How does that statement make you
feel? I have to admit that I am often
uncomfortable about God being angry.
That is because my experience of anger is not very good. I get angry because I am selfish. I get angry when people undermine my
pride. I am not very loving when I am
angry. I do and say things in anger that
I later regret.
Perhaps you associate anger with
an impatient parent, a harsh teacher or an unkind boss. You could never see anything good in their
anger. If anger is wrong, then how can
God be both good and angry? But anger is
not necessarily wrong. It is our
selfishness, impatience and pride that makes our anger sinful.
If God was not angry, he would
not be very loving or good. The opposite
of a God who does not get angry is a God who does not care. Could God be loving if he looked at the hurt
that we do each other and not be moved?
Could God be holy if he saw the evil that we do and not react?
God is angry because of human
sin. But that presents us with a
problem. Because Jesus says that we are
evil. What can be done about God’s anger
towards us?
God
is angry at sin (1-4)
One of my favourite verses in the
Bible is when Abraham declares, ‘I know that the judge of the world will do
what is right.’ It is so important to be
confident that our God always does what is good. In this passage we are told that God is angry
at the people’s sin, although we are not told what they had done. We have to trust God that this anger is
justified.
In his anger he incited David
against the people. Is that fair? Given that David later feels responsible for
what he has done, it would seem that this incitement involves David doing
something he wanted to do. His actions
reflect his heart.
But what is wrong with taking a
census? In the book of Numbers, a census
was seen as a good thing. David’s census
seems to reveal where his confidence lay.
It was a census of fighting men.
In fact, in this census he seems to be enlisting fighting men. In the Psalms David wrote, ‘Some trust in
chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord’ (Psalm
20:7). Now his confidence seems to be in
the size of army he can put together.
David should no better. Before he faced Goliath, he acknowledged that
the God who had rescued him from the paw of the lion would rescue him from this
Philistine. Last week we saw, when faced
with Absalom’s treacherous army, that more of the enemy died in the forest than
by the sword. The battle belongs to the
Lord. It is not his army that will build
the kingdom, but his God.
What are the army and chariots
that you place your confidence in? Maybe
our security lies in our savings. Then
it will be very difficult when God prompts you to be spontaneously generous.
But there is freedom here! You don’t need an army or chariots. You only need God to be a part of his kingdom
work. Be yourself for God. You might have a dodgy past, but God can use
you. You may not be very good at
explaining your faith, but God can use your stumbling efforts. You may not have gallons of energy for loving
people, but God can use your quite witness.
One of the clearest evidences that we care for God’s kingdom and are
depending on his strength is that we pray.
A sense of inadequacy is a great motivation to pray.
David
realises that he has done wrong (5-15)
When Joab reports the number of
fighting men to David, David was conscience-stricken. ‘I have
sinned greatly in what I have done. Now,
O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing’ (10).
David is in a much better place
spiritually than he was after his adultery with Bathsheba. There he tried to cover his tracks and hide
his sin. For a year David had acted as
if nothing was wrong. Now he immediately
realises that he has done wrong. He
doesn’t try to justify his actions. He
repents.
As we grow in faith, we will be
quick to repent. When someone points out
that we have been in the wrong we will not react by saying ‘who are you to
judge me?’ but we will say, ‘I am even worse than you realise.’ Spiritual maturity means that we are ready to
say sorry. We are to say sorry often,
but godly sorrow over sin moves steadily to celebration that our gracious God
is so willing to forgive proud people like us.
The prophet Gad comes to David
with a horrible choice: shall there be three years of famine, three months of
fleeing from your enemies or three days of plague. David doesn’t choose plague because it is the
shortest punishment but because he has confidence in the character of God. ‘I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for
his mercy is great; but do not let us fall into the hands of men’ (14). God’s mercy is what we need in the face of
God’s holy anger against our sin.
Interestingly, he no longer is looking to his military might to defend
the nation against their enemies.
God
graciously provides a substitute to turn away his anger (15-19)
In his mercy, God stops the
plague before the three days is finished.
Don’t think that God is some sort of unfeeling moral monster. ‘I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,’
declares the Lord. Repent and live!’
(Ezekiel 18:32). When God judges he
grieves. ‘When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord
was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting
the people, ‘Enough! Withdraw your
hand.’ The angel of the Lord was then at
the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite (16). Later a sacrifice would be offered at that
place. That sacrifice was credited with
turning away God’s anger. Second
Chronicles (3:1) will tell us that the threshing floor of Araunah was later to
become the site on which the temple was built.
The whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament teaches us that the
death of a substitute is needed to deal with our sin. The death of all those animals could not deal
with our sin but pointed ahead to the one called the lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.
This idea of substitution is
again seen in David’s words. When David saw the angel who was striking
down the people he said, ‘I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These people are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family’ (17). He was wrong to assume that the people had
done no wrong. The people had incited
the Lord to holy anger. But notice that
David is a shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for his sheep. His heart points forward to Jesus, the Son of
David, who is the good shepherd who lays down for his sheep (John 10:11,15).
Conclusion
I told Ronan that nothing could
stop me from loving him. He said, ‘what
about when you are angry with me?’ I am
a very imperfect parent, but I might be a less perfect parent if my children’s
behaviour didn’t move my emotions. I
would simply be an indifferent parent.
God is a father who disciplines those he loves.
But there is a type of anger that
God never feels towards those who are in Christ. It is the anger of a judge. Think of what happened in this passage. God was angry at the people’s sin, a
substitute died, and his anger was turned away.
Now when God looks at those who are in Christ, he always has the substitute
in his sight.
Back to this morning’s
passage. Can you see that it pictures
what we sing in the hymn ‘In Christ Alone’?
‘Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.’ And now there is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!
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