Jamin Bradley

There’s a striking line in a popular worship song from 2001 that declares, “On that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” This, of course, presents a rather disturbing perspective of God that would especially stand out to anyone who has suffered from child abuse. 

The Father watched his Son be brutally murdered and was satisfied by the event? Something is wrong here.

What the writers of this song specifically meant to indicate, I don’t know. It’s a statement that’s blending a few passages in Scripture, but wording them in a very unfortunate way. And because the melody sticks with us, so does the faulty theology ingrain itself in our minds in the form of an ear-worm. 

The world is filled with horrible injustice, so it is right and good that a loving God should sometimes be angry—though from a human perspective he is known to be notoriously slow to anger, thank God. And the way in which he often deals with his anger is by turning us over to the weight of our sin, which is an action that Scripture often labels as his wrath. 

In this sense, God’s wrath is somewhat his absence. We are removed from his realm to the realm of sin, pain, death, and the corrupt entities that rule over it. Even in such a space, there is the hope that the weight of our sin will drive us back closer to God—a dynamic that many in recovery know well. 

It is in this theological narrative that the bittersweet story of the cross takes place: that God loves us so much, that he was willing not only to enter the realm of humans, but to enter into the realm of God’s wrath, too. As a perfect being not worthy of the wrath of death, he was able to overthrow death itself to provide a way for us to get out and find life in and through him. 

Surely there was never a sadder day in Heaven. Surely the Father had never been so grieved. Surely he had never cried more than that moment. Surely “satisfied” was not the word that captured such a dark, demonic event. Not only had his Son died, but he was the only sinless human not worthy of death. And yet the love of Jesus was so strong for us that he would be willing to enter our wrath and take it upon himself so that we might escape it too. 

Want to go deeper on this topic? Check out this Bible Project episode.