Don Stewart : : What Is The Wrath Of God
The Bible teaches that God is a God of wrath. Wrath is God’s righteous anger. Scripture has much to say about the wrath of God.
The Wrath Of God In The Old Testament
The wrath of the Lord was against the nation Israel.
“I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation .
The Old Testament records a number of instances where God’s righteous anger was directed against the nation.
The New Testament
The New Testament also speaks of the wrath of God.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him .
Wrath Is Not For Believers
Those who have believed in Jesus will not experience the wrath of God.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ .
The good news, or the gospel, is that those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior do not have to experience the wrath of God – their sins have already been judged by Christ’s death on the cross.
Summary
The wrath of God is taught in both testaments. God wrath, or righteous anger, will be placed on those who do not follow Him. Those who have believed in Jesus will not be objects of His wrath.
Gods Wrath Is Revealed Now
How does God reveal his wrath when sinners suppress the truth about him, exchange the truth for a lie, and worship created things rather than the Creator? God gives them up :
- Therefore, God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity .
- For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions .
- God gave them up to a debased mind .
One writer states, Paul is not teaching that one day God will punish Roman civilization for its vice and decadence. On the contrary, the vice and decadence are themselves Gods punishmentTheir punishment was their greed, envy, strife, deceit, violence and faithlessness. When we see the moral fabric of our culture being torn, then as Christian believers we should cry to God for mercy.
Bible Verses About Wrath
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord I am weary with holding it in.Pour it out on the children in the streetAnd on the gathering of young men together For both husband and wife shall be taken,The aged and the very old.
Destroy them in wrath, destroy them that they may be no more That men may know that God rules in JacobTo the ends of the earth. Selah.
And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrathOn the nations which have not obeyed.
Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood,But who can stand before jealousy?
But the Lord is the true God He is the living God and the everlasting King.At His wrath the earth quakes,And the nations cannot endure His indignation.
Cease from anger and forsake wrath Do not fret it leads only to evildoing.
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,But righteousness delivers from death.
You will pursue them in anger and destroy themFrom under the heavens of the Lord!
The kings wrath is like the roaring of a lion,But his favor is like dew on the grass.
You withdrew all Your fury You turned away from Your burning anger.
A day of wrath is that day,A day of trouble and distress,A day of destruction and desolation,A day of darkness and gloom,A day of clouds and thick darkness,
You, even You, are to be feared And who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?
A gentle answer turns away wrath,But a harsh word stirs up anger.
The desire of the righteous is only good,But the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
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Why Does Gods Wrath Matter
It matters that the modern Christian talks about Gods wrath. We cheapen Gods love if we dont show what fate he has spared us from by dying for our sins and allowing us to come into eternity with him.
We have a greater understanding of Gods love, and can love him all the more for it.
Hope Bolinger is a multi-published novelist and a graduate of Taylor University’s professional writing program. More than 1,200 of her works have been featured in various publications ranging from Writer’s Digest to Keys for Kids. She has worked for various publishing companies, magazines, newspapers, and literary agencies and has edited the work of authors such as Jerry B. Jenkins and Michelle Medlock Adams. Her modern-day Daniel trilogy is out with IlluminateYA. She is also the co-author of the Dear Hero duology, which was published by INtense Publications. And her inspirational adult romance Picture Imperfect releases in November of 2021. Find out more about her at her website.
What Is The Practical Application Of The Word Wrath
Practically speaking, wrath is the last of the seven layers of anger as addressed in Biblical anger management . It is that point when someone has progressed from unresolved stress to anxiety. From unresolved anxiety to agitation. Form unresolved agitation to irritation. From unresolved irritation to frustration. From unresolved frustration to the heart of anger. At the heart of anger, if it is not resolved then humanly speaking it goes over the line from controlled sanity to an uncontrolled insane outpouring of wrath. This concept is presented in James 1:19-21 as follows:
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Biblically speaking, this passage is presented in the context of James 1:13-18. It teaches us about temptation being a result of our own lusts: lust of the flesh, eyes, and pride , which results in death from sin. James 1:19 is then showing us the result of unresolved temptation that has resulted in the lust inspired sin of wrath or uncontrolled anger and what we should do about it.
