God is a God of_________

Is God a God of love or is He an angry God? First and foremost let me say that I write this in fear and trembling since I do not want to be guilty of violating the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Commandments. It is so vital, so incredibly important that we have a solid, biblically based, understanding of who God is that this will take several posts to even begin to understand Him as He has revealed Himself through His Word.
Why start with this particular aspect? Because it is the most prevelant misrepresentation of God that has entrenched itself into the minds of believers and unbelievers alike. An understanding of the character and nature of God underpins all that comes after it. All that we do, all that we say, the very way that we view ourselves all flows from a good and properly balanced view of how we see God. Is He highly exalted, lifted up and glorious in all that He does, being perfect in His Holiness, Righteousness and Justice? Or, is He treated as something less? Specifically, in this post, we are going to talk about God being a God of love or is He an angry, jealous God who hates people.
Really, the answer is both. God is a God of love and He is a God who is angry and hates, not just iniquity, but rather, those who are those who are workers of iniquity. By His nature God is Holy. He does not seperate sin from sinner as is the popular but wholly unbiblical view in some evangelical and mainstream teaching. Psalm 7:11 "God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day." That word, "indignation" in the Hebrew means: abhor, to be enraged, to be indignant. Already we see a different view than what is currently accepted as the false image being fed to conregations and the public. God is an angry God. He is a "righteous judge" who is angry. He is angry over the sins of His people, His creatures whom He made in His image. But, not just the sins, He has hatred for those who commit sin as well. Psalm 5:11 "The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all those who do iniquity." Hatred of the those who sin against God by God is something you almost never hear expounded upon from the pulpit and yet is as much a part of God's Perfection as love is. Teach the love of God and never mention His hatred of those who work iniquity and almost nobody would say anything by way of reproof. Talk about the hatred of God toward the sinner and I would dare say prepare to be lambasted, yet both of these are aspects of God's character and nature. This barely scratches the surface of the topic but there will be more as we talk about God's love in the next post and then, hopefully, by the third post we will have tied all of this together to give more of a balanced view of God although anything that is said or written could never, ever hope to give us a full and complete understanding of Him whose ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts.