What the Bible Says About God’s Wrath
Most people enjoy hearing about God’s incredible love, but what about His wrath? The wrath of God is described many times in His Word because His character is holy. Habakkuk 1:13 says, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”
The natural consequence of our sin is a sentence of death (see Rom. 6:23). Many people fail to understand the lethal nature of sin, but God takes it very seriously because He knows it destroys anything it touches. Of course, when we reject God’s forgiveness of sin through Christ, we reject the only thing that can divert God’s wrath from us.
Romans 1:18 tells us that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Anyone who denies, ignores or rebels against God has rejected the only defense that’s been provided against His awesome anger. Romans 2:5 confirms, “In accordance with your hardness and your impatient heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
Yet, on the cross, the wrath that was due to all humanity was laid upon God’s perfect Son – the only person who never sinned at all. The atoning death of Jesus Christ is where the holy wrath and the abounding love of God intersect; it’s there that our sin is judged according to His holiness, and that we are reconciled to God so that we may live eternally in His holy presence.
Apart from Jesus Christ, we’ll experience the wrath of God. However, when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we need never fear God’s wrath again. The glorious truth is that through Christ we’re forgiven and our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Therefore, rejoice and proclaim to others how they can avoid God’s wrath as well.
“For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:17-24
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