God Isn't Mad At Us

Just in time for Easter, God gave me the simplest and sweetest revelation last night. I was visiting my dad's church and we were singing the song "Freely We Can Come to the Lord our God." The lyrics say "Freely we can come to the Lord our God, FOR HIS ANGER WAS SPENT ON HIS ONLY SON that freely we could come to the Lord."
I've been singing that song since I was a little girl, but I never "got it" until last night - God took out all of His anger for all the nasty things we've ever done, or ever will do, on Jesus...so that you and I can still freely come before Him without any condemnation.
I've never been one to struggle with the idea of God being mad at me, but I know a lot of people who do. Maybe you do. Perhaps you think, "God is so upset with me; that's why He's not speaking to me right now. I don't blame Him - how could He ever forgive someone like me? He's mad at me. He doesn't want to talk to me."
That thinking couldn't be more wrong. I've always known this, but I've never known why. I'd always just tell people, "No way, God's not mad at you."
"Well, why not? He got mad at the Israelites. He got mad at lots of people in the Bible - wiped out entire nations!"
"Yeah, but he's not mad. He's God. He's just not like that." But I never had a solid reason why. Now I do.
The reason that God isn't mad is because He took out all of his anger on Jesus.
Have you ever been so mad at someone that you just wanted to break something, or someone?!!? I have. I've gotten so mad that I'd love nothing more than to punch holes in every one of my walls, break glass things in the street, and kick things HARD. I think God used to get mad like that back in the day. That's why he wiped out places like Soddom and Gomorrah. But when Jesus died, God took out all of that on him. That would be like someone who has never done anything wrong, who is always just and fair and holy, getting so fed up with the ones they loved more than anything being rebellious that they found an innocent puppy (in this case, a lamb) and took out all of their fury on that innocent being - but not only past furies...future furies, too. Then from that day on, God's wrath was appeased. Jesus took the wrath for not only everything we've done, but everything we're going to do. God's not mad at us anymore. He never will be again.
Here's the additional revelation I had today - After dying for everything we've ever done or will do wrong, Jesus rose from the dead. O Grave, where is your victory?!! Even every sin of the world wasn't enough to keep Him down - Love truly did conquer all.
So the next time you feel condemned, like you can't come to God because He's so upset with you, just remember that God's anger has already been spent on Jesus. He's not mad at us.