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Announcer (00:00:00): It's time to think about the Bible like you never have before. This is Christian Questions. After this episode, go to ChristianQuestions.com to check out other episodes, Bible study resources videos, download the CQ app and more. Today's topic is, "Is God an Angry God?" Coming up in this episode, God is regularly misunderstood. Many judge Him as angry and they always pick out the most dramatic biblical events to prove their point. Should we be judging an eternal God with an eternal plan based on His unfinished work? Probably not a good idea. There is another way. Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.

Rick (00:00:39): Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 20 years. And Julie, a longtime CQ contributor is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

Jonathan (00:00:51): Psalm 145:8: "The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness."

Rick (00:00:59): The thought that God is a God of anger, especially in the Old Testament, is alive and well. It's a very convenient thought. All one has to do is select from the many passages in the Old Testament that show God commanding the destruction of this or that people. It's easy to say that He has anger issues and therefore should not be worshiped. The only problem is that this conclusion is in direct opposition to the truth. To grasp the correct thought, we need to begin by focusing on putting God's anger into its proper context. This basic exercise opens up a perspective on God's anger that redefines it. Simply stated, God's anger is an occasionally used tool of His overwhelmingly just, loving, wise, and powerful character. He is so much bigger than He is given credit for. So we're going to take a look at God's anger in a very, very different kind of way in today's episode. We're going to start with repeating that theme scripture, because we believe in Psalm 145:8. We believe this to be an accurate description of the character of God. Jonathan, Psalm 145:8:

Jonathan (00:02:13): "The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness."

Julie (00:02:20): Let's pull back a little bit on that context of all of Psalm 145. The Bible commentary on this, John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible says this, "It seems to have been a psalm David took great delight in, and it may be that he often repeated and sung it as it was made by him with great care and contrivance, in a very curious manner, as well as he was assisted in it by divine inspiration; for he wrote it in alphabetical order, each verse: beginning with the letter of the alphabet in course, and goes through the whole, excepting one letter; and very probably was composed in this form that it might be more easily committed to memory, and retained. The Jews had a very high opinion of it; their Rabbis say that whoever says this Psalm thrice every day may be sure of being a child of the world to come." Now we read that last sentence not to give people ideas that this Psalm or any other is a magic spell if it's repeated three times. But the point is that this was a high value given to this particular Psalm 145. It's an alphabet acrostic, one of only nine in the Book of Psalms where the first letter of each line follows the Hebrew alphabet.

Rick (00:03:31): This psalm is a powerful psalm. We're going to come back to it much later in in today's episodes, so stay with us for that. But the attitude, the attitude of this and other psalms really needs to be central in our Christian fellowship. Jonathan, let's just quickly touch on Ephesians 5:19:

Jonathan (00:03:48): "...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord."

Rick (00:03:56): Think about the ability to speak to one another through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, to be able to truly communicate. There's a heartfelt graciousness that we're going to be seeing unfold if we keep that attitude. Now with Psalm 145 and specifically verse 8, it presents a powerfully positive message. It's important to realize that the origin of this specific description of God's character comes from somewhere else. The Hebrew words for "gracious" and "merciful" in this psalm, the words for "gracious" and "merciful" each appear 13 times in the Old Testament. All of those 13 times for each word describe God. Eleven out of the 13 times they appear, they're used together to describe God. When we look at these two words together, it is like a lexicon in understanding the character of God. Wwe're going to go through ten of the eleven uses of these words together. So let's go to the beginning. The very first combined use of these two words shows us powerful lessons regarding the core of God's mighty character.

Julie (00:05:05): The context of this first use was while Moses was away receiving the Ten Commandments from God. The people, thinking he wasn't going to come back, built a golden calf to worship. And this makes God angry. I just want to read Exodus 32:24 from the New Living Translation: "So I, Aaron, told them, whoever has gold jewelry take it off. And when they brought it to me, I simply threw it in the fire and out came this calf." Like, whoa, where did that come from? So let's pick up the story with Exodus 32:7-10:

Jonathan (00:05:38): "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt! The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you (Moses) a great nation."

Rick (00:06:18): It's interesting in this verse that God is speaking to Moses and He's angry and He says this is the people that you brought up out of the land of Egypt, that they've corrupted themselves. They've turned aside from what I commanded them. So He's really putting some pressure on Moses, and there's a wisdom in this, and we're going to unfold this as we go. But here's the thing - God's anger is very justified. The fact that He's telling Moses of His anger, see, the fact that He's explaining it to Moses in such a way shows us how God is actually not complaining. He's giving Moses a voice, and this is a very wise approach. Moses then used that voice and he boldly approached God. His reasoning contained three distinct points that showed his love for God and his love for God's people. So we're going to look at Exodus 32:11-14, and Jonathan, we'll break this up into a few pieces.

Jonathan (00:07:18): And this is from the New International version: "But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. Lord, he said, Why should Your anger burn against Your people whom You brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?"

