Communion With the Christ:: The Wrath of God

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,"Rom:1:18

Is God angry at us?..Is God about to release his wrath against this sin filled world? Is God angry at humanity?

There are sincere Christians, who feel that they are the object of God's anger because of something which they have done or not done, that divine wrath is about to "come down" upon them or even upon the world around us.

We can read of God's wrath, or as it is sometimes called in Scripture, the "Day of the Lord". We can envision this time of God's wrath as a moment of divine judgement or righteous indignation which unleashes God's pent up furry against the nations.

We can read in the Old Testament of God's divine intervention in the life of Israel and other nations. This intervention was, in some cases statutory and poured out judgement. These accounts of God's "wrath", we are told by St. Paul, were provide for us through the written word of God as examples for us who now live after the incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, in the person of Jesus Christ and his death upon the cross and his glorious resurrection.

St. Paul , writing to the Corinth Greece Christians, and Christians throughout the ages, that what we find in the Old Testament Scripture , as part of the Holy Word of God is there to convey lessons and examples to us.

"These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it"1Cor:10:11

St. Paul, is writing here in the text regarding those things which we may find ourselves confronting in our lives. That we, of our own-selves, need not stand on our own, attempting to cope using our own devices in the face of temptation(s) and seeking our own solutions as the Children of Israel tried and failed and came to ruin.

We, however, can trust in our Lord and should seek his zealous divine assistance to help us deal with whatever we face. St. Paul, again intones this truth of the examples and admonition of the Word of God for Christians.

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope"Rom:15:4

What this is declaring to us, is that we can read of Israel's attempts to deal with the issues of life through their own means and devices both personal, and as a nation.

Understanding God's Wrath

What then does the Scripture truly mean when we hear of this "wrath" ? St. Paul tells us that God's wrath is being reveled from Heaven.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,"Rom:1:18

What does this tell us about God? The most often used and translated, word for wrath in the New Testament is the Greek word "Orgé". This word can be understood as intense passion or zeal. It carries with it the sense of seizing and shaking. It as well, implies that this is not "rage" or an uncontrolled response, but rather, a rational dealing with whatever is harmful or wrong.

This speaks to each and all of us that God is not "angry" at us and he is not ready to unleash "divine wrath" against us. What it does tell us , is that our God is passionate and zealous to deal with what is harmful in our lives and hinder our relationship with him.

This tells us that God's "orge'" is for our good. It carries with it the sense that our Lord wants to seize hold of whatever is harmful or un-befitting to us as Christians, and by extension all humanity, and shake it until it's unhealthy hold upon us and our lives is broken and we are set free to live as our Lord has always intended for us as his beloved Children.

This should fill us with great hope that our God will, and is, zealously, and with divine passion, reaching out to shake loose and set us free. This tells us that rather than anger God is zealously acting out of an eternal love for each and all of us.

This "wrath", this zeal, this passion, is being reveled out of Heaven for each and all to shake lose all that is harmful to us and impedes our relationship with himself.

Wrath Dealt With

We now live, as St. Paul wrote to the Corinth Christians, at the culmination of human history " on whom the culmination of the ages has come”, which is, those who are in the post cross and resurrection period of history, now that the Messiah has come.

It is as if the Messiah, Jesus Christ, has come and brought the end of all things into the middle of human history; that the "culmination of the ages" was inaugurated on that glorious resurrection morning after the tribulation of the cross and the darkness of the ages manifested of upon Calvary.

At the cross the "wrath" of God was zealously and passionately revealed against the sin of the nations and was publicly made manifested before all. Sin has been dealt with. Anything that could separate us or impair our relationship with the great God has been dealt with.

The cross of our Lord Jesus demonstrates for all time and eternity how zealously and passionately our God is to size hold of our lives and each and all wickedness and shake all things for the purpose of setting us free. Even at the death of Jesus, the manifestation of the wrath of God was displayed in the shaking of the Earth and in the renting of the veil of the Temple which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies showing us that we now have access to God without restraint. there is nothing which can keep us from him. His zealous "wrath" is accomplished.

This zealous shaking also results in life from the dead; as saints of God came forth as their tombs were broken open after Jesus' own resurrection and entered Jerusalem and were seen by many. This shows us that God's "wrath" brings life not death.

The Prophet Isaiah, who's writing is so filled with the ministry of Jesus that some scholars call it the fifth Gospel, saw the zealous passion of the work of the cross and the satisfaction of the wrath of God.

"Yet it was the LORD's 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. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.…"Isa:50:10-11

There is now nothing that can keep us from receiving God's passionate zealous help to resolve our challenges and problems in life, except our unwillingness to receive it. Jesus has come and has brought us near to God. The cross in emblematic of God's zeal and passion to aid throughout our lives.

The Shaking of the Earth

St. John, the last of the original Apostles, while he was on the Island of Patmos saw God's intervention as human history reaches the point where God's glorious intervention is now made public. St. John wrote in the highly symbolic Apocalyptic language of the great earthquake that moves mountains and the islands of the seas.

We can see God's intervention manifested in a great global earthquake at the return of Jesus in glorious power to rule all nations at that moment when Jesus descends from the heavens, (which he most certainty will). Rev:6.

Jesus has just opened the seals of the scroll and reveals a host of human problems, false messiahs, war, famine, death. But for a moment, let's see this as a personal thing in our own lives. When, we come to see who Jesus is, and when he has stripped away all that we worship, our false messiahs, whatever form that they might take, and the cause of all our suffering, we see the conflict, the economics of our personal lives spent to the point of depletion and we are sick of the very things which causes our problems.

It is then, that Jesus intervenes in our lives with a passionate zeal. Jesus shakes the world of our lives as the great earthquake of Revelation. Our personal mountains and islands of our lives come crumbling down around us. It is then that we see the heavens open. We see only darkness and distress in the prospect of coming face to face with Jesus.

We may be filled with fear at his "wrath”. We might look to hide ourselves in the face of God's "wrath”, but we need not be filled with dread. We are now receiving God's passionate zeal to remove from our lives anything which hinders us all arising out of his love for us. Jesus passionately shakes our lives to remove anything which might hinder us from coming to know him.

Our Lord is not angry with us, but rather, he has a zeal and a passion for us and zealously moves with great passion for us all to shake lose all that would hinder us from knowing him. Our God is not angry nor filled with "wrath" at us for any of our short comings. Jesus has come for and to us, in a most passionate way all to show us

his love and his divine desire for us to be with him for all eternity, for this, we can be thankful for his "wrath" against us. This is the "wrath" of God.

Benediction: May we each and all be ever grateful for our Lord God’s passionate zeal for us, to remove from us all that would hinder us in our relationship with him, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.