Rebecca Brown Posts

The Wrath of God

“THE WRATH OF GOD”

Why teach only one side of the truth: This message is about the wrath or anger of God as shown to us in the Bible for the punishment of sin both to all lukewarm, lazy, apathetic Christians and unrepentant sinners. This is something most preachers don't want to preach and Christians don't want to hear. Evangelical preachers always emphasize one side of the character of God, his love. So, John 3:16 has become the slogan of Christian preaching and teaching: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” While this is the center of the gospel message that God is love, God is also a God of justice.

Early in the Bible, God told us this: “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming: The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7) We can't just preach or teach half of the truth about God. We need to preach and teach all the truth about God: God is both love and justice.

The other half of the truth: “My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when he punishes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” (Hebrews 12:5-6) Many thousands of years have passed since the Exodus time, yet God continues to show us his love. Here, God shows his love by punishing us with discipline. Both are ways God shows us he loves us. We all know that being parents, we can't just blindly love our children without disciplining them when they have done wrong. Both love and discipline are means parents use to help children grow the right way. We do this by following the example of how God loves us.

GOD'S WRATH IN THE BIBLE: In both the Old and the New Testaments, multiple records show us that God is both loving and just in dealing with the sins of men.

God's punishments in the Old Testament:  God punished Adam and Eve by driving them out of the Garden of Eden after they violated God's command. (Genesis 3:24)
God punished Cain after he murdered his brother Abel by putting him under a curse, driving him out of the land to become a restless drifter, and making the land not produce crops for him. (Genesis 4:11-12)

God punished evil in Noah's time: “The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” (Genesis 6:5-6) These are the words recorded in the Bible why God wiped out the population of the earth with the flood, saving only the family of Noah.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah: In Genesis 18, God informed his servant Abraham of his plans to destroy those two wicked cities. Abraham pleaded with God to save the population of those two cities. He begged God not to do it if there were 50 good people in them. He changed the numbers 5 times to 10 good people, and God agreed not to destroy them if there were 10 good people, but there weren't 10 good people in those 2 cities. (Gen 18:20-33)

God punished Egyptian Pharaoh: In the Exodus story from chapters 7-12, God gave Pharaoh many opportunities to repent but he refused until God punished all of Egypt by killing all their first born, including the eldest son of Pharaoh. Then the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt. I have more to list here but why do I need to do that to make the point?

God's punishments in the New Testament:  Jesus pronounced woes on the Pharisees: In Matthew 23:13-36, our Lord pronounced woes on the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in their teaching and ceremonies and for their wicked lifestyle. “Woes” are painful life experiences God inflicts on evil doers.

Jesus warned of judgment on Jerusalem: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:2-3) Jesus wanted them to repent or face imminent judgment from God.

God punished the cheater couple: In Acts 5:1-11, the Bible records one of the vivid punishments God exacts on evil doers. When Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, cheated the Holy Spirit and the apostles by their scheme in giving, God didn't allow them to live. Some may ask if that is fair when people are not honest in their giving, but God had a purpose to set a standard in the early church that no one may cheat God and his church in their giving.

Paul warned of God's judgment: Both in Romans 9:22 and Colossians 3:5-6, Paul announced God's wrath and judgment on those who willfully do not believe in God and do evil.

God's final judgment on evil: In the last book of the Bible, Revelation, God pronounced that his wrath will be poured on Satan and all his followers, evil doers and all who do not repent of their sins. (Rev 16-19)

THE CAUSES OF GOD'S WRATH: (Romans 1:19-32) This is only a simple or panoramic description of God's wrath. God’s wrath will pour out on people based on their sins.  Their rejection of God's revelation: “... since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been created so that men are without excuse.” (1:19-20)

This is the first reason God will judge men: their willful rejection of God's revelation. God will judge all those who don't care about God because God made it clear for man to know him, but man willfully rejected knowing God. Most of these people don't want to know God because they don't want to follow God.

Their sinful nature on the inside: (1:23-25) In this passage, Paul details the sinful nature of man on his inside. This includes people’s pride, their impurity, and their worshiping of idols. In ancient times, idols might have been man-made images of things, but today’s idols include sinful desires and pursuits of evil intentions.

Their sinful actions on the outside: (1: 26-27) In these two verses, God has clear commands about the sin of obsession in homosexual relationships. This sin of homosexual acts is almost universal since the beginning of human history, just like the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. No matter what man may think or what godless governments may declare, homosexual acts are sinful and evil and against the nature of sexes that God created.

Their sinful actions against others: (1:28-32) This part covers the sins of men against each other, family, friends and society at large. When man makes himself as the lord of his own life, he will follow his sinful heart to do things that he thinks will benefit his own life, regardless of all the injury he may cause others. Freedom of man, if not under the righteous control of God, can be deadly and vicious to others and to society. For this, God will pour out his wrath and judgment on man without a doubt.

Build a strong conviction: And the conviction is that God will judge the ungodly and the unrighteous, and no one can escape from this judgment. This is the most serious step we all need to take. Never ever think you are exceptional and God may not judge you.

Don't try your luck: It won't work. We all have to face God someday and give him an account of our life, good or bad.

Take a serious look on the inside: No one can run away from God or hide where God cannot see. Instead, it is much better to be honest and see your inside. Do a self-examination, compare it to this part of the Bible, and find out what is wrong, bad and evil really is there. Even King David asked God to help him take a serious look at his life to see if there are any offenses. (Psalm 139:23-24) Never allow evil to stay in your heart because it can only drag you farther away from God.  Prepare a checklist and jot down things you have done wrong.

Make an immediate U-turn: This starts with a confession of sins and asking for forgiveness from God. No confession, no forgiveness of sin. That is simple. No one will continue to drive when he realizes he is going in the wrong direction. Why would you continue the path of sin when you know it’s wrong and the wrath of God is waiting for you? God will not be mock or ridiculed. His Word is Just and Justified against all sinners who continue along the path most Christians want to follow. LIVING FOR THE WORLDLY WAYS!