Last week we saw that our sin results in rejection by God.  Now I want to look at how our sin results in the wrath of God.

Firstly, it is necessary to affirm that God is indeed wrathful. Some people would rather not believe that God is a wrathful God. But God is repeatedly spoken of in the Bible as a wrathful God. For example, Psalm 7:11 says that God is regularly wrathful: ‘God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.’

Secondly, we need to know what is wrath? It is a deliberate opposition to someone or something. This is not a friendly opposition, but an opposition that is associated with anger. We see this in God’s words in Ezekiel: ‘I will pour out my wrath upon you and breathe out my fiery anger against you’ (Ezekiel 21:31). But God’s wrath it is not an uncontrolled or irrational fury. God is a God of justice and so he does not flare up in unrighteous anger like humans do. When he opposes someone it is for good reason.

What, then, is the reason that God is wrathful with anyone? God is wrathful against those who show that they are against him by their sinful actions. As we have seen previously sin is a deliberate act of rebellion against God and so it is only natural that God would oppose such acts of rebellion. Thus sin makes people objects of God’s wrath. Paul affirms this: ‘All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath’ (Ephesians 2:3).

Therefore the wrath of God should be a very scary prospect to everyone as everyone is a sinner. It means the all powerful God has set his mind against you and is very angry. But thankfully God is willing to divert his wrath from sinners toward his Son, Jesus Christ. When Jesus hung on the cross he experienced the wrath of God. Jesus is therefore spoken of as the one ‘..who rescues us from the coming wrath’ (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

But did Jesus take the wrath of God for everyone? No. John tells us: ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him’ (John 3:36). You need to accept Jesus as your saviour if you are to escape God’s wrath. Do you fear God’s wrath? Then accept Jesus as the sacrifice that absorbed the wrath of God for you. Do it now and flee the coming wrath of God against sinners.

Joel Radford