"THE WRATH OF GOD-WHAT IS
IT ?"
In I Thessalonians 5:9 God makes one of
the most comforting and truly significant promises to the born-again child of
God: "For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." This
great promise of deliverance from the wrath of God is repeated in Romans 5:9: "Much more then, being now justified by
His Blood, we shall be saved from (the) wrath through Him."
The word 'wrath' is defined as "the strongest of all passions...a
settled abiding condition of mind" by W.E. Vine in his Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words pp.55. This aspect of anger does not manifest
itself in uncontrollable, impulsive outbursts, but instead is a thought out
resolved attitude of justified indignation results in calculated responses of
vengeance through acts of judgment when God is the one demonstrating the ‘wrath’.
God, in His past response to Israel's
sinful conduct when they tempted Him in the wilderness, manifested His "wrath" by not allowing them
to "enter into My rest"
(Hebrews 3:11). His present response of "wrath"
to the unbelieving Jew is documented in Romans 9:22: "What
if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction."
He will pour out His wrath in the future
on the unbelieving Jew and Gentile alike during His devastating time of
judgment at the end of the age: "And
said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him
that sits on the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of
His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:16, 17).
God
through the prophet Zechariah proclaimed:
"And it shall
come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be
cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the
fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is
tried..." (Zechariah 13:8, 9).
God will most definitely use His wrath to penalize, purge and purify His
earthly people, the nation of Israel, during the Day of the Lord.
His wrath will also be poured out upon the
ungodly Gentile nations, who have been given abundant opportunity to turn and
repent of their sin, as shown in Revelation 9:20, 21:
"And the rest
of the men which were not killed by these plagues; yet repented not of the
works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold,
and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood; which neither can see, nor hear,
nor walk; Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor
of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
However, in order to accurately answer the
specific question "The Wrath of God-What is It?" we must first turn
to the vivid portraits painted by the Old Testament prophets of this
unprecedented time of cataclysmic judgment on the earth. As we survey these
prophetic passages of Scripture, we will be looking for and identifying:
1.
The Distinguishing Name/Title given for the wrath of God
2.
The Defining Description of the wrath of God
3.
The Definite Person responsible for this fierce, unprecedented wrath of God
which will be poured out upon the earth.
In Isaiah 13:6, 9, 10, 13 this description
of God's wrath is given:
"Howl ye; for the Day of the Lord is at
hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Behold, the Day of the Lord cometh, cruel
both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall
destroy the sinners out of it. For the
stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the
sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her
light to shine. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove
out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts and in the day of
His fierce anger."
Zephaniah also pinpoints and describes the
wrath of God:
"The great Day
of the Lord is near, it is near, and hastes greatly, even the voice of the Day
of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath,
a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of trumpet
and alarm...Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them
in the Day of the Lord's wrath." (Zephaniah 1:14-18)
These two Old Testament writers speak as
one, the Distinguishing Name/Title for the wrath of God is unmistakable and
without question called the Day of the Lord.
The Day of the Lord will be an unprecedented time of judgment which is
yet to come upon the world. Also, their
Defining Descriptions of the wrath of God are unmistakable for God "will shake the heavens, and the earth
shall remove out of her place.”
Descriptions such as: "lay the land desolate...destroy the sinners...sun shall be
darkened...the moon shall not cause her light to shine...day of
trouble...distress... wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness...thick
darkness" show that this judgment from God can not be mistaken for any
thing which has gone before because this global devastation is yet future.
Therefore, the Definite Person responsible
for the wrath of God is unmistakably and obviously the Lord of heaven
Himself! The text of Isaiah emphasizes
the fact that this horrendous judgment is from the Lord: "a destruction from the Almighty...in the fierce day of His
anger."(Isaiah 13:6, 13)
Isaiah and Zephaniah specifically use the
word 'wrath' to describe the Day of
the Lord, but, they are not the only prophets to speak of the wrath of God
known as the Day of the Lord. The
prophet Joel's entire book focuses on the Day of the Lord as the following
passages indicate:
"Alas, for the
Day! for the Day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty
shall it come." (Joel 1:15)
"Blow ye the
trumpet in Zion,
and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: Let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble: For the Day of the Lord cometh,
for it is nigh at hand." (Joel 2:1)
"The earth
shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall
be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. And, the Lord shall utter
His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is strong that
executes His Word: for the Day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and who
can abide it?" (Joel 2:10, 11)
"And I will
show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of
smoke! The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before
the great and terrible Day of the Lord come." (Joel 2:30, 31)
"Multitudes,
multitudes in the valley of decision: for the Day of the Lord is near in the
valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall
withdraw their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion
and utter His voice from Jerusalem;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake." (Joel 3:14-16)
The prophet Amos also gives his view of
the Day of the Lord:
"Woe unto you
that desire the Day of the Lord! To what end is it for you? The Day of the Lord
is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met
him; or went into a house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit
him. Shall not the Day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark,
and no brightness in it? (Amos 5:28-20)
The distinguishing features of these passages
are extremely important, for much of the present day prophetic teaching says
the wrath of God/Day of the Lord starts at the beginning of the so-called "tribulation
period" which is identified in the Bible as the Seventieth Week of Daniel
(Daniel 9:24-27). Most agree that the
first of the seven seals is opened at the beginning of this future seven year
time period with the remainder of the seals following sequentially.
