Then Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.”
Jehu’s words were stinging, as was most often the case with the Lord’s prophets. Jehoshaphat was rebuked for aligning himself with King Ahab, a very wicked king and an enemy of God.
Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. What does this mean? How should we understand this? God is Love, the very definition of the word. “For God so loved the world…” So loved. God’s love is as fierce as it is faithful. The wrath of God is ultimately an expression of His love. We usually think of God’s wrath as being His righteous response to sin and wickedness. And indeed it is. He hates sin, but He hates it because it destroys us. Just as a parent would hate the drugs to which his son or daughter has become addicted, God hates the sinful addiction that we display in so many ways because it is so destructive; it separates us from a fiercely-loving, faithful God.
