God's Identity - Not Retribution

God's Identity Is Not Retribution

God(F,S,S)'s Identity is Healing and Restoration - Not Retribution.

Jesus is our Mercy Seat, NOT a propitiation - PDF - the unbiblical English word that may be in your translated Bible

In Psalm 37:38, we read that “the future of the wicked will be cut off.” When viewed through a consistent biblical pattern, we see that God’s “cutting off” is not the annihilation of the person, but the amputation of wickedness itself. Through the fire of pruning, discipline, and judgment, God produces righteousness by removing everything false until only what is true remains.

In Matthew 7:21, when Jesus says, "Depart from me, for I never knew you," is He suggesting a divine "blind spot" or a religiously required ignorance? Such an idea contradicts the very nature of an omniscient God. Instead, we must distinguish between God’s omniscience (knowing all knowledge) and His relational acknowledgment (legitimizing what is true). Jesus is not claiming ignorance of the person; He is refusing to legitimize a false presentation. He is saying: "This fake version of you—this mask of performance—I will not acknowledge. It has no reality in Me, and therefore, it will be refined and destroyed."

"I never knew you" means something deeper than a lack of knowledge or familiarity. It's a recognition of what cannot exist in relationship with&in the relationship of God(F,S,S). God created and desires for all of God's sons and daughters to live relationally with God. It is not the created child of God that Jesus is rebuking. It is the fake version the person has embraced that Jesus is refusing to acknowledge or have a relationship with. Some will use the "God is too Holy" for God to be in the presense of sin. This statement is religious poppycock. Our sin is not more powerful than God's presence (F,S,S). Our sin in is not God's kryptonite. There is no separation of God from us, only our perspective of alienation from our end. The F,S,S do not do abandonment. There is nowhere we can go to escape God's presence. In saying, "depart from me for I never knew you," Jesus is refusing to legitimize a false identity or a mask of righteousness. Jesus is identifying the lies and delusions for destruction so that only what is "of God" remains. God desires healing and restoration, NOT retribution.

God is the Great Physician; God's "wrath" is God's refusal to let us stay sick.

When God "destroys" the wicked, He is destroying the sickness of wickedness. Retribution seeks an empty balance through a scale of pain; Restoration seeks to make the person whole. A doctor doesn't "punish" a cancer; he destroys it to save the life.

God is described as "Light" (1 John 1:5) and a "Consuming Fire" (Hebrews 12:29).

When the Light of God hits a lie, the lie vanishes. This feels like "destruction" to the person who is hiding behind the lie, but it is actually the first step of healing. You cannot heal a wound that you refuse to expose to the light. God’s "wrath" is the relentless persistence of God's Light

On the Cross, The F,S,S does not demand an "eye for an eye" from us. Instead, He absorbs humanity's violence and returns it as forgiveness.

If the Cross is the ultimate revelation of God(F,S,S)’s character, the relationship of God is non-retributive. God does not "pay back" evil with retribution. God overcomes evil with good (Romans 12:21). Jesus is our Mercy Seat, not a propitiation. Any passage about "destruction" is more accurately understood through the lens of a God who would rather die than seek retribution.

The New Testament consistently uses paideia or kolasis (which originally meant "pruning" a tree to help it grow) when describing God’s discipline. God’s "punishment" is pruning. You cut off the dead branches (the "wicked" parts of the self) so that the life of the tree can flourish. Retribution cuts down the tree; Restoration prunes it.

If wickedness were allowed to exist forever, the universe would never be fully healed.

Psalm 37:38 is a promise of restoration. By "cutting off" the future of the wicked, God is guaranteeing that a day is coming where "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). God(F,S,S) isn't destroying people; The F,S,S are destroying that which alienates and harms people.

The Father’s Response

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is the ultimate "anti-retribution" story.

The son deserved a "cut off" future. He had squandered the inheritance and shamed his family and Father. A retributive father would have demanded repayment or kept him as a slave, someone as less than his son.

The Father ignores the "legal" requirements of retribution and immediately moves to restoration (the robe, the ring, the feast). The "wickedness" of the son was "destroyed" not by payback (punishment in a retributive sense) or any other form of ritual sacrifice, but by the overwhelming embrace of the Father (the🔥of God!). The Father's anger did not need to be appeased because the Father wasn't angry. The Father desired instead for his Son to be restored. The "old self" of the son died in the far country, and a "new self" was restored by the embrace of his Father, who RAN, not walked, to remind the Son who he was in his Father's heart and mind!

