water into his womb, and like oil in his bones: let him be like a robe, he will put on a robe, and like a belt, where he will be girded ”(Ps. 109: 17-19).

Note that this is a statement by Rev. Anthony the Great is currently being interpreted by some with a complete distortion of its true meaning: allegedly, from the words of the saint it follows that since God does not have anger like a human, He is indifferent to evil and does not judge it. The followers of this opinion, apparently denying the wrath of God as supposedly the passion of the Deity, in fact deny God's justice, His truth and justice - the inalienable properties of God, as well as the righteous act of His grace. Archim. Raphael Karelin answers the question about the correct interpretation of the words of St. Anthony the Great “I would like to know your opinion on one very popular quote of St. Anthony the Great: "God is good and impassive and unchangeable. ... so to say: God turns away from the evil, is the same as saying: the sun hides from those deprived of sight" (Philokalia, volume 1, ch.150 "On good morality and holy life"). The fact is, on the basis of this quote, many say that God does not get angry at all, and therefore does not judge. As a rule, believers who argue in this way base their opinion on the lectures of Professor Osipov, who, using this quote, claims that God is only Love and not a just Judge. And so this opinion is widespread among believers in Russian Orthodox Church that even Orthodox priests at sermons in churches and on Orthodox forums convince all those who ask that it is right to theologize like this, they say God is Love in essence, and the Judge is no longer the essence of God, that is, He is not the Judge, but this understanding - just a kind of pedagogical "horror story" for "rude" "Old Testament" people who cannot understand that God is only Love and nothing else. According to their ideas, God loves everyone and does not punish anyone, but it is the people themselves who punish themselves and that we do not change God with prayers (“If later we gain permission in sins with prayers and good deeds, this does not mean that we have pleased God ... "), but we change ourselves, and therefore from this quote it turns out as if there is no need to pray to God for mercy, because it is not He who should have mercy on us (He does not change), but we ourselves must change.
Please explain what Saint Anthony is talking about here, and whether the above conclusions from this quote are correct”:

- "Alexander! Orthodox theology distinguishes in the Godhead a divine Being, transcendent to the world, and divine grace, immanent in its creations. The Divine Essence is immutable, identical to Itself, and His grace - the eternal light - manifests itself in the created world as the actions and properties of the Divine. Man is the image and likeness of God, and therefore, delving into himself and considering his spiritual properties, he, to some extent, can have an idea about the properties of God, not about the Essence of God, which is incomprehensible and inexpressible, not about the inner life of the Divine, into which angels cannot penetrate, but about the actions of God, expressed in the Holy Scriptures in anthropomorphic language, of course, in the most sublime and spiritual sense.

We know little about the metaphysical world, as if in its dim reflections; but this little, revealed in the Bible, corresponds to the truth: in eternal life it will not be replaced by another, but will be revealed in its depths. In relation to the Deity, we must use the figurative-symbolic language of the Bible, otherwise, disconnecting from it, we will find ourselves in complete darkness and emptiness, or, even more dangerous, in the circle of our own fantasies, connected with the light of Lucifer.

Reverend Anthony The Great One says that the Divine Being in Himself does not change from what happens in the created world. However, His attitude (actions) towards people - the righteous and sinners - changes depending on their actions, since God, being Holy, turns away from all sin and impurity, and, being Love, can give His love only to those who contain it in who is capable of loving himself. God is not partial; but man himself, through his virtues or sins, determines his relation to the Divine, and thereby the relation of the Divine to himself.

Therefore, the possibility of salvation and renewal through repentance and correction of life is open before a person, but also the danger - through sins to lose grace and be without God in eternity.

As regards the opinion that God is only Love and therefore cannot betray sinners to eternal torment, then it arose as an anesthesia of one's own conscience with an unwillingness to fight sin and passions. God is Love, but not only saving and merciful, but also punishing and punishing, not blind and mechanical, like the law of attraction, but Love is just and fair. The Holy Fathers give such an example.

Fire is one in nature, but has different properties. Fire warms and illuminates, but it can also burn and incinerate - it performs various actions without changing itself. Divine love is different from sensual human love. It is inextricably linked to truth. The greatest example of this is the Crucifixion of Christ, which combined love and justice. Christ, as Love, saves humanity, but as Truth and Justice, He sacrifices Himself to bring us back to God.