Rick (00:07:32): So Moses turns it back to God. This is Your people that You brought out with Your power and Your mighty hand. He's extolling the greatness and the power of God. Verse 12:

Jonathan (00:07:47): "Why should the Egyptians say, It was with evil intent that He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce anger, relent and do not bring disaster on Your people."

Rick (00:08:02): So you see how Moses puts it back to God Almighty, but he says, look, You brought them out with Your great power. Why would we ever want the Egyptians to say, huh, some power God had, He brought them out into the wilderness so He could destroy them. There's a God for you. He's giving, he's putting things in perspective and he's saying, Your reputation as God Almighty is critical here. Now verse 13:

Jonathan (00:08:30): "Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to whom You swore by Your own self, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever." And that's a long time.

Rick (00:08:49): Forever is a long time! But again, Moses is focusing in on God's word, His promise, His people. He's showing, it's like, and this sounds funny to say it, he's showing God just how great He is. Now God knows, but it's important for us just in principle to show Him His greatness, because what that does is, it tells Him that we see it, we understand it, we accept it, and God gave Moses this incredible opportunity to stand for God's greatness and stand for God's chosen people. And here's what happens. God hears and sees the evidence of Moses' loyalty to Him and to His people. And then we go to verse 14, and here's the conclusion:

Jonathan (00:09:35): "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened." Well, God's anger is not His driving force. It is expressed through a lens of compassion and graciousness.

Julie (00:09:50): This was really tense. I mean, millions of people were about to be destroyed here. And Moses has the courage to stand in the middle between God and these people. We can see how God gives Moses this voice like you were saying, Rick, so that he can be the mediator that he's supposed to be. A mediator; what is that? It brings two sides together. And we have a parallel because this foreshadowed Jesus as the Great Mediator between God and man in God's future kingdom. That's going to come up again and again.

Rick (00:10:21): And Moses even said at one point, there will come one who's greater than I, and that gives us this sense that God has planted Moses there, and He's teaching him how to do the work that He needs Moses to do. So as we move through the context now, Moses comes down from the mountain, he shatters the tablets of the Law, he destroys the calf by burning it and grinding it into powder, which incidentally, the children of Israel had to drink. Now there's something yeah, you know, that's indigestion, that's bad. And then he goes back up to the mountain to stand before God and speak on the behalf of the people. So we've condensed a whole lot of of activity into just a few lines here. Let's move forward to Exodus 34:1-4:

Jonathan (00:11:07): "Now, the Lord said to Moses, Cut out for yourself two tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered. Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. No man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain. So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand."

Rick (00:11:47): You have this tremendous detailed connectivity and instruction from God to Moses. Okay, we're going to redo this. It's kind of like a reboot. God is saying, I'm going to reboot what I've brought you here for. And basically, Moses has been the one to initiate that reboot by standing for the character of God and for the sacredness of God's people. There's so much here, and this is helping us see the absolute greatness of God our Father. So let's look at this context that we've been talking about. Just let's make some quick observations. Julie, let's start with you.

Julie (00:12:28): The newly freed Hebrew people fell into idolatry when uncertainty arose. Remember, "this calf just appeared!"

Rick (00:12:36): Yeah, yeah. The calf appeared and Moses was gone. He was gone for a long time and that's where the uncertainty came from. Jonathan?

Jonathan (00:12:43): God was justifiably angry. He gave them miracles and deliverance and received idolatry in return.

Rick (00:12:51): That is not a good return on investment, all right? When you invest in the people and that's what they give you back, and this is absolutely justifiable.

Julie (00:13:01): God informs Moses of his anger and also gave Moses space to respond.

Rick (00:13:06): And that space to respond, we will see, provides a tremendous tool of learning and a tremendous view into the greatness of God Himself. Jonathan, what's next?

Jonathan (00:13:18): Moses defends God's power and His reputation. He also focuses on God's integrity.

Rick (00:13:24): So he really goes back to who God is; and His power, His reputation, and His integrity. Julie, last point;

Julie (00:13:33): God accepts Moses' honoring of Him and resets a pathway to faithfulness for the people by giving new tablets. And one other point; we read in Exodus 32:10 how God gave that option to make a great nation out of Moses because He easily could have rewired around that promise to Abraham because Moses was one of the descendants. He could have taken God up on that offer and said, yeah, I'm mad at these people too. It's you and me, let's do it. But this shows the humility of Moses because he chose instead to mediate on behalf of the people instead of take all that glory for himself.

Jonathan (00:14:08): I'm still waiting for the first use of the phrase "gracious and merciful." Are we there yet?

Rick (00:14:14): Yeah. Those two words are enormously important, but we can't get there until we go here. Where is here? It's showing us it's the exhibition of God's greatness by not destroying the people when He had justifiable reason. It's showing us how great God is. As we go open up into the next segment, we're going to see those words come up, Jonathan. So yes, we're almost there. What we're looking at is the character of God and the tool of anger. Jonathan, what do we have there?

