Burning Hatred

"Thou dost hate all those who do iniquity."
- Psalm 5:5b

Elsewhere in Psalms, God is one who is referred to as having ‘indignation every day’ (7:11). The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and He made them to wander in the dry, dusty wilderness of the desert for forty years. In the NLT, Romans 2:8 warns us of this sobering truth: "But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds". Isaiah the prophet, speaking on behalf of God, pronounces judgment on the people by crying, "Woe to the wicked" (3:11). Hate. Indignation. Burning anger. Wrath. Judgment. Woe! This doesn’t sound like the Celestial Grandfather we’ve conjured up in our minds who might ‘wink’ at a couple of our small sins. No, this doesn’t sound like the "God is Love" we learned about in second grade Sunday School.

While the Celestial Grandfather label might be a little irreverent, God could not be ‘more love’ than He is when he is adhering to His perfect standard of justice. Sin that is swept under the carpet and ignored is the speeding car of injustice that is an inevitable twisted wreck waiting to happen. Sin has a price tag attached to it and it is extremely expensive. Eternity in hell is the cost for one small act of disobedience. A ‘forever’ of torment for the wrong view of God. The lake of fire for a little white lie. Everlasting, conscious punishment for looking the wrong way at a woman or hating a brother in my heart.

‘Hatred’ most often gets associated with being the opposite of ‘love’. But for God, ‘hatred’ and ‘love’ co-exist perfectly. They are not opposites, but rather compliments. Because there is perfect hatred of sin, there is perfect love of the very ones who commit the sin. God’s Son Jesus Christ is the embodiment of that love, delivering all those who forsake their sin from God’s ultimate act of punishment.

"God hates the sin and loves the sinner" is a phrase often heard. And while that is a true statement in one regard, God does hate that one who practices his iniquity. For one who refuses to give up his sin, who will not die to his lawlessness… he will eventually give up and ultimately die in the spiritual sense of the word, unless the blood of Christ washes away his iniquity.