We all hate that whole "fire and brimstone" thing. The "wrath of God" is an old-timey thing that ... just doesn't play well today. Lots of people ... self-professed Christians ... play it down. It's not real. It's not that bad. It's nothing to concern ourselves with. But ... Scripture appears to disagree. What does the Bible say about God and His wrath? Let God be true though every man a liar (Rom 3:4).
Paul wrote Romans to explain the Gospel. "It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes," he wrote, "for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith" (Rom 1:16-17). Good. The righteousness of God. And the very next thing he writes is, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). Here we learn two very important facts. First, the wrath of God is not minor or unreal. It is real. Second, it is tied in with ... His righteousness. God's wrath is right. Keep that at the forefront of your thinking. What else? God refers to His wrath as "my wrath" (Rev 11:18). That is, it's personal. It's His opposition to sin and it's part of His glory. It is certain ... not even death can stop it (Rev 11:18). It is final. That is, once spent, it is ended (Rev 11:15). It is horrible (Rev 11:18-19). Scripture and human language cannot fully express it. It is right (Rev 11:17-18). There is rejoicing in His wrath.
We diminish God's wrath because of our own sympathy for sin. A proper understanding of God's wrath is necessary for a proper understanding of the Gospel. Let's set aside our natural antipathy for God's wrath and embrace the solution, His Son, in Whom we find peace with God (Rom 5:1).
2 comments:
Personally, I never heard any “fire and brimstone” preaching growing up as a Catholic, as we all believed we were Heaven-bound through simple church rites begun during our infancy. As a young adult, though, I did indeed learn through a clear reading of the Bible (starting with a little paperback book explaining the Book of Romans, as it happens) that sinful man has incurred God’s wrath and that, while in my unregenerate state, I was His enemy. This was news to me (as they say)--and it wasn’t happy news. While many do indeed “dance around” this truth and insist the notion is false--even until their dying day--to me it makes much more sense to accept the reality as God proclaims it and receive His solution for the dilemma: forgiveness of sin through belief in the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ on my behalf. Peace with God--why pass that up? Sometimes stubbornness is stupidity.
The Gospel only makes sense in the face of a righteously wrathful God. Otherwise, we are saved from what?
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