Jonathan (00:14:46): God can and does get angry, but it is never without justifiable reason. This is because the core values of God's character only allow anger to be a tool to use when appropriate and needed. This example of His anger with Israel serves as a template from which we can better understand the mind and character of God.

Rick (00:15:11): So we're spending all of this time on this event because you will see this event is the core. It's the core, it's the beginning of the explanation of the character of God through these two words with, Jonathan, we haven't yet talked about. Here in Exodus, God has laid out a significant key for us to use. Whenever we see God's anger, His anger is never the end of the story.

Jonathan (00:15:39): Now that we have the context in place, how are God's graciousness and mercy introduced?

Rick (00:15:45): We cannot overemphasize what has happened here with God, Moses and the newly freed nation of Israel. God's miraculous deliverance of them, their sin of idolatry and His forbearance all led to His bringing Moses back up the mountain to reestablish Israel as God's chosen people. The drama here is palpable. You can feel it. Moses stands alone on the mountain and God communicates with him.

Julie (00:16:17): Wow. Rick, before we jump into that account, I just wanted to point out that we're looking at God's anger in a very focused way by following that specific phrase of compassionate and gracious. People question some of the Old Testament accounts of warfare, brutality, asking whether or not God changed between the two Testaments when the New Testament's emphasis is on love. So for a scriptural walkthrough of that aspect of his anger, we're going to direct our listeners to episode 779, "Does the Same God Rule in the Old and New Testaments?" So let's go back to this account of Moses on the mountain.

Jonathan (00:16:53): And we're finally to the first use of this phrase, "compassionate and gracious." And that's found in Exodus 34:5-6: "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth."

Rick (00:17:22): Think about how this verse describes it. God descends in this cloud and stands there with him. I don't know what that looked like or felt like, but it must have been probably one of the most dramatic things you could ever possibly imagine. And God begins to describe Himself. He tells us who He is through His words to Moses. This is incredibly, incredibly powerful and this gives us a sound basis for knowing who He is. So Jonathan, let's first take a quick look at those two words that we are really focusing in on; "compassionate" and "gracious."

Jonathan (00:17:57): "Compassionate" is only used in relation to God. The Hebrew English Lexicon defines this as, "to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion." This is a deeply connected high-level compassion. It's like, "I care so much about you that I will make this arrangement." It's not a compassion that simply tolerates. It's one that welcomes. Now the word for "gracious" is also only used in relation to God, and it means "to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior; to favor bestow."

Julie (00:18:40): It is so meaningful that these specific Hebrew words are only used in relation to God Himself, bending so far down to our level to be there as our God. This tells us that we humans can't even approach this level of compassion and graciousness. In this case, God allowed a mediator, Moses, rather than justifiably punishing millions for their idolatry.

Rick (00:19:03): Not only did God allow a mediator, but He taught the mediator how to mediate by giving him the voice that he needed to have. So "compassionate" and "gracious," those are the two key words. But Jonathan, there are three other aspects of God's character that we haven't touched on. What are they?

Jonathan (00:19:20): Yeah, "slow to anger" really means slow to anger, slow to ire. "Abounding in kindness" means abundant in goodness, kindness and faithfulness. And "abounding in truth" means stability, figuratively, certainty, truth and trustworthiness.

Rick (00:19:38): So you have the comparison of being slow to anger, with abounding loving-kindness and abounding in truth. When you abound, it's overflowing versus slow to anger. You just get a sense, and this is God saying, this is who I am. Now, how would Moses know that these things are true? He'd know because he had just witnessed them. Part of God giving Moses a voice in the matter of preserving the people after their idolatry was to have Moses actually see God's full character in action. This was a very important lesson for Moses, and you can see that he is the willing student. He just soaks this whole thing up.

Julie (00:20:26): Again, the parallel is God graciously bending down and providing Jesus as this world's mediator. And I wanted to add one quick connection that I learned in studying for this that you alluded to, Rick. Moses himself in Deuteronomy 18:15, said The Lord would raise up a prophet like him. And how do we know that meant Jesus? Because the apostle Peter tells us in Acts 3:22-23. So it's another example of the New Testament string between the Old Testament and revealing the Old. Now God continues revealing himself to Moses in Exodus 34:7:

Jonathan (00:21:00): "God, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

Rick (00:21:18): So you have God continuing to describe Himself. So that first phrase, the gracious and compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding loving-kindness and truth, that's the beginning, that's the core. And now God rounds out all of the things that that means.

Jonathan (00:21:34): Even though God is gracious and merciful, justice demands that people are still held accountable. God did destroy about 3000 of those worshipers of the golden calf as reported in Exodus 32:28, but only those who did not repent and were against the Lord.

