Anger?

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31 KJV)

That verse in Hebrews comes right after the words:

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (Hebrews 10:30 KJV)

Jonathan Edwards presented a sermon whose title is a bit different, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” that sometimes overrides the memorization of that first verse.

My original thought was to show how a well-known, well-documented, well-delivered piece of work could begin to sound as though it was a valid quote from the Bible. Hebrews 10:31 does not refer to an angry God, but I’ve heard that verse quoted with ‘angry’ instead of ‘living.’

No – this is not a post about misquoted Bible verses. We often misquote, but contain a truth even with the misquote. There are instances of God’s anger in the Bible, so we know He can be an angry God. We must clarify the source of that anger so that we do not substitute anger for love.

We’re not told that there was anger was against Adam and Eve, but later we were told He was angry with Moses:

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. (Exodus 4:14 KJV)

The Hebrew ‘aph (אף) used here is from ’anaph (אנף), “to breathe hard, be angry (displeased).” I can handle the ‘displeased’ part, but I really don’t want to make God angry. Those standing around Jesus on the Sabbath were able to make Him angry, and we’re given the reason:

And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, (Mark 3:5a KJV)

Now the Greek orge (ὀργή ) translated here as ‘anger’ has a slightly different connotation that that in Exodus, “ire, [justifiable] abhorrence.” In either instance, God’s displeasure or ire is absolutely justified. Moses had declined to accomplish God’s will and the Pharisees wanted to catch Him in an unlawful act on the Sabbath. In both instances, God’s will prevailed, though some people were not included.

It was not God’s anger that excluded them – it was their own actions. Moses, though serving as God’s chosen deliverer from Egyptian bondage, did not see his sons serving as God’s priests. Instead, Aaron and his descendants filled that role. The Pharisees did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and lead their people to the Lord. Instead, gentiles became the bearers of glad tidings of great joy. Those choices affected all succeeding generations.

Yes, it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God – but we all live there. Best done without a hard heart, isn’t it?