WRATH OF GOD
INTRODUCTION
Scripture tells us: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold (suppress) the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18); a warning that is not to be treated lightly.
It was noted that the wrath mentioned is not the revelation of a future judgment of God but a present revelation that parallels the present revelation of God's righteousness. Ungodliness is failure in the religious realm; unrighteousness is failure in the moral realm.
Wrath of God
Wickedness of Man
God's wrath is mentioned numerous times in His Word; including the total destruction in the pre-Flood days of Noah, and Sodom and Gomorrah. Apostle Peter wrote: God spared not the old world but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow (destruction), making them an example to those that after (afterward) should live ungodly (2 Peter 2:5-6).
Scripture records the wickedness of man prior to the flood: And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (all the day). And it repented the Lord that he had made man in the earth, and it grieved him at his heart (Genesis 6:5-6).
And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh (except Noah and those in the ark of safety) is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth (Genesis 6:13).
Guilt of Mankind
The guilt of mankind is mentioned many times in God's Word; in one such instance noted by Apostle Paul: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change (exchange) the natural use into (for) that which is against nature; and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly (shameful), and receiving in themselves that recompense (penalty) of their error which was meet (due).
And as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate (debased) mind, to do those things which are not convenient (fitting) (Romans 1:26-28). Who knowing the Judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure (approve) in them that do them (Romans 1:32).
The wrath of God towards the sinfulness of man is documented in God's Word; even though many nations are giving free-reign to commit such atrocious acts with laws and rulings to accommodate the ungodliness of man.
Be Not Partakers
with Them
The Apostle Paul wrote: For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain (empty) words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children (sons) of disobedience. Be not you therefore partakers with them (Ephesians 5:5-7).
Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove (expose) them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret (Ephesians 5:11-12). It was noted that it is shameful even to discuss such iniquities in decent company; how much worse is committing those sins?
Man has, rather than condemn such actions, given way to embracing ungodliness. The promulgation of the wrath of God against such has been depreciated by the church; with tolerance and compromise now emphasized rather than the Word of God to expose sinful activity.
Serve God with
Reverence and Godly Fear
The wrath of God use to be ministered; along with His love and mercy, but a more secular nature is coming into existence. Scripture reveals: Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved (shaken), let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Apostle John revealed: He that believes the Son (the Lord Jesus Christ) has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides (remains) on him (John 3:36).
Apostle Paul noted: But to them that are contentious (self-seeking), and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness; indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; for there is no respect of persons with God (Romans 2:8-11).
Great Tribulation
Apostle John further noted: The angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:19). It was noted that the sickle depicts judgment and the vine of the earth the unbelievers of the earth.
And I (John) heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth (Revelation 16:1). It was noted that the vials of God represent the climax of God's punishment on the ungodly during the Great Tribulation period coming on the earth. The Prophet Daniel revealed: There will be a time of
distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time (Daniel 12:1).
Sinners in the Hands
of An Angry God
Jonathan Edwards sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God" contained these words: Consider the fearful danger that you are in: You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder.
You have no interest in any mediator (Jesus Christ), and nothing to hold on to save yourself, nothing to keep away the flames of wrath. Those words still ring loud and clear today, to endangered souls who are about to descend into eternity without benefit of a Savior, due to a hardened and unrepentant heart.
Those words still ring loud and clear today towards endangered souls who are about to descend into eternity without the benefit of a Savior (the Lord Jesus Christ), unless repentance comes prior to Judgment Day!
Responsibility to
Proclaim God's Word
Scripture reveals the responsibility given to promulgate God's Word: The word of the Lord came to me (Ezekiel), Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, you shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
Yet if you warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul (Ezekiel 3:17-19). Not only was Ezekiel to receive God's Word but also to deliver it faithfully as directed. Sometimes it takes the harsh reality of the wrath of God being proclaimed to awaken one to the fact that they are entrenched in sin.
A man was asked; if given an hour to explain the Gospel to someone, how would he do so? He said the would spend the first fifty minutes on the bad news of judgment and then the last ten minutes on the good news of salvation, because without the context of judgment one would not appreciate or even understand salvation.
Saved of the Earth
Not Appointed to Wrath
Thank God for His Word towards the repentant in heart; Apostle Paul wrote: But let us, who are of the day (saved in Christ), be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9).
It was noted that in contrast to the wicked, for whom Christ's coming will be an hour of destruction, believers will not face God's wrath, but will be saved; not appointed to wrath, or the agony of the tribulation occurring during the Day of the Lord (previously mentioned).
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