If God saved everyone, despite their life and attitude towards Him, then the purpose and meaning of our earthly existence, full of sorrows and sorrows, would generally become incomprehensible: who needs it and why? If earthly life is not the formation of a human personality as a moral being, if it is not a time of choice between good and evil, then it is aimless and meaningless.

The teaching that God is only Love, and not Supreme Justice, and will not judge the world as Truth, equates good with evil and depersonalizes the person himself. Such love does not crown morality, but subverts it; in fact, it turns into an apology for every sin, perversion and debauchery. The doctrine that God is Love, without Justice, is not only a theological error or heresy, but a new anti-Christian religion. If God saves all people, because He is Love, then why is faith itself, the feat of the saints, the suffering of martyrs, the struggle of the saints with passions, similar to bloodless martyrdom?

Why do we need goodness and devotion to God, if the Archangel Michael and Satan, the Apostle John and Judas, chastity and fornication are the same for Divine Love? Then morality itself turns out to be a great delusion: a person can do whatever he wants, and still be saved, regardless of his life and deeds, since hell has been abolished, and paradise has become inevitable for everyone, including demons ”(http: / /karelin-r.ru/faq/answer/1000/5827/index.html).

Rev. John Cassian:

“Without great blasphemy, one cannot attribute indignation with anger to God, whose nature is unchangeable. When we read about the wrath or wrath of God, we must understand not in human form, in the likeness of human indignation, but worthy of God, Who is alien to all indignation.

St. John Chrysostom:

"God's anger is not a passion, but a threat to our advantage."

“The deity is impassive and, whether it punishes or strikes, it does not do it with anger, like people, but by providence and great philanthropy. Therefore, one must have great boldness and trust in the power of repentance.”

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons:

“To all who keep love for Him, He gives His fellowship. But communion with God is life and light and the enjoyment of all the blessings that He has. And those who voluntarily depart from Him, He excommunicates from Himself, which they themselves have chosen. Separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness, and alienation from God is deprivation of all the blessings that He has. Therefore, those who, through their apostasy, have lost the aforementioned, as being deprived of all blessings, are in every kind of torment, not because God Himself punished them in advance, but the punishment overtakes them due to their deprivation of all blessings. But the blessings of God are eternal and without end, and therefore their deprivation is eternal and without end, just as with regard to the immeasurable light, those who blind themselves or are blinded by others are always deprived of the sweetness of the light, not because the light caused them the torment of blindness, but blindness itself gives them misfortune. ".

Rev. Gabriel (Urgebadze):

“The Lord does not leave a man, a man leaves God. Hell is separation from the Lord."

3. God's Punishment - Instruction of the Free to Salvation

We are created by God with free will, the priceless gift of being a person. God never takes away His gifts and limits His power where the will of man operates, without encroaching on our freedom, on our choice. However, loving a person, He cares in every possible way about his salvation, about delivering him from death. Therefore, the Lord directs the sinner by the action of His Providence to salvation, creating for him such conditions, circumstances of life that can help him leave the path of death and find the path to good. These circumstances are usually sorrows and temptations, and they are called the "punishment" of God. The word punishment comes from the root “mandate”, that is, “instruction, admonition, teaching”.

Let's repeat the words here teacher Anthony the Great about the source of our sorrows:

“When we are good, we enter into communion with God, by our likeness to Him, but when we become evil, we move away from Him, by our dissimilarity with Him. By living virtuously, we become God's, and by becoming evil, we become rejected from Him, and this does not mean that He had wrath on us, but that our sins do not allow God to shine on us, but unite them with tormenting demons.

That is, by the natural action of spiritual laws we, by sinning, cut ourselves off from grace, from the alms of Divine gifts, and therefore we suffer, and God, not at all moving away from us, allows us only that kind and that measure of sorrow that we can bear, and which will be most beneficial for the realization of the sin committed and the correction of life. God's punishment is always care, admonishing a person in the language of changing the circumstances of his life, which is most understandable to him, without the violence of his freedom.

Rev. Ambrose Optinsky said:

« The cross for man, that is, the purifying suffering of the soul and body, God does not create. And no matter how heavy the cross may be for another person, which he bears in life, yet the tree from which it is made always grows on the soil of his heart.

