There hangs on a wall in our home a picture, simple, but with a tremendous story. Two lambs are resting peacefully on the ground; behind them is a large hand, and drooling and snarling behind that hand are several ferocious wolves. The lambs are lying in perfect peace, despite the danger, because the hand is restraining their enemies.
Most Christians respond to this portrayal of Godโs protecting hand and rejoice that he still loves and cares for his own today.
At the same time there are many who would take advantage of the concept of Godโs love without admitting that the love of God is but one facet of his being.
The stern words of John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadduceesโthe religious leaders of his dayโcarried deep meaning: โWho hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?โ And this warning is not dated. The wrath of God is seen today and will be seen in the final judgment.
Godโs wrath is not against the sinner because he is a sinnerโall men are sinners. His wrath is again sin, against sin wherever it is found. Only in this light can we understand the implications of the Cross. Our Saviourโs death was not a sentimental example; it was an act of necessity. Only the death of the Son of God had in it the cleansing necessaryโthe power to deliver from the guilt and penalty of sinโs affront to a holy God.
In John 3:36 we read: โHe that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.โ In the light of this we have two choices: either John was mistaken, speaking from ignorance or from deliberate spite, or he was affirming a truth in which there is unspeakable comfort or warning of dire peril.
Even a superficial study of the word โwrathโ as found in the Bible opens up a vista of awful judgment on unrepented or unforgiven sin.
Is our concept of God and his Son a travesty of the truth? God is love, but he is also a consuming fire. He is love, but he also exercises a holy wrath against which nothing can stand. The writer of the Proverbs tells us, โThe expectation of the wicked is wrath,โ and such it is today. The fact that many pulpits ignore this truth is something for which some will certainly be held responsible.
Years ago Jonathan Edwardsโ sermon โSinners in the Hands of an Angry Godโ brought literally thousands into the kingdom of God, for men were led to see themselves as God sees them and they cried out for forgiveness. What a far cry from most preaching today! Instead of being confronted by his sin and its consequences, the average sinner walks away from a sermon with the smug feeling that he is a pretty decent fellow and often with the delusion that he has done God an honor by being seen in church.
The Prophet Isaiah says: โBehold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of itโ (Isa. 13:9).
It is useless to attribute this solely to the coming judgment on the Israel of that day. God continues to work in the same way, and this warning can well include America of 1963. For us the prayer of Habakkuk remains valid: โO Lord โฆ in wrath remember mercy.โ
The loving forgiveness of God is just as real as his wrath; his love and mercy are as available as his judgment is certain. The Apostle Paul had no illusions about the matter. In Romans 2:5 he says: โBut after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.โ
Later in this same letter Paul says: โMuch more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through himโ (5:9).
But today the idea of the โblood atonementโ is considered passรฉ by some. Only recently a prominent church leader spoke to a large group of women and in the course of his address warned them about emphasizing the blood of Christ, urging them to stress Godโs love.
This incident brings to mind these words: โOf how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy [common] thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?โ (Heb. 10:29). How can we ignore these words, or โIt is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living Godโ (Heb. 10:31), or โFor our God is a consuming fireโ (Heb. 12:29)?
Countless souls are being lulled into a false sense of security by those who ignore or deny the fact of Godโs wrath against sin. His wrath is not anger as we sinners know anger, nor is it peevishness or arbitrariness. Rather it is a holy wrath by a holy God, a wrath directed against sin in every form, a wrath so great that the Son of God suffered death and separation from his Father to deliver those who believe from the wrath to come.
The Apostle Paul, speaking to Christians, says: โAnd to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to comeโ (1 Thess. 1:10).
In those solemn words of the last book of the Bible we read: โAnd the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together โฆโ; then we find the peoples of the earth crying out to the mountains and rocks, โFall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?โ (Rev. 6:14 ff.).
Can the Gospel be properly preached other than against the backdrop of the wrath of God?
A prominent minister recently observed that all we need to do is tap sinners on the shoulder and tell them they are saved and that they should go out and live like Christians. What a travesty on the Gospel! What a failure to preach the whole counsel of God! What a caricature of the holiness of God! What a failure to understand the implications of the Cross!
When we truly picture the gentle Christ, the One who would not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, we must face the other side, the day when the words of Paul will be fulfilled: โAnd to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his powerโ (2 Thess. 1:7โ9).
Preacher, are you warning of the wrath to come? There is a bridge out down the road. Are you keeping quiet?