Wrath in the dictionary means strong vengeful anger or indignation [anger aroused by something unjust]; retributory punishment for an offense or a crime : divine chastisement
The doctrine of the wrath of God has fallen on hard times.
In today’s world, any concept of God’s wrath upsets our modern sentiments, we say it’s very uncomfortable, too intolerant, no grace.
We live in a day where we have set ourselves as the judge and God’s character is on trial.
“How can hell be just?” “Why would God command the Israelites to destroy the Canaanites?” “Why does God always seem so angry?”
The fact that so many people struggle with these questions, and more like them, means that more than ever right thinking is needed about the doctrine of God’s wrath.
It is needed to motivate the Christian for holy living, to guide us for proper worship, and as a weapon to confront objections to Christianity.
The wrath of God is “His steady, unrelenting, unremitting, uncompromising antagonism to evil in all its forms and manifestations.”
The wrath of God is not like our anger as His wrath is based on His character of love and just.
The wrath of God is provoked, it’s not something that naturally resides in Him, it is His response to evil.
God’s wrath is for sinners, us!
At the core of the human problem is that we are all sinners and the divine wrath hangs over us unless and until it is taken away.
Eph 2:3
Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Eph 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),
5 Biblical Truths About The Wrath Of God:
1. GOD’S WRATH IS JUST.
It has become common for many to argue that the God of the Old Testament is a moral monster that is by no means worthy of worship.
Rom 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”
God’s wrath, then, is in proportion to human sinfulness.
“God’s Wrath Is His Love In Action Against Sin.”
2. GOD’S WRATH IS TO BE FEARED.
God’s wrath is to be feared because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).
God’s wrath is to be feared because we are justly condemned sinners apart from Christ (Romans 5:1).
God’s wrath is to be feared because God promises eternal punishment apart from Christ (Matthew 25:46).
3. GOD’S WRATH IS CONSISTENT IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.
It is common to think of the Old Testament God as mean, harsh, and wrath-filled, and the God of the New Testament as kind, patient, and loving.
Neither of these portraits are representative of Scripture’s teaching on the wrath of God.
We find immensely fearful descriptions of the wrath of God in both the Old and the New Testament.
“God Must Act Justly And Judge Sin, Otherwise God Would Not Be God.”
Jeremiah 30:23
Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
Nahum 1:2
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
Romans 1:18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Revelation 19:15
From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
4. God’s wrath is His love in action against sin.
5. God’s wrath is satisfied in Christ.
1 Tim1:15
“In saving us from his own wrath, God has done what we could not do, and he has done what we didn’t deserve.”
Here we have the ultimate good news: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
Because of Christ, God can rightly call sinners justified (Romans 3:26).
From a song we sang before:
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain!
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Charles Wesley