The wrath of the Lamb
What is the wrath of the Lamb? Does it lend support to acts of war in the name of faith?
I’ll answer the second question first: certainly not. The New Testament makes it very clear that our warfare is spiritual.
Here is the text: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig-tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?’
The Wrath of the Lamb
The wrath of the Lamb sounds like a theme that runs all through the Bible, but the phrase itself appears only once, right here in the sixth seal. The wrath is real: heaven itself announces it (11:18; 14:10; 16:19), and at the end the Lamb carries it out (19:15).1 His judgment is final — separation from God — but it is not human warfare. His only weapon is the sword that comes out of his mouth (19:15, 21): his word.
The scene recalls Hosea, where Israel, disgraced and ashamed of their idolatry, tries to hide from God — which itself goes back to the fall of man, when Adam and Eve tried to hide from God after they sinned.2
Notice who is speaking. The words are spoken by the terrified, who hide because they know what they have done. People have been hiding from God since Eden, and now they see who the Lamb really is. The scene shows their fear, not an angry God eager to harm them.
The meaning of wrath
God’s wrath is not a sudden outburst of temper.
On one hand, the people are only now realizing what they have built up against God. On the other, God keeps trying to get through to the people to the very last, but there comes a day when the time for turning is over.
This shouldn’t leave us with the impression that God is like a social worker who tries to help, then gives up because people are unwilling to cooperate. Rather, there comes a time when he confronts people with the consequences of their own actions.3
The importance of wrath
You may find the wrath of God an ethically and theologically difficult topic — but that’s likely because you, and even your parents, live in a historically unique situation:
- You are not subject to despotism or economic and political abuse.
- You have no experience of human trafficking.
- You have not been persecuted for your ethnic background or your religious or political beliefs.
- You have not watched friends and family die of hunger around you because some rich people wanted to be richer.
- You have never lived through a war or an epidemic that killed everyone because no one cared.
- You may even have real perspective and options in your life.
Throughout history, most people have been familiar with at least one of these things. Slavery, for instance, is not a phenomenon of the past but is on the rise, and behind this evil practice are people — not abstract powers — who cause it, directly or indirectly.
So when God acts on behalf of the suffering, that action is justified.
We are responsible for the suffering we cause others, and the consequences of our wickedness aren’t simply wiped away by a single prayer. God wants our hearts of stone to actually change.