I don’t want people to try to find shelter in a false God of their own making: a God who is gentle and lowly and nothing else. God is everything He says He is. And He has given His only Son to save sinners from His righteous wrath.

It has been rightly highlighted in the last few years that Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart. One of my favorite books, Richard Sibbes’ The Bruised Reed, discusses God’s compassion towards the weak and frail. Especially in the Reformed world, we sometimes need to be shaken to remember these beautiful truths about our God. And yet, I’m afraid that an overcorrection is all too common. What is meant to be an encouragement to see God rightly actually becomes a means to paint a caricature that misrepresents God. Is Jesus gentle and lowly in heart? Yes! (See Matthew 11:29). But is He only gentle and lowly? Absolutely not. Jesus is gentle and lowly and full of wrath.

Understood correctly, Christ’s assertion that He is gentle and lowly provides comfort to the weak and despairing Christian. It assures the sinner that Christ is a safe place to run in order to be saved. But misunderstood, it romanticizes and emasculates Jesus of His Kingly authority. Don’t be deceived. Christ Jesus welcomes all who are weary and heavy laden to find rest in Him, but this same Jesus says, “the Father… has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). This same Lamb that is slain for the sins of His people, is the One from whom men hide their faces in terror as they are confronted with, “the wrath of the Lamb” (Rev 6:16).

Read More