When a person walks the straight path, there is no cross for him. But when he retreats from him and begins to rush in one direction or another, then various circumstances appear that push him onto a straight path. These tremors constitute a cross for a person. They are different, who needs what.

Rev. Maxim the Confessor:

“The wrath of the Lord is the curtailment or suppression of the alms of Divine gifts, which (suppression) happens to the benefit of every mind that thinks highly and much of itself and boasts of the blessings given to it by God, as if they were the fruit of his own virtues.

The wrath of God is the painful feeling of those being taught; this painful feeling is caused by inducing involuntary troubles in life, by which God often leads to modesty and humility the mind, puffed up by virtue and knowledge, allowing it to know itself through them and realize its weakness, having felt which, it puts aside the vain arrogance of the heart.

St. John Chrysostom:

“When we sin, God is sometimes angry and sometimes long-suffering, waiting for our repentance. And besides, He reveals His wrath and righteous judgment with the aim of admonishing us and correcting us, so that we do not remain in sin.

Rev. Isidore Pelusiot:

“The word rage, when it is said about God and about us, is not identical, but of the same name, because what is said about God means a punishment impassively sent to sinners, and what is said about us is a passionate movement and confusion of thoughts.”

The fact that the judgment of God, which determines the measure of punishment for the sinner, is not only passionless and good, but also righteous and immutable, naturally follows from the properties of God known to us from the Holy Scriptures: He is all-good, omniscient, all-righteous, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable. The Holy Fathers write:

Rev. John Cassian the Roman:

“So, when we read about the wrath or wrath of God, we must understand not in human form, i.e. in the likeness of human indignation, but worthy of God, who is a stranger to any indignation, we can understand that He is the Judge and avenger of everything that is wrong in this world, and, fearing the terrible retribution for our deeds signified by these words, we should be afraid to do anything against His will."

St. Theophan the Recluse:

“The wrath of God means judgment, condemnation, and punishment. The Apostle called it wrath in a human manner. Do not approach an angry person and do not tell him: he will not listen. So the judgment of God is inexorable and unchanging: as it is decided on it, so it will remain forever.

4. The source of providential punishment is the love of God

« God is love”(1 John 4:8), and, correcting those who sin, He leads us to salvation as His own, albeit erring, but beloved children. He does not turn away from sinners, but in every possible way directs them to the path of salvation, loving each person as His child. And, although God's punishments (from the word "mandate" - "admonishment") seem bitter to us, their fruit is beneficial, because if we often live in momentary feelings, unable to think about the future, then God cares about our destiny in eternity. And the fact that God's grace cannot be in a sinning soul does not mean that God in anger rejects the sinner from Himself, but only that sin itself rejects a person from God's grace. The Lord does not cease to love any person and does everything so that he comes to his senses, comes to his senses and brings Him saving repentance. This is the essence of sorrows and temptations, which conditionally, in relation to the simplicity of those who listen, are called the wrath of God: they are the action of His love. Rev. Isaac the Syrian directly calls God's admonition "a form of love."

Holy Bible speaks:

“Do not reject the punishment of the Lord, my son, and do not be burdened by His reproof;
for whom the Lord loves, he punishes and favors him, as a father does to his son.
(Prov. 3, 11-12)

“and forgot the consolation that is offered to you as to sons: my son! do not despise the chastisement of the Lord, and do not be discouraged when He reproves you.
For whom the Lord loves, he chastens; he strikes every son whom he receives.
If you endure punishment, then God deals with you as with sons. For is there any son whom his father does not punish?
If you remain without punishment, which is common to all, then you are illegitimate children, and not sons.
Moreover, [if] we, being punished by our carnal parents, were afraid of them, then should we not be much more subject to the Father of spirits in order to live?
They punished us according to their arbitrariness for a few days; but this one is for profit, that we may share in his holiness.
Every punishment now seems not joy, but sorrow; but afterward, to those who have been taught through it, it delivers the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
(Heb. 12:5-11)

“God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but when tempted will give you relief, so that you can endure.”
(1 Cor. 10:13)

“Moreover, we know that to those who love God, who are called according to [His] will, everything works together for good.”
(Rom. 8, 28)

The good God arranges the salvation of man by all possible means, only without the violence of human freedom, and even towards stubborn sinners He shows His "long-suffering, not wanting anyone to perish, but that everyone should come to repentance."
(2 Peter 3:9).

