The Lord's Anger

One of the themes of the Doctrine and Covenants is that the Lord’s anger is upon the wicked of our generation.  In the preface to the book the Lord said in no uncertain terms, “And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth” (D&C 1:13).  He lamented in another revelation to Joseph, "Oh, this unbelieving and stiffnecked generation—mine anger is kindled against them" (D&C 5:8).  In 1831 He said, “For behold, mine anger is kindled against the rebellious, and they shall know mine arm and mine indignation, in the day of visitation and of wrath upon the nations” (D&C 56:1).  Again in the same year He gave us these words: “Yea, verily, I say, hear the word of him whose anger is kindled against the wicked and rebellious” (D&C 63:2).  In another statement He said, “And the anger of God kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth; and none doeth good, for all have gone out of the way” (D&C 82:6).  That is pretty strong language about the Lord’s anger against the wicked. 

               So how do we reconcile the love of God with the anger that He has towards the wicked as described here?  I think the key to understanding this is that God’s righteous anger is nothing like a mortal man’s temper tantrum.  His expression of divine discontent is a perfectly informed, perfectly just, and perfectly controlled assessment of wicked actions that merit punishment.  On the contrary, men who get angry rarely have all of the facts, are not without fault themselves, and often lose self-control in their fits of anger.  A former issue of the Ensign gives the following helpful explanation of God’s anger: “The reason people misconstrue the anger of the Lord is that they tend to assume that God’s anger is identical to their own as fallen mortals—they don’t understand correctly the nature of divine anger.  Lehi gives us a more correct definition of righteous anger. When Laman and Lemuel complained of Nephi’s anger toward them, Lehi explains: ‘Ye say that he hath used sharpness; ye say that he hath been angry with you; but behold, his sharpness was the sharpness of the power of the word of God, which was in him; and that which ye call anger was the truth, according to that which is in God, which he could not restrain, manifesting boldly concerning your iniquities’ (2 Ne. 1:26).  The ‘anger’ of the Lord, then, is the truth of God’s justice manifested against the disobedient.”  God’s anger is based on justice and consequences that by divine law must come upon the wicked.  As I’ve learned more about the terrible atrocities that man can perform in our “civilized” day—too numerous to name and too atrocious to repeat—it’s no wonder that His anger (i.e. His justice) hangs over the earth.

               There’s an interesting passage in the Lord’s appendix to the Doctrine and Covenants that highlights both the anger and the love of the Lord.  On the one hand we read this: “And I have trampled them in my fury, and I did tread upon them in mine anger, and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments, and stained all my raiment; for this was the day of vengeance which was in my heart.”  But in the next verse we have this description: “And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever” (D&C 133:51-53).  The Lord’s anger is kindled against wickedness, and He knows that wickedness better than anyone because of His suffering for it as part of the atonement.  But that does not change the “loving kindness” of the Lord that is on us “forever and ever” if we will but accept His redemption and reject that wickedness.