The Wrath Of God!

It is the one thing the world should fear most! The thing that the Church should be warning the world of constantly. The thing that makes demons shriek and Satan flee. It once caused the ancient world to implode and the waters of the deep to burst forth like raging tears. It will one day cause the universe to melt and turn to dust at the sound of His sovereign command. It is indescribable and unfathomable and yet terrifyingly inevitable! And it is the one thing we all should seek above all things to avoid.  It is the wrath of Almighty God! And it is coming…it is even right now at the world’s doorstep! 

July 8, 1741 …Enfield, Connecticut …

The great Puritan Pastor Johnathon Edwards has just given his greatest sermon to a congregation of stunned and worried onlookers. His message was called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and it was so powerful that it will be remembered until the end of the Church era as a wake-up call for the ages! 

Edward used an analogy that was as frightening as it was thought-provoking. 

Mankind is condemned and already hanging over Hell with only the mercy of God holding them in a dangling fashion above the Pit. God is fully justified at any moment to let go and send them nosediving into the everlasting torment without any need for further justification. He is only waiting for the right moment to end His mercy and send them reeling downward into their eternal damnation. 

No one knows when that patience of God will run out, but sinners greedily continue rejecting His

mercy while further padding their resumé of iniquity for a lifetime appointment to Hell. This they do as they inch closer and closer to the Pit on what turns out to be an incredibly slippery slope. 

With each passing hour … humanity is ever closer to that final destiny with damnation . And only the saving Grace of Jesus’ work on the Cross stands between them and their condemnation. But … for how long?

The stunned congregation filed out of the Enfield assembly, terrified at what they had just heard. They had been shown a vision they could not erase from their minds . And as should be the case with sinners confronted with the reality of their precarious condition … many repented immediately !

THE FLOOD…

How is it that in our modern times, as the signs of Christ’s return abound, most of the pulpits are silent as to the lateness of the hour and the coming wrath of God?

Where are the Johnathon Edwards of our day…proclaiming the precarious situation of humanity and the imminent judgment about to fall on this Christ-rejecting world? 

Peter warned us of this :

“Knowing  this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue* as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For  this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

Whereby  the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not* ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

-2 Peter 3:3-9

Complacency has set in. Just as it did to those who heard Noah preach for 100 years before the flood waters engulfed the earth. They had heard the message. They had seen Noah’s commitment to his cause and his words through his diligent and painstaking efforts to build an ark for 100 years while there was no rain in sight. Unfortunately … no one heeded his warning except his family and his floating zoo! 

Today, the world is just as deaf to the message of coming judgment that watchers have been proclaiming since Israel’s rebirth in 1948. And worse yet … so is most of the Christian community! 

THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM…

While God’s wrath has only reached the level of global destruction once in the past (the Great Flood), there have been many regional destructions that have taken place due to God’s patience having an expiration date. The captivity of Israel at the hands of Babylon in 605 BC was one such time. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was another. 

The utter devastation of Sodom’s destruction should terrify the world about the power and fierceness of God’s wrath. The city was literally cremated! It went from an ancient metropolis to a smoldering pit within moments. Its inhabitants turned from flesh and blood to vaporized ash with one powerful exhale from God’s nostrils. Their sinful rebellion and animalistic behavior (which defied their Creator and the Angels He sent to their city as a warning ) were dissolved in a mere instant. Just like the Flood, once God’s restraint of His righteous judgment had ended and His patience was finished, the terror of His wrath was too much to allow any of His enemies to survive .  And thus we see perfect illustrations of the meaning of the dreadful warning we see in the Book of Hebrews: 

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31 

JERUSALEM ….70 AD

Jesus himself predicted it!

Just a few days before His crucifixion, when His disciples asked Him what would be the sign of the coming of His long-awaited Messianic Kingdom, Jesus warned them that first, Jerusalem and the awesome Herodian Temple would be ransacked and torn to the ground, and its inhabitants killed and carried away to the nations. 

Now that day had arrived. 

The Roman soldiers, acting as agents of God’s Holy wrath against the city and nation for rejecting His Son and killing Him in 33 AD, burned and destroyed the Holy City and left it leveled; a desolate heap of ruins. 

God had displayed His mighty Justice and wrath against His rebellious nation once again. This time, as He had nearly 700 years earlier with the Babylonian army, God used the Roman army as a human tornado, destroying Israel for disregarding His loving guidance and His gracious offer of salvation. 

They would remain a scattered people, and the land would remain desolate for nearly 1,900 years.

Then on May 14, 1948….. God’s mercy on His Holy people brought forth a miracle! God restored the nation of Israel in one day, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 67:8! And the restoration of His Holy Land to His Holy People pointed to the nearness of the greatest earthly display of God’s Wrath which awaits just on the Horizon. The coming of the Great Tribulation! 

THE WRATH …AND LOVE…OF GOD

No one can fully comprehend the Full fury of God’s wrath. We know of the violent reconfiguration of the earth as His wrath poured out like a global tsunami during the great flood. We know the sheer devastation and terror witnessed as a tornado or hurricane pulverizes a town or coastline city with its mighty swirling winds and waves … but these are just glimpses at the awesome power God could wield when His wrath is fully unleashed. The One who created the powerful sun with its incredible heat and who formed the entire cosmos out of nothing has incredible power we cannot even begin to grasp. How horrifying it would be to become the enemies targeted by His wrath is something we cannot even begin to grasp . 

