Does God have a cruel side?

Let us allow God to answer as to his character.

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation" (Ex. 34:6-7 NIV).

Here we see a God who could not be cruel. On the one hand, he is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, and faithful. He forgives wickedness, rebellion, and sin.

On the other hand, what some may call cruel, is that he punishes people for sin. In reality, this is not cruel at all, it is called justice. God loves us and wants us to enter into a relationship with him, but our sin separates us from him.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation (Rom. 5:9-11 NIV).

Here we see that God's justice is made perfect in Jesus Christ. Since we have all sinned and, as a result, become enemies with God, we were subjects of God's wrath. But God, not being cruel, showed his love by reconciling our relationship with him through the death of Jesus, his Son.

God has extended his hand to us to be united with us. We have the opportunity to receive his gift to us and be saved. If we chose not to receive it, we have chosen to receive his wrath instead.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Pet. 1:3 NIV).