God loves all that is good

God's laws and the just judgments decreed upon lawbreakers reflect the very character of who God is to us. God's anger against evil and love for all that is just and pure is a spotlight that reveals the very character and nature of God to humanity. The law of God and the outpouring of God' righteous wrath upon law breakers is seen by many as unloving, but can you imagine what a God would be like whose nature was not to oppose evil but to reward it. God's anger and punishment of evil is an outward manifestation of the inward nature of God's love for all that is pure, just, and good. To do away with God's righteous anger and punishment of sin would be to do away with God's all consuming love for purity, justice, and holiness. God is a person with likes and dislikes not an impersonal force. Therefore the very opposite reaction of one who loves righteousness will be to abhor evil and to be angered by it. Packer says in his book Knowing God,

"Would a God who did not react adversely to evil in this world be morally perfect? Surly not! But it is precisely this adverse reaction to evil, which is a necessary part of moral perfection, which the Bible has in view when it speaks of God's wrath" (151).

 

The bible most clearly portrays that God is actively involved in punishing sinners and that our sin is what separates us from God. Therefore everyday when we see violence, broken relationships, and death we are beholding the consequence of humanity living under the judgment of God's curse upon a self-worshiping and self-centered world. The good news though is that is not the end of our story. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom 6:23).