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Is Gods Wrath Only In The Old Testament
Some people can often create a false dichotomy of the Old Testament and New Testament. Some have said, I like the New Testament God better than the Old Testament God. The Old Testament God is wrathful and kills people, and the New Testament God talks about loving your neighbor.
Some have gone as far as to say there are two distinct gods, or that the Old Testament god was a young god that operated like the pagan gods and that the New Testament god had matured and seen the light in a sensean obviously heretical idea.
This assumption overlooks two considerations:
1. We do see Gods wrath in the New Testament.
For instance, when Ananias and Sapphira, guided by the Holy Spirit, sell their property to receive more money, they decide to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep the money for themselves .
Their actions result in God striking both of them dead.
But what about Jesus? Some might ask. He just talked about love. He was a peaceful kind of guy. Doesnt the Bible call him the Prince of Peace?
When Jesus encounters thieves and money-changers defiling the temple of God, Jesus flips over tables, makes a whip of cords, and uses that to drive the people out of the temple .
That doesnt exactly fit within our cultures idea of the loving Jesus.
Nevertheless whether in the temple or when confronting Ananias and Sapphira, Gods wrath is justified.
2. Conversely, the so-called Old Testament God shows extreme acts of love toward his creation.
Sep The Meaning Of The Wrath Of God
The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.Romans 1:18
What do we mean when we talk about the wrath of God? There are two Greek words that are translated anger or wrath in the Bible. The first Greek word is thumos. This word refers to an explosive anger that wells up quickly and also subsides quickly. Its that emotion you feel when somebody cuts you off on the highway or says something that rubs you the wrong way. You get furious, but hopefully you get over it.
The second Greek word for anger or wrath is orge. This is the term used for the wrath of God. Leon Morris defined it as a strong and settled opposition to all that is evil arising out of Gods own nature. When we sin, God doesnt lose His temper, pour out His anger, and then get over it. Instead, Gods wrath is His building opposition to everything unholy. Think of Gods wrath as the water that builds up behind a dam and will eventually break through that dam. The anger of God is building and building, and one day it will be unleashed upon ungodliness.
Todays devotion is excerpted from What about Those Who Have Never Heard about Jesus? by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2015.
Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross , 35.
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Is It At Odds With His Love
Is a wrathful God at odds with a loving God? If you understand wrathful as vengeful, then it might be hard to reconcile these two attributes of God. But if the wrath of God is simply his righteous judgment against sinful humanity, then there is really no conflict between the two.
All of humanity is deserving of punishment. And a righteous God would correctly give us what we have earned. But God is also love. And he has provided a way of redemption faith in the atoning blood of his Son. For those who respond to Gods offer of salvation, his righteous judgment is satisfied by Jesus sacrifice. But those who reject that offer of salvation will receive the justice they rightly deserve. Gods desire is that all be saved . But those who refuse will suffer the consequences of that refusal.
The Wrath Of God In Scripture
The wrath of God is a common expression in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 9:8 is an example of this usage, At Horeb you aroused the Lord’s wrath so that he was angry enough to destroy you. This combination of Gods wrath, human disobedience, and punishment is a common theme in the Old Testament, especially in the prophets. The primary message of the prophets was one of judgment against disobedient people, typically with a call for repentance.
There are also dozens of references to Gods wrath in the New Testament, including Romans 1:18, The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Even though Jesus and his disciples proclaimed the kingdom of God, and expressed Gods love for humanity, they did not dismiss the wrath of God. The wrath that would come to all who were disobedient to the gospel message.
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The Anger Of God Is Not Like Our Anger
When we speak about the wrath of God, remember that it is the wrath of God. So everything we know about Godhe is just, he is love, and he is goodneeds to be poured into our understanding of his wrath.
The words anger and wrath make us think about our experience. You may have suffered because of someone who is habitually angry, loses his temper, or flies into a rage. Our anger can often be unpredictable, petty, and disproportionate.
