It is certainly a good thing to recognize that God is all about love, that even though He has designed this world to bring all the misery that there is in this age for now, but no matter how much one has suffered it will not compare to the weight of glory that will be brought about in every single human being eventually. Man's idea of God's righteousness and justice is an eternity in burning fire... where as God's plan will bring every human to a glorious state of being in perfection that will never end.
But in order to get to that being perfect we have all these things that happening in this world first, so we have vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor (2Tim 2:20). Yes God will judges the intent of the heart and knows exactly the reason a person does what they do... speaking specifically about those "vessels of dishonor" there is no doubt a vast range and degrees of wickedness and God knows that precisely. Even our courts recognize there is a difference in manslaughter and murder, think how much greater God's perception of the intent of the heart is.
I think God puts warnings in Scripture, because He knows it's unavoidable, so it's more as a way to express what will come, and He gives many warnings about His wrath to come.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.
Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
v. 34 "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.
v. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
v. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Zep 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger.
Consider that there have been rulers that have ordered the deaths of so numerous amount of people for the sheer entertainment of it! Do you think those people that died brutal deaths at their hands will consider it justice for them to just understand the reality of what they did? Make no mistake everybody will give account before our perfect God, before whom we all stand naked, as He sees the very depth of the intentions of our hearts. The Scripture states numerous times that God will pour out His wrath/anger on the wicked, "vessels of dishonor."
Heb 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
2Cor 5:10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless. (ISV)
Rom 2:5 But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
v. 6 For He will repay everyone according to what that person has done:
v. 7 eternal life to those who strive for glory, honor, and immortality by patiently doing good;
v. 8 but wrath and fury for those who in their selfish pride refuse to believe the truth and practice wickedness instead. (ISV)
Nah 1:2 God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;
v. 3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet.
But God does not act in irrational anger as man does, He will give each person exactly what is needed to redeem them from their wretched state of being. Not even those that have mistaken evil for good (Hitler must have thought what he was doing was good, from his perspective anyway), but they will not escape judgment for their atrocious acts. But I do not think for a second that God will bring bodily injury in His wrath, as in beatings or such. "Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations" (Rev 19:15), that is not physical, it's spiritual... "He is the truth" (John 14:6) and His truth will be upheld in the next age. Though the world is blind now, each holding to his own idea of what truth is, when Christ returns it will be declared from a very visible God and nobody can claim ignorance of the truth then.
I've wondered about those rulers who inflicted so much suffering on so many people, how could they possibly repay for all that? Well what if God made them a slave to the very people they tortured and killed, becoming the lowest of the low in the next age, maybe another aspect of "the last shall be first, and the first last" kind of thing. Think how humiliating that would be to them, to actually serve the people they looked down on as nothing before.
I believe it will be a process just as it is with us, but with some who have developed such a great disregard, over their lifetime, for the lives of fellow human beings, it may take many many years. But our God has always been longsuffering with us and eventually through the judgments even the most twisted mind will be corrected, healed and brought to a genuine repentance, so they can learn righteousness. Whatever God's judgments will be for this world I think we all will be totally amazed at His perfect righteousness and justice in carrying them out.
mercy, peace and love
Kat