RIGHTEOUS ANGER

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The Berean Christian For the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:9)
RIGHTEOUS ANGER

by Rev. (Dr) Quek Suan Yew

Anger is an emotion that is part of being made in the image of God. Like all other emotions such as love, joy, and sadness it was not tainted by sin. After the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, sin entered into all man. Since then all these emotions have been expressed sinfully including the emotion called anger. Righteous anger is a reaction to wrong doing or sin. This definition of wrong doing or sin is based upon the Bible and not a subjective notion. The Bible must be our guide. This provides the framework which delimits the meaning of righteous anger.

How do we know that there is such a thing as righteous anger and that anger was originally part of being made in God’s image? We know that God is perfect. He does not and cannot sin. If there are passages in the Bible that say that God is angry and we are made in God’s image then we will know that anger was part of our original emotional make up. The Bible is replete with the demonstration of God’s righteous anger, from Genesis to Revelation! In fact, the final judgement of the world, Satan and his demons is a demonstration of His righteous anger! Here are some other examples of God’s righteous anger.

Exodus 4:14 , “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.” – Moses was called by God in the burning bush to lead Israel out of Egypt. Moses had been giving reasons why he was not suitable. All the reasons were legitimate and very carefully refuted by God until Moses was left with no more reasons other than to either accept or reject the calling of the LORD. Before this passage, Moses had asked God to send someone else. That was why God reacted in righteous anger to Moses’ unreasonable disobedience.

Exodus 32:10 , “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” – Prior to this incident the LORD had spoken directly to the people of Israel the Ten Commandments out of Mount Sinai. The people’s response was that they would accept the Ten Commandments and obey them. The LORD had been communing with Moses up on Mount Sinai for the past forty days and forty nights. At the foot of Mount Sinai the people, out of impatience, instigated Aaron to make a golden calf and called it the god who brought them out of Egypt. The LORD was very, very angry as the phrase “waxed hot” depicts. Moses prayed and persuaded the LORD not to punish Israel. But when Moses went down later, he experienced the same intensity of righteous anger as the LORD. Exodus 32:19 records, “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” The phrase used to describe the LORD was also used to describe Moses to demonstrate that the righteous anger of Moses was a legitimate anger for believers to experience. Out of this righteous anger, the immediate response of Moses was to break the tablets of stone where the Ten Commandments had been written by the finger of God. Then he “took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it” (Exo. 32:20 ). Then Moses said these words recorded in Exodus 32:26 , “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.” Moses’ actions were swift and immediate. The serious nature of the sin committed resulted in 3,000 deaths. These were killed by the Levites who said to Moses that they wanted to be on the LORD’s side. Then it was followed immediately by forty days and forty nights of fasting and prayer by Moses inside a tabernacle set a short distance away from the rest of the camp. This intercessory prayer of Moses resulted in God sparing Aaron’s life. But the serious nature of this sin of the golden calf also resulted in the LORD further plaguing Israel. Exodus 32:35 says, “And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.”

Righteous anger is right anger. If we do not have righteous anger it is a reflection of a lack of love for God, His truth, justice and everything that is pure and good. If we feel no righteous anger when the Lord Jesus Christ is maligned and attacked we fail the Lord. If we feel no righteous anger when the perfect Word of God comes under grievous attack especially by people who claim to be defenders of God’s Word, we have sinned. When we love God and His perfect Word with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and they are attacked, righteous anger must well up from within us. When we see God’s people and especially pastors, elders and deacons fall into heinous sin such as idolatry and adultery, we must be angry just as God and Moses were angry with the sin of Israel when they made the golden calf! Our response must also be immediate action, not hesitation and delay in order to maintain “peace” and not to rock the boat! God will surely punish and will definitely not reward them for sin committed, and so must all who love God and His perfect Word take appropriate action!

Some people have a wrong understanding of anger, believing that it is always wrong to be angry. This is a worldly and erroneous belief. As a result of this erroneous belief they sincerely believe that to have a ‘cool as cucumber’ demeanour is always best. Even when the perfect Bible or God or Christ comes under attack they show no emotions at all. They are placid and behave like a dead or deaf man! Their passive and emotionless behaviour might even be perceived as being ashamed of Christ!

Righteous anger is justified and godly. It reflects a healthy spiritual walk with God where the Christian’s emotional make-up is likened to that of God’s. The closer he walks with God, the closer he is like God in all things including the demonstration of the emotion called righteous anger!