Rick (00:21:54): Here we see that Moses has seen the length and the breadth and the height and the depth of God's character. It's showing because you've got this great compassion and this great graciousness, that He's stooping down to the level of the people to bring them up. So now Moses has to go to work as the humble mediator between God and Israel, and we see that begin to unfold in Exodus 34:8-9:

Jonathan (00:22:23): "Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship. He said, If now I have found favor in your sight, oh Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession." Now remember, Moses was the meekest man on earth, and it shows.

Julie (00:22:49): And notice how Moses says "our iniquity and our sin," but he was with God when that idol was being made. He didn't do anything wrong. But here he is standing as one of the people. Now who does that remind us of? It's another parallel of Jesus who took on our sins, yet himself was sinless. And we're told this in many scriptures like 2 Corinthians 5:21, "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." So again, another parallel.

Rick (00:23:18): Moses is doing the work of mediating between God and the nation of Israel. And as he's doing that, what it ends up doing is, it ends up bringing praise and honor to God as Father. And you can see how it says he made haste to bow low before the Lord. He was just humble in representing the people. God had explained His character to Moses in all of these things we've been talking about. He's now going to put that character to work as the true just and merciful God that He is. Exodus 34:10:

Jonathan (00:23:57): "Then God said, Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all the people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth, nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you."

Rick (00:24:19): So God essentially is saying, the people are going to be My people, Moses, and they will see things that have never been seen before because I am the Almighty God who is gracious and compassionate. And He's going to display that to them for the rest of eternity, is really what it boils down to. This is just the warmup to displaying this to the nation of Israel and then to the world. So He shows there's these miracles and these amazing things coming. God now restates His previous promise; previous meaning, this has already been stated before the people sinned. He restates the previous promise to give the land to them and protect them. We're looking at Exodus 34:11-14:

Jonathan (00:25:06): "Be sure to observe what I am commanding you this day; behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite before you, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite and the Jebusite."

Rick (00:25:20): He says, all of these obstacles stand in your way, but I am the Lord your God; you are My people. I've got all of this taken care of. Then He goes on and changes a little bit and He warns them of the dangers of this new land and of having God pave their way to it. So He is saying, look, I'll pave the road for you, but that doesn't mean the danger is over. Now we go to Exodus 34:12-14:

Jonathan (00:25:46): "Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will be a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim--for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." What does that mean? God's name is Jealous? Looking in from the outside, that doesn't sound good, but God's objective for all is eternal good. God is saying, you have to follow Me and honor Me because it's the only way you will live forever. Worshiping other gods or idols will not bring everlasting life.

Julie (00:26:35): It's no wonder that the first two Commandments had to be, have no other gods before Me, and not make any graven images. So in the next verses, God continues with the need for them to stay as a separate people, and their need to be reminded of their deliverance by keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He reminds them they need to redeem their firstborn, keep the Sabbath and several other feasts throughout the year.

Rick (00:26:58): So God is putting conditions, He's putting activities, He's putting rituals, He's putting a schedule before them. Why? Because they need to always go back to their source of their deliverance. That's why. They need to always go back to the mighty hand of God, Whose hand is gracious and merciful. They need to see Him for who and what He is. He's giving them these things, and these are Old Testament, what I would call Old Testament live-abundantly instructions. You want to live abundantly according to the Old Testament Law? Here. Here's how to do it and you'll see God's blessing. These are these live-abundantly instructions of a compassionate and gracious God who is slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. God defined Himself in this account. Jonathan, let's go to Exodus 34:27-28:

Jonathan (00:27:54): "Then the Lord said to Moses, Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."

Julie (00:28:13): I've got a comment on that forty days and forty nights because it shows up all throughout Moses's life. Here it was forty days and forty nights. Moses first received the Law in Mount Sinai. He interceded for the people for forty days and forty nights. And when he went back to Mount Sinai to get a new set of the tablets of the Law again, forty/forty. And here's our other parallel back to Jesus. Remember in the wilderness after he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, he was forty days, forty nights. And he essentially used that time in meditation to write the words of Moses really on the tables of his heart.

Rick (00:28:49): And you see that, and we'll see that when Jesus came down from that forty days of fasting and praying and being with God, and of course he was tempted in that time, we see that that's where his ministry begins. So keep that thought in mind now as we move forward with Moses, because Moses complies and finally comes down from the mountain after these forty days and forty nights, and he comes down a changed and an enlightened man. Literally a changed and enlightened man. We can see that in Exodus 34:29:.

Jonathan (00:29:22): "It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shown because of his speaking with Him (God).

Julie (00:29:36): So he literally was enlightened, <laugh> because his face shown. And of course the parallel is Jesus, like you said, Rick, came out of the wilderness enlightened and God demonstrated His grace and His mercy and compassion by taking the time to appropriately prepare both mediators during these forty days, forty nights for the benefit of the people.

Rick (00:29:57): So we have been spending our time looking at this one event where God introduces Himself as compassionate and gracious. And we've taken this time to establish the magnificence of what this introduction, all of the pieces that were part of it; now that's going to give us a basis to be able to move forward. So Jonathan, as we wrap this piece up, the character of God and the tool of anger.