But, are the results of these seals
characteristic of the wrath of God/Day of the Lord, or are they the work of
wicked men, Satan and his Antichrist? The answer to this question will help
determine what the Bible teaches concerning the all important timing of
end-time events!
For this reason a careful evaluation of
the Old Testament prophets text is invaluable in determining just when God is
the Definite Person responsible or direct cause of events. With this in mind let us examine and
categorize the title, descriptions and person responsible given by these
prophets with an eye toward determining the Biblical answers.
Name/Title
Description Person Responsible
Wrath of God Wrath of God Wrath of God
Isaiah: Day of the Lord destruction
from the Almighty... the Lord
Wrath of the Lord of
hosts cruel both with wrath and fierce anger... the
Almighty
Day of His anger lay the land desolate...destroy the
sinners the
Lord of hosts
sun shall be darkened...moon shall not
cause her light to shine...shake
the heavens
the earth shall remove out of her place
Zephaniah:
Day of the Lord day
of wrath...trouble and distress...wasteness the Lord
Day of the Lord's wrath desolation...darkness
and gloominess...clouds
and thick darkness. A day of trumpet and
alarm
Joel:
The Day of the Lord
destruction from the Almighty...earth shall
quake the Lord
the heavens shall tremble...the sun and moon Almighty
shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining...Day of the Lord is great and very
terrible who can abide it?
Amos: The Day of the Lord Woe unto you...darkness and not
light... the
Lord
even
very dark and no brightness in it
The wrath of God as unmistakably described
by these four prophets is given the Distinguishing Name/Title 'the
Day of the Lord'
which is the most prophesied event in Scripture! Their Descriptions of the
wrath of God are supernatural in nature as the very heavens are altered out of
their normal ways as Isaiah and Zephaniah's vivid description portray. God's
divine activities are openly evident in the writings of these two men as these
supernatural events are unmistakably God's working.
Isaiah 2:11, 12 gives us additional
insight into God's prominence during this time of judgment: "The lofty looks of man shall be
humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon
every one".
God and God alone will be exalted and
recognized as the only one responsible for this time of cataclysmic judgment!
When He is the author of events there will be no question as to the
supernatural nature of His working, unlike the results of the first five seals
of Revelation when the one causing the turmoil on earth is neither openly
obvious nor supernatural in nature and does not parallel the wrath of God as described
by these four prophets.
The descriptions given by these prophets
in the passages above focus on the judgment of the Day of the Lord which is the
wrath of God from which the saints will be delivered. In each of these passages one outstanding and
significant feature is mentioned which ties all of them together. This feature is the supernatural darkness!
The wonders in the heavens will result in the total darkening of the entire
planet earth! Joel tells us this will
occur "before the great and
terrible Day of the Lord come." (Joel 2:31)
This is echoed by Peter in his sermon
found in Acts 2:20 when he too proclaims the prophecy of Joel: "The sun shall be turned into darkness,
and the moon into blood, before that great and notable Day of the Lord
come." This pre-cursor or sign
of the wrath of God/Day of the Lord is the defining element that binds together
with almost word-for-word accuracy four other New Testament end-times passages! Yes, these wonders in heaven, that will bring
about total darkness to the planet and thereby signal that the wrath of God/Day
of the Lord is about to begin, are also recorded in Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24,
25; Luke 21:25; and Revelation 6:12, 13!
The Old Testament prophets in harmony with
the New Testament writers sound the alarm documenting with pinpoint accuracy
that the wrath of God which the believer will be miraculously delivered from by
the Rapture is the Day of the Lord judgment which God will bring upon an unbelieving
world culminating in the battle of Armageddon!
The Rapture, the great deliverance of the Lord, is our 'blessed hope' (Titus 2:13) and will
occur with precise 'just in time' accuracy:
"For God hath not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation [deliverance] by our Lord Jesus
Christ" (I Thessalonians 5:9).
Just as God delivered Noah and Lot saving
them from His “same day” judgment
upon a wicked and unbelieving people, in like manner, He will deliver the
saints by Rapture and the very “same day”
(Luke 17:26-30) pour out His Day of the Lord judgment upon an unbelieving and
unrepentant world!
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