Romans 1:18-20
God is a person and like all persons, He has feelings. As Christians when we think of God the first feeling we associate with Him is love. The Bible tells us “God is love.” In his relationship with us, God also experiences sadness, disapproval, and anger. We understand God’s disapproval and anger to be “the wrath of God”. The wrath of God is more than just His feelings of disapproval and anger; it is what he does because of that disapproval and anger. Unlike humans who often act unrighteous when they are angry, all of God’s actions are pure and righteous, motivated by love. When Christians act in a way that God disapproves of, He expresses his disapproval by disciplining us. God’s discipline of his children may seem harsh, but it is never as harsh as the consequences of wickedness. He loves us and wants to help us avoid the destruction of sin.

God’s wrath toward a godless and wicked people takes another form. He is angry with them because they deny his existence even though he has revealed himself through His creation. God has revealed His power and His orderliness in the universe He created. Wicked men have suppressed the truth because they wish to be lords of their own lives. They sow chaos and destruction by all that they do. If God were human, in his anger he would destroy them; He is not, and he does not. (He does sometimes destroy the wicked to protect the righteous.) Instead of crushing the wicked, he withdrawals his presence and his protection from them. He gives them over to their own depravity. He reveals his wrath not by what He does, but by what he does not do. The love of God continues to call wicked men to repentance and salvation, even as his wrath allows them to suffer the consequences of their own sinful unrighteousness.

When humanity denies God, what is the worst thing that can happen? The wrath of God lets them.