Wrath of God
Is there anything scarier than the wrath of God? He is the God of love and goodness; why is he scaring us with his wrath? One thing we know for sure, he is not afraid to make it known that vengeance and fury belong to him. Deuteronomy 32:39-42, “I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; And there is none that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live for ever, If I whet my glittering sword, And my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh; With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the head of the leaders of the enemy.“
Psalm 7: 11, “God is a righteous judge, Yea, a God that hath indignation every day.” Our Abba Father is angry against sin because sin is a rebellion against his authority and sovereignty. He must make it known that he is the Almighty God. Could God be perfect without hating sin? No because it would be a weakness in his character. He must hate sin to love us. See his wrath as an extension of his love. He is infinitely holy; how could he disregard sin and refuse to put his wrath against it?
There are more references to God’s wrath and anger in Scripture than to his love. That is our fault, not his. And understanding his wrath grows our faith because of its seriousness, yet he has time for us. ELB goes in two directions with God’s wrath to minimize our awareness. One is Elmer Gantry’s[i] fire and brimstone raining down on us sinners. Most believers are not seeking that. And the other, nothing to see here until the end-time mystery when fire and brimstone rain down on the world. Most believers ignore that as too difficult.
The key to understanding and building faith is what is God’s wrath directed toward and what its magnitude is. Deuteronomy 32 above, “I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me.” God directs his wrath toward his sworn enemies, and its magnitude is greater than his enemy’s power. The enemy wants the entire human world; in our eyes, that is huge.
Believers are not his target with his wrath, but believers are the prize for both sides. Believers must understand how much the enemy needs us and how hard he will work to keep us from God. God even has one hand tied behind his back because we are born into the enemy’s world and must choose our God to escape captivity.
When cavalier about sin, we play into the enemy’s hand. Unforgiven sin, transgression, and iniquity keep us from the fiery pit on judgment day, and we have until our last breath to avoid the fiery pit. But we can’t do our job and glorify God in ELB, which means our sin produces victims we do not even know. The more we study and ponder God’s hatred of sin and his frightful vengeance upon it, the more likely we realize how damaging to ourselves our sin is.
God swears his wrath against the Exodus generation in Psalm 95:10-11, “Forty years long was I grieved with that generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways: Wherefore I sware in my wrath, That they should not enter into my rest.” The Exodus generation refused to enter the Promised Land because of the giants. But God did not wipe them out; they died of old age walking the desert until the Entrance generation was ready.
Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness.” The key words are the last six, “who hinder the truth in unrighteousness.” God’s wrath is for his sworn enemies.
The wrath of God was revealed from heaven when his Son came down to show us his divine character. God displayed his wrath in Jesus’ sufferings and death in a manner more awful than all the examples God had given Israel before their Messiah. Jesus had the skin ripped off his back with the scourge. They pulled a crown of thorns down his head. They nailed him to a cross to suffocate and pierced him with a lance. That is from his grace which is equal to his wrath. Please pray on that.
And here is what builds our faith so magnificently. How badly was Christ’s heart troubled with his thoughts of God’s placing the iniquities of his people on him? Luke 22:41-44, “he kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared unto him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” Jesus took that punishment for us. Please pray on that and raise your game right now.
Hebrews 5:7-9, “Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear, though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became unto all them that obey him the author of eternal salvation.”
And his last cry, Mathew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying . . . My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” But the greatest miracle in the world may be God’s patience and love for his ungrateful children. God makes us perfect in our resurrection so that his creation becomes his perfect family, with him in his perfect new world. Our life needs to be about the future and seeing this world as helping God finish his plan by serving him, spreading the Word, being God’s billboard, and helping those in need.
We need to set our hearts against sin. We must serve God with reverence and godly respect, for our God is “a consuming fire,” Hebrews 12:28-29. But life is not about living in dreadful fear of the consuming fire. Life is about being confident in our redemption. Confess our sins, do not hide them; be repentant and love God. If you know him, you know he wants you, and no one can snatch you away. You can only turn yourself away in ELB.
