Q&A Home > W > Wrath There must be a deeper meaning to the Lord's flipping over of the tables driving the people out of His house and beating them with whips. Otherwise "the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:20) could be applied to His act. Could Your Grace elaborate? We have to differentiate between the wrath of man and the wrath of God. There are two kinds of wrath: one is wrong and is considered a straight-out sin. This is manifested in the form of anger, or loud voice etc. The other kind is what we call a holy or rightful wrath or indignation. This is the kind our Lord had shown when He drove the merchants out of the temple. The Holy Bible mentions many examples of God's wrath such as when the people of Israel worshipped the golden calf and God wanted to destroy them, but Moses interceded for them (Ex 32:7-14). God's wrath was on Korah, Dathan and Abiram so He caused the ground to split apart under them and swallowed them (Num 16:31).
St. Paul says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18) and "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph 5:6). The wrath of God also can be thought of as a punishment to the sinners.
When the disciples saw the Lord overturning the tables and driving the merchants out of the temple, the first thing that came to their mind was "Then His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up'" (John 2:17). They immediately recognized that this had not been anger per se but zeal and love for the house of God.
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