Stop Being Embarrassed by the Wrath of God
What is the wrath of God?
Contrary to popular opinion, God’s wrath is not a concept that is hiding away like a random 9-volt battery in your junk drawer that you have to really search for to find (and why do you still have a television with a remote that uses 9-volts?). The wrath of God is a consistent and comprehensive Biblical truth!
Here’s just a quick sample from almost every Biblical genre:
Deuteronomy 9:7 | Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness.
Psalm 7:11 | God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Nahum 1:2-6 | The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
Luke 12:5 | Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Ephesians 5:6 | because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Revelation 19:15 | He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
I think one of the simplest and most straightforward definitions of God’s wrath comes from Andrew Murray: “Wrath is the holy revulsion of God’s being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness.”
God’s wrath is not like human anger. When we talk about the wrath of God, we don’t mean God losing His temper, becoming a rage monster and punching the wall. God’s wrath is not malicious, vindictive, or spiteful - the way human anger and rage is. In fact, what would you consider the opposite of God’s wrath?
Many people would say the opposite of God’s wrath is God’s love. But on the contrary; the opposite of God’s wrath is indifference or neutrality when it comes to evil. Mark Dever says, “If [God] were not wrathful against sin, we would question whether He is personally good. What would it mean for Him to say that He is committed to oppose evil if He refused to judge it?”
John Stott referred to God’s wrath as His “holy hostility to evil”. In Romans 1:18-25, we learn three important truths about the wrath of God. These are three reasons we should stop being embarrassed about - or ashamed of - the wrath of God:
1. God’s wrath is divine.
Romans 1:18 tells us that God’s wrath is revealed ‘from heaven’. What some may call earthly 'calamity’, God calls divine justice. When we study the flood of Genesis 6, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19), or the plagues on Egypt in the book of Exodus, we clearly see this has been directed from God Himself. Nothing in God’s determined decree against evil is accidental or just allowed - as much as the open theists will try to make their silly case. His wrath is revealed from heaven and is divine.
2. God’s wrath is definitive.
It is ‘revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (v.18). These two words Paul uses are very different - one describes sin against God - almost literally “godlessness”; whereas unrighteousness speaks of sin against our fellow man. When we look at the moral law of the ten commandments, we read the first four laws concerning our relationship with YHWH, and the other six in relationship with our fellow man. God’s wrath is universally definitive because all have transgressed God’s law by sinning against both God and man. God’s wrath is not directed merely at a specific type of people, but universally against all wickedness. No one can escape His terrible justice.
3. God’s wrath is deserved.
As Paul goes on to prove - men have no excuse because God’s attributes in creation have been clearly seen. Verse 19 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
There are two ways that God has chosen to reveal Himself. The first is called General Revelation. General revelation is God’s witness of Himself through creation to His creatures. Psalm 19:1-4 explains this: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”
However, General revelation is limited. The ultimate end is that it leaves men without excuse for failing to recognize the nature of their Creator. But it doesn’t show us how to be reconciled with our Creator. We cannot be saved by merely understanding general revelation. That’s where the second idea comes in: Special Revelation. We believe that the Bible is God’s special revelation to man, and it testifies of Jesus Christ, who is the express image of the invisible God. Jesus and the Scripture is the God’s special revelation. All truth is given by revelation - so men are without excuse - what can be known about God is plain to them. Ever since the creation of the world, God’s existence has been clearly seen through the general revelation of creation. Thus, God’s wrath is deserved. It is definitive, and it is divine.
Sinclair Ferguson said, “God’s holy wrath is poured out on what He hates because it damages and destroys what He loves.” See, this is not just wrath in a vacuum - this is the wrath of God against men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. It isn’t that they reject the truth, ignore the truth, dismiss the truth, or avoid the truth. They suppress it. They try to hold it down - but something terrible happens when you suppress the truth. Do you remember what happened when you tried to hold on to an inflated beach ball and push it underwater? You as a cute little five-year old experienced what is called "buoyant force”! That submerged beach ball flipped you over, didn’t it? It is neither natural nor easy to hold the beach ball underwater - nor is it natural or easy to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness.
Doug Wilson says, “The sin starts with rebellion and ingratitude. That is the first step. God takes our head in both His hands and points it toward the greatness of His glory. We refuse to look at it because to do so would obligate us. We take the greatness of His glory and thrust it away from us, holding it under, suppressing our knowledge of it.”
We need not minimize - or apologize for - the rightness of God’s wrath. Right out of the gate in Romans, Paul communicates the Gospel in the context of the wrath of God against sin. Too many times I fear when we share the Gospel with people, we only share God’s love, and neglect God’s law. The wrath of God is not something we need to be ashamed or embarrassed of. It is right and just. In light of lawless treason against His law, widespread sensual debauchery, lewdness and sexual immorality, child molestation, the murder and oppression of the innocent, rampant deception and corruption, political oppression and genocide, and the evil imaginations in the human heart - in light of the fallen condition of mankind, if God were to do nothing, that would be shameful!
Stephen T. Davis says, “Our only hope as human beings is the wrath of God…because it…shows us that right and wrong are objectively real, they are to be discovered, not created…(it) teaches us the moral significance of our deeds and shows us how life is to be lived.”
We must explain salvation in light of God’s righteous wrath! The sad reality is that all have sinned - men and women are without excuse. Part of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness is man’s prideful audacity to exchange not only glorious God for idolatry, Creator for creation, but also to swap attributes: man has the bravado to believe now that God is sinful and man is upright. “How could a loving God let the Holocaust happen?”, cries the unbeliever - while seeing his offensive against a holy God as minimal. Just as a faithful doctor would not allow someone to walk in with a WebMD print out of their own diagnosis and just confirm their fears (which I’m sure you or someone you know has done!), the faithful doctor is going to be responsible and make sure someone does not leave his or her office with an incorrect self-diagnosis.
John Stott says, “Our Christian duty is rather, through prayer and teaching, to bring people to accept the true diagnosis of their condition in the sight of God.” The sad reality is that you and I are sinners. The darkness of your sin, my sin - is the black velvet backdrop that helps to focus our eyes on what is truly beautiful - the mercy and grace of God in Christ. As you read this, in light of your sinfulness, will you embrace the undeserved mercy of Christ? If you are in Christ, let your hearts be lifted up that because of Jesus Christ, the awful wrath of God has been satisfied. As Paul would later say in chapter 5:
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Praise God for the mercies of God expressed to us in and through Christ, our Savior!
Pilgrim Benham