What a beautiful parable Jesus gave us to help us understand who the relationship of God(F,S,S) is and that our detiny is to participate in this very relationship that birthed us by the purpose of an almighty God

The F,S,S desire healing, not retribution. God(F,S,S) nature is Healing & Restoration

Sin (missing the mark) is a self-induced deficiency, a self-inflicted wound or a parasitic lie or delusion that creates our alienation from God.
Wrath is the F,S,S’s fierce opposition to that which hurts God's children.
Destruction is the "salting by fire" that burns away the dross of the false self.
Judgment is the moment the Great Physician says, "This cancer has no future in you; it ends today."

Psalm 37:38 is a verse of hope: The "wickedness" that plagues our world and our own hearts has no future. It is destined for the scrap heap of history, while the person God created is destined for the "abundance of peace" (Psalm 37:11).

The passages below address judgment/wrath. They are understood as purification, pruning, smelting, testing, and healing—language that fits the reading of Psalm 37:38 as “no future for wickedness,” a dross-burning work of God.

Refining fire/smelting away dross

Malachi 3:2–3 — “He is like a refiner’s fire… he will purify… and refine them like gold and silver.”
Isaiah 1:25–27 — “I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross… Zion shall be redeemed by justice.”
Zechariah 13:9 — “I will bring them through the fire, refine them… They will call upon my name.”
Psalm 66:10–12 — “You, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried… yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”

Testing fire that burns up “works,” not the person

1 Corinthians 3:13–15 — “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire… If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved.”
- This is one of the clearest “dross vs. person” texts: loss/purging, yet the person remains.
1 Peter 1:6–7 — Trials are “tested by fire” so faith is refined “more precious than gold.”
James 1:2–4 — Testing produces steadfastness “that you may be perfect and complete.”

Pruning/purging imagery (removing what is false so fruit can remain)

John 15:1–2 — “Every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”
- Divine cutting is aimed at increased life, not mere destruction.
Hebrews 12:5–11, 29 — God disciplines “for our good, that we may share his holiness… Our God is a consuming fire.”
- “Consuming fire” sits inside a fatherly discipline passage: fire as holiness-making.

“Salted with fire” (purifying-preserving judgment)

Mark 9:49 — “Everyone will be salted with fire.”
- Salt preserves; fire purifies—often read as universal purgation of corruption.

Wrath/judgment as corrective, not endless rejection

Isaiah 26:9 — “When your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.”
- Judgment produces moral learning, implying refinement.
Lamentations 3:31–33 — “He will not cast off forever… though he cause grief, he will have compassion… he does not willingly afflict.”
- Affliction has an end and a purpose.
Micah 7:8–9 — “I will bear the indignation of the LORD… until he pleads my cause… He will bring me out to the light.”
- Indignation leads to vindication/light.

God’s anger “for a moment,” mercy enduring ("wrath" serving restoration)

Psalm 30:5 — “His anger is but for a moment… weeping may tarry… joy comes.”
Isaiah 54:7–10 — “For a brief moment I deserted you… with great compassion I will gather you… My steadfast love shall not depart.”
Hosea 6:1–2 — “He has torn us, that he may heal us… after two days he will revive us.”
- “Tearing” is not the last word; healing is.

The “day of the Lord” as purging of evil/arrogance

Isaiah 2:10–12, 17 — The day of the LORD humbles “the lofty,” bringing human pride down.
- The target is pride/arrogance—a false elevation—so truth can stand.
Zephaniah 3:8–9 — After judgment, “I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD.”
- Notably: judgment → purified lips → worship.

God’s end-goal: removal of evil, reconciliation of creation

Colossians 1:19–20 — God will “reconcile all things… making peace by the blood of his cross.”
1 Corinthians 15:22–28 — The telos is “God all in all,” after all opposing powers are put down.
- Opposition is abolished; God’s life fills all.
Revelation 21:4–5, 27 — God makes “all things new,” and nothing unclean enters the city.
- This pairs well with “no future for wickedness”: the New Jerusalem is a realm where falsehood cannot remain.

RestoreTheWay.org