Rev. Isaac Sirin writes:

“Whoever does admonishment with the aim of making healthy, he admonishes with love; but whoever seeks revenge, there is no love in him. God admonishes with love, not avenges(let this not be!), on the contrary, means so that His image may be healed... This kind of love is the result of being right and does not deviate into the passion of vengeance.

St. Basil the Great:

“God, by a special dispensation, betrays us to sorrows ... because we are creations of a good God and we are in the power of Him Who arranges everything that concerns us, both important and unimportant, then we cannot tolerate anything without the will of God; and if what we tolerate, it is not harmful, or not such that something better could be provided.

“In God is life. Alienation and separation from God is an evil that is unbearable even for the future torments of Gehenna, the most serious evil for a person, like the deprivation of light for the eye and the taking of life for the animal ... What was the primary blessing for the soul? Being with God and uniting with Him through love. Having fallen away from Him, she began to suffer.”

St. Philaret (Drozdov):

“There is a God of love,” says the same contemplator of love. God is love in essence and the very essence of love. All His attributes are garments of love.; all actions are expressions of love. His omnipotence dwells in it in all its fullness ... it is His justice, when the degrees and types of gifts sent down or withheld are measured by wisdom and goodness, for the sake of the highest good of all its creatures.

Draw near and consider the formidable face of God's justice, and you will definitely recognize in it the meek gaze of God's love.

Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov):

God, allowing us to be tempted and betraying us to the devil, does not cease to provide for us, punishing, does not cease to do good to us.

Rev. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer:

"Everything in general temptations are sent by God for our benefit... all the sorrows and torments that the soul undergoes during internal temptations and the impoverishment of spiritual consolation and sweetness are nothing else, as a cleansing medicine arranged by the love of God, with which God cleanses her, if she endures them with humility and patience. And, of course, they prepare for such patient sufferers a crown, acquired only through them, and the crown is all the more glorious, the more painful the torments of the heart endured during them.

Rev. Joseph of Optina:

“However, be that as it may, it is up to you to see the goodness of God towards you and love in the temporary punishment that has befallen you. For the Most Merciful Lord, through temporary sorrows, wants to deliver you from eternal, most terrible torments, which are scary to think about. Therefore, cry out to the Lord with the righteous Job: “Be the name of the Lord blessed from now on and forever!” (Compare Job 1:21)."

In temptations, the grace of God supports the ascetic who places his hope and trust in Him, so that the strength of experiences does not exceed the strength of a person.

Rev. Macarius the Egyptian:

“God, knowing exactly the state of everyone, how much strength each has, to such an extent allows and be subjected to temptation ...

God never allows a soul that trusts in Him to be so exhausted in temptations as to reach despair...

The mind of God knows to what extent every soul must be subjected to temptation in order to become pleasing and useful for the Kingdom of Heaven.

... The Evil One grieves the soul not to the extent that he has desires, but to the extent that God allows him.

St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov):

God, knowing exactly the state of everyone, and how much strength each has, allows everyone to be tempted.

Rev. Nikon Optinsky:

Elder Paisius Svyatogorets:

"God allows temptations according to our spiritual state."

St. Nicholas of Serbia:

“The love that Christ showed to the world, my soul, is the love that was “before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). This love, therefore, is not temporary, but eternal, not external, but internal. “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). And where the Son is, there is the Father and the Holy Spirit. He wants to fill with His love the eternal triune nature of the human soul. However, although He is the master, nevertheless, as a humble guest, He knocks at every human heart. For He gave freedom to man and does not impose Himself on him. Blessed is he who has subordinated his freedom to His love! “I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). Happy is he who voluntarily opens his heart to Jesus, who brings love, and with love, life, peace, and joy.”

5. When there is no going back. final rejection

Illusions and deceptions of temporary life dissipate beyond the brink of death - there everyone will see with their own eyes their sins, and the fact that God truly exists, and His unchanging love for all creation, and the greatness of the Savior's sacrifice, and His immutable righteousness. But for good changes, only life is given to us. When time ends for a person with death, the opportunity to change will also end. For those who have not turned to God in temporary life, there will be no possibility of repentance, there will be no transition from evil to good.

Rev. John of Damascus writes about the property of eternity:

“And eternal life and eternal torment denote the infinity of the future age. For after the resurrection time will no longer be numbered in days and nights, or better - then there will be one non-evening day; since the Sun of righteousness will clearly shine on the righteous, and for sinners a deep, endless night will come. Therefore, how will the thousand-year time of the Origen recovery be calculated?"

“You forget that there will be eternity, not time; therefore, everything will be there forever, and not temporarily. You consider the torment to be hundreds, thousands and millions of years, and then the first minute will begin, and there will be no end to it, for there will be an eternal minute. The score won’t go any further, but it will be in the first minute, and it will stay like that, ”explains St. Theophan the Recluse.

Therefore, the final Judgment awaits us.

Therefore, the words of Christ and His saints about the Last Judgment sound so menacing. His sentences will be irreversible, irrevocable.

St. Theophan the Recluse, interpreting the words " The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who contain the truth in unrighteousness", explains:

“Everyone recognizes its truth according to the testimony of conscience. If you have sinned, wait for the due retribution. Why does he say: “it opens ...” - it is supposed to always be judgment and retribution, and the heavens are about to open and the Judge of all will appear. The wrath of God means judgment, condemnation and punishment. Anger called it the Apostle humanoid. Do not approach an angry person and do not tell him: he will not listen. So the judgment of God is inexorable and unchanging: as it is decided on it, so it will remain forever. Eternal torment is assigned to the sinner, he cannot escape it if he does not satisfy the truth of God. Therefore, either hasten to win reconciliation with God, or do not expect anything else but eternal torment. And the menacing judgment of God is also expressed by this. The Lord the Savior Himself portrayed him as terrible, dying in order to save everyone from this judgment. Yes, he is already formidable because there is a court. What criminal does not tremble before the court? ... How can there be no fear and threateningness at that judgment, which decides the eternal fate?

Even the singer of God's love, St. Nicholas Serbian, warns in terrible words:

“Be careful, my daughter, and do not be deceived. How great is the love of the Lamb for those who, with fear and love, kept the Father's invitation to the marriage of the Son, just as terrible is the wrath of the Lamb against those who heard this call, but did not respond, or rejected it, and those who call - apostles, missionaries, priests - tortured. For when the Lamb of God overcomes all the beasts, in human and other forms, and appears to the world, then they, horrified, will exclaim "to the mountains and walls: fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb" (Rev. 6:16). Righteous, but also terrible revenge on the traitors of love.

When one of the spouses does not maintain marital fidelity - what anger, what enmity, what a cry for the courts! Meanwhile, none of the spouses donated in advance for the other not a single eye, hand, or finger. And yet how much rage! And Christ gave His whole body to the end, shed all His blood for every human soul. His anger against the betrayer of love, which He sealed with blood and death, is incomparably more justified than the anger of an offended spouse. Simeon the New Theologian says: “If the soul explicitly or secretly replaces love for the Bridegroom Christ with love for someone else, it becomes hateful and vile to the Bridegroom.” Work hard, my daughter, to learn to love Christ more than the world and everything in the world, and more than yourself.”

But God is immutable, and His final judgment will also be a judgment not of vengeance and punishment, but of truth and love. As writes St. Filaret (Drozdov), "God is love," says the same contemplative of love. God is love in essence and the very essence of love. All His attributes are garments of love; all actions are expressions of love. ... she is His justice, when she measures the degrees and types of her gifts sent down or withheld by wisdom and goodness, for the sake of the highest good of all her creatures. Draw near and consider the formidable face of God's justice, and you will definitely recognize in it the meek gaze of God's love.