Jonathan (00:30:26): God's demonstration of mercy and grace towards the idolatrous people of Israel spoke volumes regarding His true character. An angry God could not have so compassionately gathered them to Himself. With Moses as mediator of the covenant, God gave them clear instruction on how to stay connected with His grace.

Rick (00:30:49): An angry God doesn't do what God Almighty does here. An angry God is not capable of what God has shown in this one instance, and just you wait because we have only begun to reveal through these two little words the character of God. What an inspiring and revealing account. God worked through Moses and delivered a solid pathway to life and happiness.

Jonathan (00:31:17): Now that we have a firm understanding of God's compassion and grace, where else can we find this description of him?

Rick (00:31:26): It's interesting that we do not see these two words together describing God until several hundred years later in the time of King David and the Psalms. Because these words appear together five times in the Psalms, their repetition afterwards in four other Old Testament accounts becomes much easier to understand. The Psalms set a basis and the other experiences feed off of it. We're going to review at this point four out of five of the Psalms scriptures.

Jonathan (00:32:02): I find it fascinating that these examples will show us God's grace and mercy differently each time.

Rick (00:32:09): And that's one of the key things. The things to focus in on is what's the same and what's different. And each time we're going to build a new (we're not building it, we're just observing the new) what's different. So in our first example in the Psalms of this mercy and grace or compassion and grace is in Psalm 86. Now Psalm 86 is a personal prayer of supplication and trust, a personal prayer of supplication and trust. And that's generally credited to the writing of David. Verse 15 is an almost exact quote of Exodus 34:6, which was our original scripture. But let's start, Jonathan, with Psalm 86:1-2 to put the context out there.

Jonathan (00:32:53): "Incline Your ear, Lord, and answer me; for I am afflicted and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You." Rick, David is pleading with God.

Rick (00:33:09): And it's personal. It's about his own very personal experiences. With that in mind, with this plea about his personal experiences, let's look at Psalm 86:14-17:

Jonathan (00:33:25): "...a band of violent men have sought my life and they have not set You before them, but You, oh Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. Turn to me, and be gracious to me; oh, grant Your strength to Your servant... Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because You, oh Lord, have helped me and comforted me."

Rick (00:33:52): This is a beautiful picture, this personal prayer of supplication and trust. What David is telling us is, faithful servants of God can personally and confidently quote what God has said about Himself in seeking for God's help with the trials that come from their enemies. Now, the important thing is this is not a plea to an angry God for His swift retribution. Go get them. It's a plea to see God's mercy outwardly and personally expressed. So those who were David's enemies who were also part of the chosen people of Israel would be able to see wow, God is with him, and feel ashamed because they saw God's presence in his life.

Julie (00:34:36): So to recap this first application, here David asks for mercy and grace in his personal experience. So these attributes of God apply to us as our personal struggles.

Rick (00:34:47): So there's a basis; very, very personal in our personal struggles. The second example in the Psalms we're going to be looking at is Psalm 103. And this is a Psalm of personal praise, a personal praise psalm. Let's start with the first two verses to set the context and then we'll expand it:

Jonathan (00:35:07): Psalm 103:1-2: "Bless the Lord, oh my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits."

Rick (00:35:18): What a dramatic difference in the beginning of the two Psalms; "Please help me" in the first Psalm. "Bless the Lord, oh my soul" in Psalm 103. That's the context, this personal psalm of praise. Now let's look at Psalm 103:7-12:

Jonathan (00:35:33): "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us; nor will He keep His anger forever." He does get angry, but it's temporary. Continuing, "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our inequities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness towards those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." God always took His people back over and over again, even after very sinful actions. Talk about a merciful and gracious God.

Julie (00:36:23): When you read that phrase, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness," I love that right before that it says, "He made known his ways to Moses." So it's repeated when God made that original declaration of who He is. So David knew about that account.

Rick (00:36:43): And as we go through this, we're going to see that everybody knew. All of God's chosen people were taught that account because it defined God to Moses and the nation, and therefore to us. This personal praise celebrates the long history of God's compassion and grace and His abounding ability to forgive our sins. Obviously, obviously this could not be praise to an angry God because compassion, grace and forgiveness are central characteristics here. Angry gods don't have those things.

Julie (00:37:16): To recap this second application, then, David was remember struggling in the first application we looked at, but here it's all praise, no struggle. In other words, I'm praising You, God, that You take us back even though our sins are dark, beginning with that example of Moses and the people. Anger is just a tool in Your hand.

Rick (00:37:37): Compassionate and gracious when we're having personal trials, compassionate and gracious when we can look up to Him in personal praise. Let's move on to our third example, and this is Psalm 111. This is a psalm of praise. Now the difference here is this psalm of praise is to be proclaimed in the assembly amongst the people. So Jonathan, let's start with Psalm one 111:1-4:

Jonathan (00:38:04): "Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work; and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate." And verse 10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever."

