I once hurt a person. Badly. The pain I caused elicited an unforgettable response – eyes flashing fire, nose compressed like a spring under pressure, jaw locked, teeth grinding. It was an angry face.
We have all seen the angry face at one time or another. It’s nearly impossible to avoid, considering that we are bound to make somebody mad eventually. In my situation, the person I had offended was no mere acquaintance, which made matters worse. Grief is compounded when we hurt someone close to us, like a spouse or a parent or a friend. We don’t want those we love to be angry with us. We especially don’t want God to be angry with us.
Have you ever been burdened with the feeling that God is looking at you with an angry face? If you’re like many people, you do. “God must be angry with me” or “I think God is punishing me” are statements I hear frequently as a pastor. Though we have been taught that God is love, many of us go on quietly believing that God is also mad.
Certainly we deserve God’s anger. Our thoughts and affections and behaviors often reveal that we prefer our own way over God’s. And we know, if God cares about justice at all, that he must punish our sin. Therefore, it isn’t unreasonable of us to imagine a dark shadow of wrath on God’s face. Our sins are many, God’s judgment is certain; hell is real; and we are, by nature, children of wrath (Isaiah 59:12; Revelation 20:11-15; Ephesians 2:1).
And yet (what hopeful words). And yet the Bible says that there is a way to know with absolute certainty that God is not looking at you with an angry face. How can you know? Look at the cross of Jesus. The cross wasn’t merely an example of love – it was a substitutionary act of love. Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Instead of turning his angry face upon us, God turned his angry face upon his son. God’s eyes flashed fire, his nose compressed like a spring under pressure and, with locked jaw and clenched teeth, he poured out upon Jesus the wrath we deserve. “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16).
Jesus, the sinless substitute, absorbed in himself every ounce of God’s anger over our sin, fully and finally. Therefore, there is now “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Can you believe it? No condemnation. No angry face. If you are in Christ Jesus – that is, if you are trusting in Jesus for salvation – you can be absolutely certain that God is not angry with you. You will still grieve God with your sin and experience his fatherly discipline, but God will never look upon you in anger. All his anger has been spent in Jesus.
No wonder the birth of Jesus was accompanied by such a happy angelic announcement: “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). Good news of great joy, indeed. Through faith in Jesus, you can look into the face of God and see nothing but love.
David King is senior pastor at Concord Baptist Church, where he has served the last 14 years. He is married to Natalie and has three children.