We must see both the wrath and the grace to know God fully. We need to get comfortable with both because it is the perfection of God. But also understand that it is sin that God directs his wrath toward, not believers. True believers do not fear God’s wrath; that is his grace. Fearing God is the next subject.
In the end, God will make a most glorious display of his wrath by taking vengeance upon all who then oppose Him. If we do not rejoice in God and despise sin as he does, it is proof that our hearts are not committed to him, and we are still in our sins in ELB. Also, I did not use our Abba Father name with this subject because wrath is God’s work. Please pray on that.
Fear of God
The Wrath of God message goes ahead of this message because the “fear (yirah) of God” is another English failure, possibly another theological malpractice. Chapter 4 presented the glory of our Abba Father as part of his existence. In this chapter, the words are about us and our reactions to him. We must drive the ELB image of the “scary God” in the Old Testament out of our minds. Never be afraid of our Abba Father in our relationship with him. He is love and forgiveness with a great future, and we put in the work in this life.
We have a choice, eternity in paradise or the fiery pit. That is not a hard choice, be afraid of the fiery pit. We can’t blame our Abba Father for not creating a middle option for the indecisive. ELB promotes the angry God because fear weakens our faith. The angry God perspective hurts believers, and that view is nothing I enjoy sharing or living with. Believers should image our awesome Abba Father because “awe” is the better translation of “yirah.”
The Hebrew word “yirah” is translated as “fear” across all translations. But it means “awe.” An “awe” worthy of our Abba Father, a total, mind-blowing awe. The wrath of God is pointed 100% at his sworn enemies, not believers, which is why the “fear of God” fails in English. Exodus 19:16-17, “And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.” That is “awe” (and glory), not fear.
Did it scare Israel at first? Yes, but Proverbs 1:7, “The fear (awe) of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 9:9-10, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.” The fear (awe) of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.“
Being amazed at our Abba Father and his incredible creation is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge in us. That concept lifts us out of ELB and points us toward the heavens and the divine spirit world. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge because it draws us to know more. If you want to see “awe” in action, look at Job 37-38. You will also see it in many of David’s Psalms. I will sample Job 37:1-7 here but go take it all in. “Yea, at this my heart trembleth, And is moved out of its place. Hear, oh, hear the noise of his voice, And the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, And his lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth; He thundereth with the voice of his majesty;”
“And he restraineth not the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice; Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Fall thou on the earth; Likewise to the shower of rain, And to the showers of his mighty rain. He sealeth up the hand of every man, That all men whom he hath made may know.”
Baptism
I put baptism in this chapter because many adult believers shy away from it and it turned into a great ending to the chapter. My view of baptism is simple; it is like the Sabbath after Jesus. Our Abba Father does not judge us for what we do with it; it is an opportunity to glorify our Abba Father in our lives. It symbolizes washing away our sins and re-birth into the Family of our Abba Father. Jews used baptism as a symbol of washing away sin; John the Baptist did not invent it. Baptism symbolizes our repentance and justification. (Compared to circumcision, hallelujah! We do not thank Paul enough for that decision.)
Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism . . .” “One baptism” in that verse means our actual redemption, not the ceremony. Ceremonies and feasts etc., are used by our Abba Father to remind us of his glory. What we call Holy Communion celebrates the same miracle baptism celebrates, emphasizing what Jesus did for us. Has anyone ever connected the two for you? When we add the communion ceremony before baptism, it builds our faith.
I have thought of even making baptism part of confession. It would be easy for married couples to do it for each other. Young people or any group could have baptism parties. A pastor is not needed for baptism any more than for communion, but the dunker symbolizes that we do not cleanse ourselves. I was baptized twice in two different churches, one at 13 and one at 16. At 18 years old, I forgot all about it in college. I would like to see adults do the baptism ceremony again if baptized as a youth. And keep doing it. This world would be a better place.
So let’s get holy about baptism, Romans 6:1-10, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus.” Mathew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
5 Elmer Gantry, credits seen at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053793/
