God's covenant fidelity

His wrath against Israel does not mean that he banishes Israel from his covenant of love and truth but that he affirms that covenant, negating everything that threatens to dissolve it. God's wrath against Israel does not mean his abandonment either of his eternal purpose or of his covenant promises, but on the contrary is the act of his holy love within the covenant in which he asserts himself as holy and loving creator in the midst of human perversity, in the midst of humanity's refusal of grace. God's wrath is judgement of sin, reprobation of our refusal of God, but as such it is already part of atonement, part of re-creation, for his wrath is in fact his reaffirmation of his creatures in spite of their sin and rebellion. Certainly, it is reaffirmation in judgement against sin, but it is a reaffirmation that the creature belongs to God and that he wills to remain its God. God's wrath insists that we remain his children, that we belong to him body and soul, and it is within that belonging that judgement takes place.—T. F. Torrance, Incarnation: The Person and Life of Christ, 54