We know this! When Jesus entered the presence of demons who were indwelling certain inhabitants of Israel, the demons shrieked in fear. They knew the power of the Son of God when He approached them! They had gleefully tormented and terrified the people of Israel for years, but when they saw Jesus, they screamed in fear, knowing their ultimate doom and fearing He would banish them to the ABYSS!  His power and authority over them were obvious. The Demons were helpless just as the waves and wind are when Jesus commands them to be calm. Just as disease is when He orders it to leave. They are all defenseless against the power of Jesus Christ. And when His wrath is unleashed… all creation is equally helpless. 

We also know the demons are not the only beings who should be fearful. There is a Hell that has been created for those who have declined God’s gracious love and chosen to ignore his offer of salvation through His precious Son. God the Father loves the Son (Jesus Christ) and planned the entire layout of history in such a way as to glorify His beloved Son. He allows sin temporarily because the redemption from sin of the fallen world will populate Heaven with an abundance of humbled, grateful, adoring redeemed sinners who will honor and worship the Son eternally for His amazing sacrifice on the Cross and atonement on their behalf ! Jesus will be glorified by the redeemed forever, and their praise for Christ will be music in God’s ears! 

But for those who reject the Son… the wrath of God and the chains of Hell await! It will be a lonely and sad place with no hope and no satisfaction. No joy and no peace. Only misery and helplessness will be present, and God will no longer be merciful. They rejected His mercy in life and now will pay the full sentence for their sin with no way to ever pay off their debt. 

His wrath will be just … and unbearable ! 

THE TRIBULATION

While the eternal kingdom of Christ is the ultimate destiny of History, there is still an earthly kingdom owed to the Son of God and a throne in Jerusalem that is empty and awaiting His return to reign over this planet for 1,000 years. It’s called the millennial reign, and it is the fulfillment of all the earthly promises that God gave the ancient Jews throughout the Old Testament!

Jesus deserves all eternal Glory as God the Son and as the redeemer of creation. But, He also deserves earthly glory during this temporary period called “Time” (when sin is allowed to exist) because He came and took the humility of the Cross upon Himself to reclaim the lost planet and its inhabitants. He endured the shame of the crucifixion and carried the weight of the sin of all mankind on His shoulders in this “Time” era, so He also will get His conquering glory and earthly throne (where He will be praised from the world) during this span we know as “Time”! 

But before Jesus returns as king of the world, an imposter will try to claim the throne of the world and proclaim himself to be God. That person is the Antichrist, and he comes forth during the final seven years before Christ returns as conquering King. Those seven years will be a literal Hell on Earth, and Revelation calls it “The Wrath of the Lamb”.

“Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”- Revelation 6:15-17

The reason for this seven-year time of earthly wrath is to punish and judge the nations for rejecting God’s Son, and also to refine Israel and bring them to Salvation and prepare them for their conquering Jewish King to come and save them. Israel rejected Jesus at His incarnation … but they will cry out to Him during the Tribulation as their only Hope. 

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.  For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” -Matthew 23:37- 39

God’s intense wrath during the Tribulation will bring the most devastating natural disasters, deception, wars, diseases, and cosmic conditions the world has ever seen. And all the evil of the demonic realm will be set loose to orchestrate the hellish conditions Satan will use to control the whole world through his wicked king (The Antichrist). It may seem Satan is finally getting his way, but it will merely be God’s divine Sovereignty controlling the predetermined end-time events by releasing His wrath against those who have rejected Him. The Antichrist and his all-controlling technocracy will be part of God’s judgment and wrath! 

CONCLUSION

Two thousand years before Jesus’ incarnation, the world was given a family that would bring forth the Savior of the world. That family was given the Law and the Sacrificial system and the Prophets who wrote down God’s Word, revealing the exact details of who the Messiah would be. Everything given to Israel pointed to their coming Messiah, who would be the one and only Savior for this lost world!  When Jesus arrived , He fulfilled all the qualifications foretold about the Savior . 

For the past 2000 years, we have been experiencing the Grace Age, whereby anyone can freely come to Jesus for Salvation and He will redeem them from their sinful, lost condition. 

But the Jewish nation, for the most part, rejected their Savior. The Gentiles, too, have mostly rejected the gift  God graciously offered. While millions have come into God’s family over the last 4000 years through His Church, many millions more have rejected God’s plan, seeking heaven by some other means than God’s exclusive plan. That opportunity is about to run out, and Jesus will soon be unavailable as Savior. Oh…He will still be coming to the world again. But His second coming will be as judge and mighty warrior … not as a baby in a manger coming to save! 

For the moment … there is still a choice to make. 

Jesus’ nail-scarred Hand is still being held out to sinners to take hold of and come to salvation. But the greatest time of God’s wrath against the nations and the worst time in human history is right around the corner . The day of decision is at hand. What will it be? Will you be like Joshua? 

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:14-15 

Or …like those who missed the ark ?

“And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” -Gen 7:18-23

The wrath of God is a fearful thing.  And it’s coming quickly!  But for those willing to believe and trust Christ this side of the Rapture, there is a promise in 1 Thess 5:9 that brings comfort. 

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”

The time is short. The stakes are eternal. Tell all your friends, “Believe and Be Saved “! Jesus is Coming!