Rick (00:38:40): A psalm of public praise. This public praise focuses on studying God's mighty works from the past, in the present and into the future. You see how it's so comprehensive. And it's to be spoken out with all of the people around you. This public praise could not be for an angry God because this praise is of eternal righteousness, and an angry God is not a righteous God. Folks, please understand these two simple words, "gracious" and "compassionate" in the way they're used in the Old Testament. These two specific words, they resound with the power and the glory and the character of God Almighty.

Julie (00:39:27): So if we want to sum up this third application of this very special phrase, God being gracious and compassionate applies during personal struggle, in praise when there is no struggle, and now with the brotherhood. Collectively we need to recognize how God has led us. And this isn't just personal meditation, this is encouraging all not to forget what He has done for us.

Jonathan (00:39:50): Again, His justifiable anger exists, but it is just a tool. It is not who He is.

Rick (00:39:59): That's such an important point and we've mentioned it several times, but God's anger is a tool in His hand. And what do you do with the tool? You put it down when you don't need it and you only pick it up when it's necessary. That's what these psalms are telling us. That's what the original Exodus account has told us. And yet we have the fourth example yet to come. And this is Psalm 145. And I'll tell you, I wish we had a second hour because this psalm by itself tells you the whole big story in such a glorious way. Psalm 145 is a psalm of pure praise and it plainly opens up the character of God to all, not just to those followers, but to all. Jonathan, let's start with Psalm 145:1-8:

Jonathan (00:40:48): "I will extol You, my God, O King; every day I will bless You and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts; and I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness, and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness."

Julie (00:41:31): Wow. No one could say it quite the way David does, right? It's just his heart. And so what God said way back when to Moses, David declares here will forever be true.

Rick (00:41:43): And there's this power of oh, men will eagerly utter the memory and they'll shout it out with joy. I mean, we don't see humanity with that kind of sheer exhilaration for goodness anymore. And that's really sad, because it's missing. But yet this is a psalm that's saying this is what will happen. Let's go to Psalm 145:11-13:

Jonathan (00:42:08): "They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." That's a pretty long time! Continuing, "and Your dominion endures throughout all generations."

Rick (00:42:29): Here, here you see the next piece of the puzzle, and it's a little bit subtle; "They shall make known to the sons of men." So essentially the chosen ones make known to everybody else the glory and majesty of God's kingdom. How do they do that? Why do they do that? Because God's kingdom is for all men from all times, under all circumstances. No matter what they did, no matter when they lived, no matter what happened, it is for all. And that's what this psalm does with this graciousness and mercy. It elevates it to say, it applies to all at all times.

Jonathan (00:43:04): From the beginning of time to eternity, God's compassion and grace are there.

Julie (00:43:11): Definitely. So we've walked through four uses of this special phrase in the Psalms, and here the psalm of praise began with the individual praise to God. It expands to generational praise of God. It then includes all of humanity in general, powerfully praising Him, and it then expands to God's goodness to all of humanity and speaks of His everlasting kingdom. And there's never a time or circumstance when His compassion and mercy aren't present. How beautiful.

Jonathan (00:43:43): There is no room for any angry God here. Only a God of justice, wisdom, power, and love. Understanding God's attributes working together in perfect harmony changed my life forever.

Rick (00:43:57): Really. How so?

Jonathan (00:44:00): Well, He is a God of justice, knowing right and wrong. He's a God of wisdom. He knows the end from the beginning. His power; He created everything and His love is always giving to others. He is worthy to be worshiped.

Rick (00:44:18): There's a big difference between speaking those words, Jonathan, that you just said, and believing those words. And that's why we're harping on "the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." These are God's words describing Himself. And what you've done in your own life is to say those words apply to me personally. And folks, I challenge you to look at this and take the anger out of our picture of God, and replace it with what the scriptures describe and how God describes Himself. This is a very powerful tool for us. So Jonathan, let's get back to the character of God and the tool of anger.

Jonathan (00:45:03): God is described as gracious and merciful in the Psalms; individually regarding personal troubles, as well as in praise. He is described within the assembly as always praiseworthy. He is described as mighty and gracious by all; past, present, and future, because of His everlasting kingdom. God is not angry; rather, He is full of everlasting kindness.

Rick (00:45:31): You can't fit anger into somebody that's full of everlasting kindness. You know, basic law of physics, two objects can't occupy the same space. Anger doesn't fit in the character of God. There is no room for it. We should feel a great thrill in our hearts when we see the expansiveness of God's praiseworthy and magnanimous character

Jonathan (00:45:56): With so much praiseworthiness in God's character already established, where else does this specific description appear?

Rick (00:46:05): Interestingly, we see the same phrase in the book of Jonah in relation to King Hezekiah, in the book of Joel and in Nehemiah. These four examples will again give us a broadly applied explanation as to how God's grace and mercy work and how there cannot possibly be any doubt that God is not an angry God. So as we went through those four examples in the Psalms of God's graciousness and compassionate character, we're going to go through these four individual other uses of these two little words together. Because when you put these two words together, what follows is a vivid description of the character of God. Julie, where do we start?

