Day of God's Wrath

                                                                                                                                          

Aloha Dearest Family,  

                A few months ago I wrote about what future paradise will be like. Today’s sharing will focus on a different aspect of the end times. 

       

                Much has been said and written about the coming ‘tribulation’. Many teachers and preachers have taught on it and many books have been written concerning what will occur and when it will happen. There have even been those who were convinced that the “end of the world” would happen on a specific date. And as that date approached their followers sold all they owned and waited for it with great expectation - only to be devastated that the event did not occur and they walked away feeling duped and deceived. As in everything, we need to go to the Word of God to find out what God says rather than what man thinks.

                The Bible says that there is a day coming that will be unlike any that the world has ever seen or experienced before. This time in scripture is referred to as the Day of God’s wrath or Day of the Lord and is written about throughout scripture.  Now some have said that we are living in this tribulation period right now, but if we read scripture, we will see that this just is not so.  

                “For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near-- a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations.” (Ezekiel 30:3)

                “See, the day of the LORD is coming --a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.” (Isaiah 13:9)

                “I will bring such distress on all people that they will grope about like those who are blind, because they have sinned against the LORD... Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD's wrath." In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.” (Zephaniah 1:17 and 18) (Also see the book of Revelation) 

As you can see, we are not living in this tribulation period now. This time will be horrific. No man or woman would want to live through this time period. Now you may ask why would a loving God do such a thing?    

  

There are many wonderful attributes of God. The Bible says that God is love (I John 4:8) and God is Light (I John 1:5) but also among these attributes is His justice. Because God is love he is also just. Justice is ‘to give each one his due.' It is in God’s nature to reward the good with blessings and punish the wrong doers. This is right - it is just.  No one complains when a murderer is sentenced to life in prison. Why? Because that is his due. He has reaped the consequences of his actions. This is not only the ways of man but it is also God’s way. The Day of the Lord is set aside to weed out the righteous from the sinners and to destroy the unrighteous ones (including the antichrist, the devil and his devil spirits). At that time, all men and women who have ever lived, will be judged for the works that they have done. God is very patient and is abundant in longsuffering (Psalms 103:8) and He has reserved His anger and His wrath until the end of times. He has revealed much of this terrible day in His Word so that people can make a choice. They can either choose to follow after good or to follow after evil. It is God’s wish that all choose what is right. It is not God’s will that anyone perish but that they find the truth (Ezekiel 33:11, II Peter 3:9).  

It states in Romans 3 that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and that there are no righteous people -no not even one (Romans 3:12 and 23). So what makes us think that we can escape the wrath to come?

Enter Jesus Christ! It states in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. Because we were all sinners in God’s eyes, we were all deserving of death and God’s wrath. And this would be right and just. But a wonderful thing happened. Jesus Christ came and died in our place. The penalty that we deserved, he took for us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for (in place of) us.” (Romans 5:8) He died in our place. And because we have confessed him as our Lord, we are now justified (found innocent of all charges against us) and judged righteous in God’s eyes. We now have been given the gift of eternal life, 

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Jesus Christ – the greatest Savior and Deliverer.

But what has all this to do with God’s day of wrath? God tells us.

“Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:9)

“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (I Thessalonians 1:10)    

             

There is absolutely a day coming when God pours out His anger and wrath upon the earth; a day of great tribulation and distress. But not for us. We have been saved from it. Before this most horrible day comes, Jesus Christ will come and gather his church and take us back with him (I Thessalonians 4:16 and 17). The next verse says it all, 

"Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

                  Love Always, Ray

Note: Some have used the following verse to teach that Christians will still be judged, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (II Corinthians 5:10) We must remember that we have already been judged righteous in Christ. In this verse, the Greek word for judgement seat is bema. In the ancient world the Bema was an elevated platform where the winners of the games would receive their rewards. We will also stand before the Bema to receive our crowns and rewards when Christ returns for his church.