The Wrath of God

One of the themes that we see in the 1^st book of Nephi is the wrath of God.  When he beheld the vision of his posterity and that of his brethren, the angel said to him, “Behold the wrath of God is upon the seed of thy brethren.”  Nephi described, “I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren; and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten.” He further beheld Gentiles who did humble themselves and that “the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle” (1 Nephi 13:11,14,18).  After these specific instances he then saw more generally that in the last days “the wrath of God was poured out upon that great and abominable church.”  The angel then said to him, “Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots; and behold, thou seest all these things—And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth” (1 Nephi 14:15-17).  Nephi also taught his brethren about those who had inhabited the land of Canaan before the Israelites: “This people had rejected every word of God, and they were ripe in iniquity; and the fulness of the wrath of God was upon them; and the Lord did curse the land against them” (1 Nephi 17:35).  After quoting Isaiah to his brethren, he then prophesied of a future time in these words: “For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous” (1 Nephi 22:16).  Through his visions he had seen that the wrath of God would come upon the wicked, including the seed of his brethren, the Gentiles fighting against the righteous, the great and abominable church, and in general upon the earth in the last days.  It was surely a sobering sight to behold all of this and it’s no wonder he urged others so earnestly to keep the commandments of the Lord and live righteously—he had beheld what happened to those who didn’t. 

               So what is the wrath of God?  Surely it is not the same as the wrath of man—God does not lose his temper or get angry in the way man does.  Rather, I believe His wrath represents the justice and punishment which must take place upon those who remain in wickedness and refuse the salvation of the Savior.  Perhaps no better place in the scriptures do we see what His wrath really is than in the vision of Enoch.  The Lord lamented the wickedness of the people and declared, “The fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.”  His wrath was upon the people because of their awful wickedness and they would be destroyed.  Enoch recorded how the Lord felt in this moment of His wrath: “Misery shall be their doom; and the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” (Moses 7:34,37)  The Lord, in this time when He had to send down His wrath upon the people by way of the flood, wept.  Even when the punishment is just, God sheds tears for those who must suffer because of their own actions.  That love is really what is at the core of the wrath of God. 

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