As much as I would like to say, “Hey don’t worry, God is a god of love”…
He is a god of love… but he’s also angry.

Really angry.

Don’t know if you’re a parent. If you are, then you probably get a bit annoyed with your kids every now and then when they don’t do what you tell them to do. Or worse, they do what you explicitly tell them not to do.
But kids know your buttons… maybe sometimes… maybe you get really really angry.

If you every do get that angry by the way, make sure you walk away.
Do not hit your kids when you’re angry. Ever.
For one, you’re just teaching them that it’s OK to hit other people when you’re angry.
But for two, you might hurt them. And if you’re angry, that’s not discipline, that’s assault. Or revenge. Depending on how angry you are.

When you go against God, he gets angry. He has made it very clear to you about how he wants you to behave. And when you don’t do that, he gets mad. His tolerance for misbehaviour is completely zero. It is totally against his nature to accept that behaviour. He just can’t. Even if he wanted to.

Ever made anyone that angry?
So angry they won’t listen? So angry they look like they never want to see you again, ever?
What can you do? Buy them a gift? Write them a card? Get a friend to talk to them?

God is so angry that none of those will work.
No gift or sacrifice you can make will do it.
No amount of begging or pleading.
No amount of doing good, or helping the poor.
No amount of impressing priests or ministers so they’ll put in a good word.
No amount of giving to the church.

But.

The Bible says that Yeshua is a propitiation. That’s kind of an unusual English word, and not often used these days.
A propitiation is a gift given to someone specifically to make them calm down and to quell their anger with you.
Yeshua became your propitiation to God. Mine too.

This is the good news part of the good news.
The anger bit is the bad news part that makes the good news so good.

God is angry with you. You know why. And you know he’s right. He’s entitled to be mad after what you have done.
But Yeshua has sacrificed himself to make things right between you and God.

All you have to do is trust him. Trust Yeshua. Trust that he has done that, and trust that God has accepted it.

In 1 John we read, “And he himself [Yeshua] is a propitiation for our sins. And not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.”

And this, “In this is love, not because we loved God, but because he himself loved us, and sent his son, a propitiation for our sins.”

God is angry. But he loves you. So much, that he sent his own son to die for you because he knew that only that would quell his anger.

Trust Yeshua. Be reconciled to God. He’s not angry any more.