Psalm 7:12–13 (ESV):  12  If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and readied his bow;

 13  he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

Abba,

Your wrath and vengeance surely will be satisfied.
It must be.
Your holiness and perfection demand it.
Your omnipotence insures it.
Justice, your perfect justice makes it inescapable.
And for this, we are immensely glad.For an unjust God would be no God worthy of worship.

And yet…

Christ on the cross displays you imagined another way.
You may well issue for the final blows of judgement.
But you also FIRST initiated an alternative.
An alternative to avoid such an eternally dreaded fate.

You who will deal the final judgment blow
Also received in yourself, in Jesus
Your own divine wrath’s piercing blast.

You will not deal out, what you didn’t first receive.
You will not deal out, what you first did not provide an alternative for.
You will not deal out ONLY wrath and judgment.
You FIRST dealt out mercy and grace.
None will be able to say that your justice was unfair.
None will be able to say that your wrath is too extreme.
It MAY be severe.
But then, so was your grace.
And your grace came first.
You grace provides a way to avoid your wrath.

Jesus, you bore wrath for us,
So that we never have to taste your arrows of judgement.

What a wonder your infinite love and mercy is!
What a wonder is your wrath and judgment!
What a joy that our repentance and faith ensures we will never face it!

Truly, Abba, there is NONE so great and wondrous as you!