Julie (00:46:59): Let's start with Jonah. And Rick and Jonathan. Jonah had a problem, because as a prophet, God instructed him to preach to the wicked city of Ninevah, as God was prepared to destroy them. Yes, God was angry, but Jonah didn't like the Ninevites, so he ran away from God's orders. Condensing the story, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish. He repented and finally did his job, but he did it so well that the entire city repented, which ironically made Jonah angry. We'll pick up the account in Jonah 3:10 and 4:1-2:

Jonathan (00:47:34): "When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. But it greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, Please, Lord was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." Well, here's that phrase again, but it was spoken very differently,

Julie (00:48:15): Right. Jonah's resentful, so he uses the phrase in a negative sense. Like, "See, I knew this is what You were going to do, God. I just knew it! You are TOO gracious and TOO compassionate." You can imagine him rolling his eyes because he didn't want that city saved!

Jonathan (00:48:31): But when there is true repentance and a turning towards Him, God bends down to our level in His gracious and compassionate way,

Rick (00:48:41): He bends down to our level with that sensitivity, that understanding, and it's such a powerful, powerful message. If we could only remember this is the basis of God's character. Now, in this, Jonah says, You're gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abundant in lovingkindness. It seems reasonable that Jonah had Moses and Israel in mind when he had complained to God about His grace and compassion.

Julie (00:49:08): But did you notice the difference here is that Ninevah is not part of God's chosen people? These are outside of Israel.

Jonathan (00:49:15): And the point in this account is powerful. God clearly forgave those who turned to His righteousness even if they were not His chosen people.

Julie (00:49:24): So, this obviously isn't an angry God. We have mercy, grace, compassion, love, wisdom. Jonah knew it, which is why he didn't want to do this job!

Jonathan (00:49:34): Even heathens who turned to God were spared.

Rick (00:49:38): This gives you, this encapsulates the graciousness and compassion of the living God. He told it to Moses. And you see how it's like this echoing experience that goes throughout the entire Old Testament to show us the bigness of God's character. Why oh why do we ever attribute other things to His character when He is so thoroughly described in this way? Julie, we've got the example of Jonah on the table. What's next?

Julie (00:50:08): Okay, we're going to talk about King Hezekiah. Now back in Episode #1271, we started a fascinating two-part series about how and why Israel split into two kingdoms. It was really one of my favorite episodes. It was called, "Am I Throwing Away My Life's Greatest Privilege?" The end result of what had happened there was two wicked kings mired the nation in idolatry and bad leadership for hundreds of years. But finally a good king comes on the scene, King Hezekiah. Now he's righteous, he's godly, he rules over the kingdom of Judah in the south at a time when all the people were evil and idolatrous, and he's determined to serve God and bring the whole of Israel back to God. So he meticulously reestablishes Passover and he sends his couriers throughout the northern ten-tribe kingdom of Israel and his own two-tribe kingdom of Judah, to invite all to celebrate this Passover for the first time in I don't know how long. So here's part of the message he sent to everybody in 2 Chronicles 30:7-9:

Jonathan (00:51:15): "Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of their fathers...Now, do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you...For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."

Julie (00:51:42): This is about 750 years after the Exodus with Moses, when this all started. All this time had passed, but nothing changed. Israel was still dangerously idolatrous, but the Lord our God was still gracious and compassionate.

Jonathan (00:51:58): But all of Israel was given this opportunity to return to God. He will not turn His face away.

Rick (00:52:06): And if you don't understand that as the message by now, folks you may not be listening, because it is an irrevocable lesson. It's out there for us to see, to feel and to appreciate. The power and promise of this message were extraordinary in Hezekiah's case. The people were reminded to not continue in the unfaithfulness as their fathers had. Don't go back there. That's what Hezekiah is telling them. They were assured, they were assured that returning to God guaranteed His returning to them. Returning to God guaranteed His returning to them. That's the character of God Almighty.

Jonathan (00:52:47): An angry God could not possibly accomplish such a compassionate act.

Rick (00:52:53): Not even remotely close. It is not physically possible. You see how big the character of God is and how compassionate and how He is so willing to bend low to our level. So we've got Jonah; we've got King Hezekiah. Julie, what's next?

Julie (00:53:14): Well, this phrase was used in Nehemiah, and here Israel had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem behind the motivation and planning of the great Nehemiah. And they had lost their faithfulness to God and we're going to have a wake up call. Weeks after finishing the wall, they saw how God delivered them. They gathered with fasting and in sackcloth to mourn their previous unfaithfulness. And the Levites offered up a long and heartfelt prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God on their behalf. And gee, I wonder what statement they're going to use in this? Nehemiah 9:16-19:

Jonathan (00:53:50): "But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; they became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. They did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them...But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; and You did not forsake them. Even when they made for themselves a calf of molten metal and said, This is your God who brought you up from Egypt, and committed great blasphemies, You in Your great compassion, did not forsake them in the wilderness." He didn't forsake them because they had a mediator, Moses, to stand between God and the people.