This is also said St. John Chrysostom:

“A terrible, truly terrible account lies ahead of us, and we must show much humanity, so as not to hear the terrible words: “depart from Me,” I don’t know you, “workers of iniquity” (Mt. 7:23), so as not to hear again terrible words: “Depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25:41), so as not to hear: “A great chasm has been established between us and you” (Lk. 16:26) - so as not to hear with trembling: "take him and throw him into outer darkness" (Mt.22:13), - so as not to hear with great fear: "a crafty servant and a lazy one" (Mt.25:26). Terrible, very terrible and terrible is this judgment seat, although God is good, although He is merciful. He is called the God of bounty and the God of comfort (2 Cor. 1:3); He is good like no other, indulgent, generous and many-merciful; He does not want the death of the sinner, but that he should turn and live (Ezek. 33:11). Why, why will this day be filled with such horror? A fiery river will flow before his face, the books of our deeds will be opened, the very day will be like a burning furnace, angels will rush around, and many fires will be laid out. How, you say, is God philanthropic, how merciful, how good? Thus, despite all this, He is philanthropic, and here the greatness of His philanthropy is especially revealed. For this, after all, He inspires us with such fear, so that, although in this way we wake up and begin to strive for the kingdom of heaven.

The secret of the combination in the last judgment of justice and love is revealed to us archim. Plakida (Deseus) when he writes that the theory of apocatastasis (saving everyone without exception) leads to the denial of God's love itself, for which its supporters verbally advocate:

"The concept of universal salvation, denying the eternity of hell, ignores at the same time both the incomprehensible mystery of God's love, which is above all our rational or sentimental concepts, and the mystery of the human personality and its freedom. God's love presupposes complete respect for His creatures, up to the "free impotence" to refuse them free."

God does not take away His gifts - He does not take away and. Rev. Justin (Popovich) teaches about it:

“Providence ... does not violate, does not destroy, does not fetter freedom, since freedom itself is a gift from God; a gift that is the essence of the nature of rational beings; the gift that makes them what they are; a gift given to them by God as their inviolable, inalienable, personal property. … God, as invariably Good, does not destroy or confuse the granted freedom… the freedom of His creations invariably remains inviolable.

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Operation Wrath of God is a Mossad operation to find and destroy Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization involved in organizing and carrying out the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics in 1972, as well as members of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), who were responsible for taking hostages. The operation began in the fall of 1972 and lasted over 20 years.

Prerequisites:

Immediately after the hostage-taking, Israel offered to involve its special forces, which had relevant experience, in their release, but the West German side decided to manage on its own and sent its police units to Munich. The assault failed and all the hostages, as well as five of the eight terrorists, died. Despite the subsequent appeal of the Israeli government to the world community with a demand to adopt "relevant resolutions and start world war terror”, most of the countries limited themselves to expressing condolences.
Israel demanded revenge: “They talked about revenge ... in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem cafes. Respectable university professors called for revenge from their chairs. Revenge was discussed at an emergency meeting of the government. In this situation, the Israeli government decided to search for and destroy all those involved in this terrorist act.

The phrase of Golda Meir, Prime Minister of Israel, the head of the Mossad after the terrorist attack in Munich, "Send the boys", is widely known, which has become semi-legendary. Golda instructed Zvi Zamir to compile a list of targets, which could include not only those who carried out the terrorist attack in Munich or were members of Black September. The main goal was to eliminate the entire terrorist network in Europe. Many of these targets were classified residents.

Execution:
The first of the alleged organizers of the attack, Abdel Wail Zuyter, was destroyed on October 16, 1972. By June 1973, 13 of the 17 on the list had been killed. The leader of Black September, Abu Ayyad, was killed by his associates in 1991, 19 years after the Munich action.

During the execution of the operation in Lebanon and Norway, several outsiders who were not involved in terrorism were killed. So, in Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents killed the waiter Ahmed Bouchiki (Moroccan by origin), in front of his pregnant wife, when they were returning home from the cinema. Agents confused him with Ali Hassan Salameh, leader of the Black September group. Some Mossad agents were detained by the Norwegian police for this murder and received prison terms of 2.5 to 5 years, others, including the leader, managed to escape. However, none of the convicts spent more than 22 months in prison, they were later amnestied and deported to Israel. The Israeli government paid compensation to the family of the deceased waiter, but refused to acknowledge responsibility for the murder.

The task was not completed completely, since the ideologist and organizer of the terrorist attack, Abu Daud, managed to remain unharmed after several attempts on his life. In 1993, Israel allowed Abu Daoud to visit the West Bank, and in 1996 he visited the Gaza Strip, where he attended a meeting of the PLO. Abu Daoud died at the Damascus Andalus Hospital on July 3, 2010, at the age of 73.