‘Day 319

Further thoughts on Rev 19:15-16.

The phrase “furious anger” is (apparently) almost untranslatable. A literal reading would be “trample the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.” I’m not sure what the “fury of the wrath of God” is designed to say except that He is “really, really, REALLY mad.” 
Revelation takes us on a tour of the vocabulary of anger. We are not surprised that the dragon is angry (2:12, 17) or that prostitute Babylon is full of wrath (14:8; 18:3). The bad guys in most stories tend to be angry types who can’t control their feelings.

What does surprise us is how often God is portrayed as angry, furious, or wrathful in this book (e.g.,11:18, 14:10). When we are introduced to the seven last plagues, we are told they are the full and final outpouring of God’s wrath (15:1). We hope that by the time we have gotten to Revelation 19 we are done with this apparent troubling side to God’s personality.

One way to deal with this is to note that the God of the OT is often portrayed as angry or wrathful. It is as if Jesus and the OT God portray two duelling sides to God’s character. But Revelation does not allow us this illusion. It makes it very clear that the Lamb also gets angry (6:16-17) and that He is approvingly present at the torment of those who accepted the mark of the beast (14:10). Evidently, anger can be a healthy thing or an unhealthy thing, depending on the circumstances and the motivation.

The key, I think, is this. The wrath of God is not an emotional thing; it is a judicial one. God isn’t throwing a hissy fit; His wrath is settled disapproval of anything that disturbs the happiness and tranquillity of the universe. He is the defender of victims and the rescuer of the oppressed. The gospel from both Testaments describes a God who is full of grace, patience, and forgiveness. We shouldn’t judge this language on the basis of our own dysfunctional emotions. God must be seen by the universe to be dealing with sin.