Rick (00:54:33): Isn't it interesting that there's such a powerful lesson in the mediation of Moses between God and the people and this statement? God has got this graciousness and compassion upon His people and it came through Moses, the mediator. And we see it just, just thoroughly described in the life of Jesus and God's plan echoing through the mediation that Jesus will be working with in the future with all of mankind. It is a powerful, powerful lesson. So God not only shows us His character for now, but He shows us His character for later. We just need to see the bigness of how He's showing. Let's go back to that prayer of the Levites on behalf of the people in Nehemiah. Nehemiah 9:28-31:

Jonathan (00:55:26): "But as soon as they had rested, they did evil again before You...many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, and admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances...However, You bore with them for many years, and admonished them...Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for You are a gracious and compassionate God."

Rick (00:56:00): This prayer, this is a beautiful, beautiful prayer and we've condensed it down. It would really be a beautiful thing to go back on your own and read through Nehemiah 9 here. This prayer does not recount just one instance of God's grace and compassion, but it recounts a long history of God's grace and compassion. It recounts it in detail. It brings up the very experience of Moses and the golden calf. It shows us the power of God is unchangeable no matter what the circumstances,

Jonathan (00:56:36): Even though the people were obstinate, God's grace and compassion always prevailed. This is not an angry God.

Julie (00:56:44): That's right. We have a patient God who loves us so fully that He was willing to stoop down to where we are, to find ways to bring us to Him. And that's why Jesus came for all.

Rick (00:56:56): It is. And if you've noticed, we keep saying this is not an angry God. And why do we keep saying that? Because so many people just assume God is angry because they pick out this verse or that verse, and they say, see, look at that. And you know statement, never judge an artist by his unfinished work? You can't judge the character of God by an isolated event when you know the graciousness of His eternal plan for every single human being who's ever lived. Let's not confuse a moment with eternity. God is not an angry God. Okay. We've got Jonah, we've got King Hezekiah, we've got Nehemiah. Julie, what's last?

Julie (00:57:43): Unfortunately, we don't have time to get into a lot of the details, but Joel 2, it's a fascinating End Times prophecy built upon chapter 1 and the Lord's great army of locusts. (They're figurative locusts.) And the first 11 verses of this chapter show the crumbling of the false systems of religion. And in verse 12, there's a compassionate plea for any who are sincere to come back to God in the midst of this disastrous mess. We have Joel 2:12-13:

Jonathan (00:58:14): "Yet even now, declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning; and rend your heart and not your garments." In other words, make your repentance internal, not external. Be genuine and rend your heart and not your garments. "Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil."

Julie (00:58:46): God's grace will prevail. All will be given an opportunity for life in the kingdom. The requirement is going to be to recognize and cling to the grace and compassion of God Almighty. And it just strikes me that it's worth memorizing this description of God: "But You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness."

Rick (00:59:13): If we don't have a bigger sense of awe, then we've got to go back and do this again. We need to understand. You look at this and you say, there is something magnificent here, even in the midst of God's great anger. Now Joel 2 is in the Time of Trouble. This is a bad time. This is a really bad time. Even in the midst of God's great anger against sin and all that is unrighteousness, in Joel it tells us He still leaves an open door for those who would return to Him. This clearly shows that anger is a tool in God's hand and not the driver of God's character. And we just have to be able to accept that anger is a tool. It's picked up and it's put down. And even those that God is angry at in this Time of Trouble will be given the same resurrection and the same opportunity. Why? Because God is gracious and He's compassionate. Jonathan, let's wrap this up, the character of God and the tool of anger.

Jonathan (01:00:20): All of the Old Testament history points to God as having a just wise, powerful and loving character and points to His anger as a sometimes necessary tool. God does use anger, but it is always for the ultimate good of His creation and it is never used without a powerful connection to His grace and His compassion.

Rick (01:00:46): God's anger is never used without a powerful connection to His grace and His compassion. We need to understand that the character of God is shown to us in the plan of God. And if we're willing to see the Scriptures as a whole, we see a plan that includes every man, woman, and child to have ever lived, equally given an opportunity to righteousness. Why is that? Because God is a God of graciousness and compassion. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next episode, "We Are What We Think About?" So what are we thinking about? This will be Part I of a two-part series, and we'll talk to you then.

Final Notes (01:01:34): copyright @2023 Christian Questions. In addition to this transcript, we provide comprehensive CQ Rewind Show Notes for every episode. They include every scripture quoted during the podcast, as well as graphics, illustrations and bonus material. Click the "CQ Rewind Show Notes" button near the audio player or sign up to receive these weekly at ChristianQuestions.com. This transcript was created using artificial intelligence. While we believe it to be accurate, we apologize for any errors that may exist.