Victor Van Heerden
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- Joined
- Mar 22, 2018
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The Love and Wrath of God! Today in our “politically correct” world and “ear-tickling listener friendly” preaching the scripturally sound, millennia old, doctrine of the “Wrath of God” has fallen on hard times. It would seem that any concept of God’s wrath is down played.
“How can the concept of an eternal torment in biblical hell come from a good God?” “Why would God command the Israelite to completely obliterate their enemies (men, woman, children, animals etc)?” “Why does God always seem so angry?”
Well like a two sided coin the very essence of God is Love and Wrath. We know this from the Bible and the Old Testament and even the New Testament. In fact a study of any concordance will show that there are more references in Holy Scripture to the anger, fury, and Wrath of God, than there are to His Love and tenderness. For instance in the OT we read from the book of Nahum who was the prophet that saw the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh the capital of the great, mighty and flourishing Assyrian empire.
“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.” (Nahum 1:2)
We now know from His Word and this verse that God is jealous, He does not hesitate to punish people that are responsible for doing something bad to him, with all of his wrathful might, power and authority. The Wrath of God is no trifling matter especially if you are his enemy. It’s much better to be his friend. The Wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Godly equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty.
The Apostle Paul of the ascended Christ knew this and tells us in Hebrews 10:31 that: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Why is it fearful? (Notice that this in the NT) Surely God is good, loving and kind? Yes He is to his own but to his enemies he is Wrath personified. In Romans Paul explains:
“For the Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18)
Apostle John tells us: “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 wine press of the fury of the Wrath of God the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15)
God will rule with a rod of iron and he will tread the wine press of the fury of the Wrath of God the All Mighty. Iron crushes every thing under its hardness, strength and weight. A wine press exerts tonnes of pressure while it crushes the juice out of grapes with the leftovers discarded. No wonder Paul says that is the terror of the Lord that causes him to preach the gospel to all men. Not the Love, or the goodness or the kindness - nope the Terror of the Lord.
"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men." 2 Cor 5:11
Even so God’s Wrath is His Love in action against the wicked that are caught in sin and if we want to escape eternal torment in hell we need to appeal to His love before it is too late. If we are caught in our sin and our own righteousness we will face the full Wrath of All Mighty God for we have spurned his love. If you are not in His love you will be in His Wrath. That is the Gospel of Paul. No middle road - one or the other.
We need to respond to God’s great love by repentance (change our ways) believe “IN” and proclaim outwardly that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour and we become a new creation IN Christ. God has given a way through his great Love for us in sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ so that we can escape the terrific and horrendous Wrath of God. Wrath deservedly meant for us was poured out by an angry God on an innocent Jesus Christ (The lamb of God) on the cross, explicitly so that we might escape the Wrath of God.
Jn 3;16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Hell is not only separation or absence from God’s Love it is experiencing the Full Wrath of All Mighty God for eternity. Not a nice place to be by any stretch of the imagination. So maybe Dante’s depiction of hell was not so far fetched after all.
Of interest:
“Wrath” is an old English word defined in my dictionary as “deep, intense anger and indignation”.
“Anger” is defined as “stirring of resentful displeasure and strong antagonism, by a sense of injury or insult”;
“Indignation” - “righteous anger aroused by injustice and baseness”.
Such is wrath. And Wrath, the Bible tells us, is an attribute of God - one to be feared with all our being if we not grounded in His love.
“How can the concept of an eternal torment in biblical hell come from a good God?” “Why would God command the Israelite to completely obliterate their enemies (men, woman, children, animals etc)?” “Why does God always seem so angry?”
Well like a two sided coin the very essence of God is Love and Wrath. We know this from the Bible and the Old Testament and even the New Testament. In fact a study of any concordance will show that there are more references in Holy Scripture to the anger, fury, and Wrath of God, than there are to His Love and tenderness. For instance in the OT we read from the book of Nahum who was the prophet that saw the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh the capital of the great, mighty and flourishing Assyrian empire.
“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.” (Nahum 1:2)
We now know from His Word and this verse that God is jealous, He does not hesitate to punish people that are responsible for doing something bad to him, with all of his wrathful might, power and authority. The Wrath of God is no trifling matter especially if you are his enemy. It’s much better to be his friend. The Wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Godly equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty.
The Apostle Paul of the ascended Christ knew this and tells us in Hebrews 10:31 that: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Why is it fearful? (Notice that this in the NT) Surely God is good, loving and kind? Yes He is to his own but to his enemies he is Wrath personified. In Romans Paul explains:
“For the Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18)
Apostle John tells us: “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 wine press of the fury of the Wrath of God the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15)
God will rule with a rod of iron and he will tread the wine press of the fury of the Wrath of God the All Mighty. Iron crushes every thing under its hardness, strength and weight. A wine press exerts tonnes of pressure while it crushes the juice out of grapes with the leftovers discarded. No wonder Paul says that is the terror of the Lord that causes him to preach the gospel to all men. Not the Love, or the goodness or the kindness - nope the Terror of the Lord.
"Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men." 2 Cor 5:11
Even so God’s Wrath is His Love in action against the wicked that are caught in sin and if we want to escape eternal torment in hell we need to appeal to His love before it is too late. If we are caught in our sin and our own righteousness we will face the full Wrath of All Mighty God for we have spurned his love. If you are not in His love you will be in His Wrath. That is the Gospel of Paul. No middle road - one or the other.
We need to respond to God’s great love by repentance (change our ways) believe “IN” and proclaim outwardly that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour and we become a new creation IN Christ. God has given a way through his great Love for us in sacrificing His Son Jesus Christ so that we can escape the terrific and horrendous Wrath of God. Wrath deservedly meant for us was poured out by an angry God on an innocent Jesus Christ (The lamb of God) on the cross, explicitly so that we might escape the Wrath of God.
Jn 3;16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Hell is not only separation or absence from God’s Love it is experiencing the Full Wrath of All Mighty God for eternity. Not a nice place to be by any stretch of the imagination. So maybe Dante’s depiction of hell was not so far fetched after all.
Of interest:
“Wrath” is an old English word defined in my dictionary as “deep, intense anger and indignation”.
“Anger” is defined as “stirring of resentful displeasure and strong antagonism, by a sense of injury or insult”;
“Indignation” - “righteous anger aroused by injustice and baseness”.
Such is wrath. And Wrath, the Bible tells us, is an attribute of God - one to be feared with all our being if we not grounded in His love.