Although these things are often true of human anger, none of them are true of the anger of God. Gods wrath is the just and measured response of his holiness toward evil.
Six Things You Need To Know About Gods Wrath
As peace is a truth widely loved, wrath is a truth widely loathed. Many in the history of the church has been embarrassed by Gods wrath and have wanted to revise this biblical truth.
Yet, this theme of the wrath of God toward sin and sinners is clearly and widely taught in the Bible. This truth is so interwoven with the hope of our peace with one another and with God that if we lose our grasp on the one, we lose our hope of the other.
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How Gods Wrath Is Removed
The Bible speaks about Gods wrath being poured out at the cross: I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you . This takes us to the heart of what happened there: The divine wrath toward sin was poured out on Jesus. He became the propitiation for our sins , which means that the payment for our sins was poured out on Jesus at Calvary.
Dont ever get the idea that God loves you because Christ died for you. No, its the other way round. Christ died for you because God loved you! He loved you even when you were the object of his wrath! God so loved the objects of his wrath that he spent the wrath on himself at the cross.
The outpouring of Gods wrath was the greatest act of love this world has ever seen.
The hope for sinners is that between us and the wrath of God stands the cross of Jesus. Sin was laid on Jesus and the Divine wrath toward it was poured out, spent, and exhausted in the darkness of Calvary. And when it was done, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, It is finished! The wrath of God that will one day be poured out on all sin was spent at the cross with regard to all who are in him.
Then Christ rose from the dead, and he stands before you today, a living Savior! He offers to you the priceless gift of peace with God. He is ready to forgive your sins and fill you with his Spirit. He is able to save you from the wrath and reconcile you to the Father. He has opened the door of heaven, and he is able to bring you in.
Gods Wrath Is His Love In Action Against Sin
This is counter-intuitive, but hear me out.
God is love, and God does all things for his glory . He loves his glory above all . Therefore, God rules the world in such a way that brings himself maximum glory. This means that God must act justly and judge sin , otherwise God would not be God. Gods love for his glory motivates his wrath against sin.
Admittedly, Gods love for his own glory is a most sobering reality for many and not good news for sinners. It is after all, a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God .
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Examples Of Wrath In A Sentence
TweakedLife: The MovieThe Book of Abigail and JohnwrathwrathA Midsummer Night’s Dreamwrath PEOPLE.comwrathABC Newswrath chicagotribune.comwrath Fox Newswrath sun-sentinel.comwrathArkansas OnlinewrathLos Angeles Timeswrath ABC News
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘wrath.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
God’s Wrath Will Be Poured Out One Way Or The Other
Now that we have painted a better picture and hopefully brought better understanding to what is the wrath of God, there is still something hanging in the balance. How does Gods wrath impact you? Earlier I mentioned that God established a principle that sin will result in death. Another way of thinking about it is because of sin, God will have to judge that sin, which is his wrath.
The question remains what do we do with this question of judgement? Even in the pouring out of judgement, God has given us a choice. Let me explain.
Because all sin demands justice and all sin will be judged, God sent Jesus to take all the wrath and judgement of sin on him. God literally took out all his wrath against sin and poured it on Jesus.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all .
Not only did God pour out his wrath, but it was his will and his plan along.
Yet it was the Lords will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand .
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Wrath And Judgement In The Bible
God’s wrath and judgment are functions of His love. We would not want a God who was not just. In fact, all of culture cries out for justice. I mean, the highest-rated shows on TV are what? Crime shows, Law and Order, all these, we yearn for justice. A God who didn’t have wrath towards sin would not be a God of love, because how could a God of love allow sin to go unpunished?
Now on the cross, we see the juxtaposition of God’s love and wrath met in one person in Christ, poured out on Christ on Calvary, that’s where God’s love and justice met, in Christ. And so, while God’s justice demanded a response to sin because we want a God of justice, His love provided the solution. And so there it met at the cross. And so the answer is don’t just look at the old Testament and say, “Oh, it’s an angry God.” Look at the New Testament. You have to take them both together. And Jesus has the answer for God’s wrath.