21 Mar 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 them. (John 3:36)
God wants His people to be His messengers, not His editors.
Nonetheless, there are parts of the Bible that every generation seeks to ignore or interpret away. Perhaps the most common sections of Scripture to be put under attack are those pertaining to the wrath of God. When this happens, an avalanche of awful occurs as God’s Word is edited, people are not considered truly sinful, the cross of Jesus is made obsolete, and hell becomes an outdated myth according to “scholars” who forget to be worshipers.
God is holy, good, and without any sin or evil. In fact, the holiness of God is spoken of throughout the Bible more frequently than any other attribute of God. People are unholy, bad, with sin, and evil. For God to remain holy and good, He cannot simply tolerate sin and evil.
God’s wrath is His just and right response to sin. God’s wrath is all justice with no grace, no mercy, and no exception. In the Old Testament alone, there are roughly 20 different words appearing some 600 times speaking of God’s wrath.
Regarding the wrath of God, one theological dictionary says that hell is the place of God’s eternal wrath. This punishment is denominated “endless punishment” by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 25:31–33, 41, 46), in a place of “hell, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:47–48). There the wicked endure endless, conscious suffering (Luke 16:19–31).1
In terms of eternal life, everyone truly has only two options:
Option #1: You Go to Hell
Revelation 14:9–10 says, “They, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.”
Hell is where God’s “fury” and “wrath” are poured out so that people are “tormented” “for ever and ever.” Ruling over hell is Jesus Christ the “Lamb.” Satan does not rule over hell, or anywhere else in eternity for that matter. Jesus Christ is the Lord over heaven, earth, and hell.
Option #2: You Go to Jesus
First Thessalonians 1:9–10 says we “wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
Jesus went to the cross, took our place, and endured the wrath of God for our sins. The issue is simple – you either go to Jesus and accept His offer to endure God’s wrath for you, or you go die and go to hell where Jesus pours out God’s wrath on you.
Have you gone to Jesus, or are you going to hell?
- Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Belfast; Greenville, SC: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002), 529.
