Center for Creative Ministry A research organization and research center for Seventh-day Adventist pastors and their congregations
The Wrath of Divine Love
As recent controversial clemencies made by former President Joseph Biden and President Donald Trump serve as plenty of fodder for satirical cartoonists and public debaters, many other observers fear the legal precedents and social ramifications which have been set in motion.
Should a president have the power to pardon someone the justice system already tried and convicted? Is there any accountability?
Since reclaiming the Oval Office, President Trump has commuted 14 sentences for some of his supporters who were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Etched into the roughly 1,500 clemencies Trump signed is “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Former President Biden’s proclamations of forgiveness are no more impressive. The former president commuted the sentence of a child’s murderer, pardoned his felonious son Hunter Biden, and also pre-emptively pardoned additional members of the Biden family, his advisors, other politicians, and members of the January 6 insurrection committee.
In whose interest are these executive write-offs made? These ostensible acts of mercy appear much more self-serving to the politicians who grant them.
Will there ever be a fair and equitable justice system we can trust?
The good news is that it already exists. We just need to study Genesis through Revelation to see how it works!
Since the beginning of human history, God has been grieved by evil and longs to protect all of creation from it. As we see in Genesis 3:21, God provided clothing for the first humans even after they sinned. God also continued watching over the world’s first murderer (Genesis 4:14-15). And even when Israel repeatedly rebelled against their Savior Who brought them out of Egypt and provided for all their needs, God still did not give up on them (Psalm 78).
This is not to say that people are free to live in sin. Not at all! Rather, these stories reveal how loving and longsuffering the Creator is. As David penned in the Psalms, “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made” (Psalm 145:8-9 NIV).
Time and again, God gifts each of us with chances to repent. Even when we do, oftentimes naturally-occurring consequences result from our sins. These are not willingly put upon us (Lamentations 3:32-33), but are a result of God’s righteous anger (Matthew 21:12-13). This righteous anger is a just response of love against sin, because sin always hurts God’s creations.
God’s wrath is not arbitrary, vengeful or self-serving. It’s an expression of love and righteousness. God’s justice system is one we can fully trust.
For Reflection
Connecting: Someone kills another in self-defense. Do they deserve legal mercy? What about a drunk driver convicted of manslaughter? An illegal drug user? A dealer who sold to a minor? Where and how do you draw the line?
Sharing: Sometimes bad things happen to those who love and obey God. Where in the Bible can you find the following causes of calamity?
- An act of Satan
- Result of past personal choices
- Because of the sins of others
- Their “devout” relationships with God are façades
- To be an example to others (hint: see Hosea)
- Other causes:
Applying: When in your life has divine judgment been an act of divine mercy? How can you share this story with someone who is struggling to understand God’s righteous and loving judgment?
Valuing: Read Psalm 78. What does it mean to you?
~ Stefani Leeper
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| January 27, 2025, also known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and death camp.
To mark the anniversary, 86-year-old Auschwitz survivor Tova Friedman made a powerful plea: “I share this story, like many others who do, because we cannot forget all those innocent men, women and children who were slaughtered just because they were Jewish.” As she stated, similar sentiments have been and continue to be voiced by Friedman’s contemporaries, such as survivor Simon Wiesenthal. Wiesenthal dedicated his life to documenting the atrocities of the Holocaust and fought to bring its perpetrators to justice. He knew that the justice he pursued extended far beyond aiding a single race. In a 1980 meeting with President Jimmy Carter, Wiesenthal urged people to keep sharing their personal stories of the Holocaust, warning, “There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive today … they are waiting for us to forget …” Wiesenthal shortly after expanded on that idea in 1983 when speaking with Penthouse Magazine, adding, “For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews. It can also be other people.” Let us remember, no matter what is happening in the world, that humanity has been crafted in God’s likeness, and that we are called to display the love of Christ to all. This is God’s wish for and directive to us. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made. Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Stefani Leeper | Content Coordinator Image copyright: East News/Getty Images, retrieved from CNN |
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