Answer
Perhaps it will help to consider one of the most profound statements in the Bible: “God is love” «He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. », (1 John 4:8). Never was a more important declaration made than this—God is love. This is a profound statement. God doesn’t just love; He is love. His nature and essence are love. Love permeates His very being and infuses all His other attributes, even His wrath and anger. When we see God as angry, it might help to realize that His anger is filtered through His great love.
It might also help to understand that God is never angry with His children, those who have come to Christ in faith for forgiveness of sin. All His anger was directed against His own Son on the cross, and He will never again be angry with those for whom Christ died. The Bible tells us that “God is angry with the wicked every day” «God judgeth the righteous, And God is angry with the wicked every day. », (Psalm 7:11), but we who belong to Christ are not “the wicked.” We are perfect in God’s sight, because when He looks at us, He sees Jesus. “For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” «For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.», (2 Corinthians 5:21). All God’s wrath against our sin was poured out on Jesus on the cross, and He simply will not be angry with us ever again if we have placed our faith in Christ. He did this out of His great love for His own.
The fact that God is loving does not negate His holy requirement of perfection. However, because He is loving, He sent Christ.To die on the cross in our place completely satisfies God’s requirement of perfection. Because He is loving, God provided a way for humanity to no longer be separated from Him by sin, but to enter into a relationship with Him as a welcomed part of God’s family, placed in that family because of the finished work of Christ on the cross (John 1:12; John 5:24).
Even if we know these things, if we still perceive God as angry and imposing, it may indicate uncertainty about our own relationship with Him. The Bible encourages us to “examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith” «Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? », (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we question our belonging to Christ, we simply need to repent and ask Him for salvation. He will forgive our sins and give us His Holy Spirit, who will dwell in our hearts and assure us that we are His children. Once we are confident that we belong to Him, we can draw near to Him by reading and studying His Word and by asking Him to reveal Himself to us as He truly is. God loves each of us and desires a personal relationship with us. He has promised that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him «And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. », (Jeremiah 29:13). Then we will truly know Him, not as imposing and angry, but as a loving and gracious Father.
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