WRATH REVEALED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: As I mentioned last weekend, I hear from people throughout the week as to how much they are enjoying and learning from our series on Romans. One gentleman told me that he learns something new each time and then he goes back and does his own research. I love that! The goal of this series is much more than to figure out how things will be in the end of times and then to argue over our favorite view. The goal is to go back and dig and study the word of God. What we are learning is nothing new. They are like precious jewels that have been buried intentionally and unintentionally in the sands of time. We are simply taking the tools that the Holy Spirit has given us and under his guidance rediscovering these precious doctrines. Today, we will rediscover a doctrine that has, more intentionally than unintentionally, been buried for quite some time. It is the doctrine of the Wrath of God. Today’s message is titled WRATH REVEALED.
Romans 1 (page #1732) 18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.’
Context: As you know, Paul was instructing the Roman church in the first century. He was instructing both the Gentile background and the Jewish background believers on God’s plan of salvation for the world. He explained to them the content of the gospel (the good news) – the righteousness of God. It refers to the justice of God that declares us righteous before him. All this is simply by faith in Christ. What if we don’t receive Christ? The bad news or the antigospel follows. Just like the expression the “righteousness of God” is repeatedly mentioned in Romans, there is another expression that is found once, and the idea is repeated altogether 10 times – “the wrath of God.” The Greek word is “orge.” Another Greek word is used once, “thumos” = rage. In secular usage, orge is more “thoughtful deliberation” and “thumos” is more “thoughtless outburst (See J. I. Packer). In the Bible, they are synonymous. Either way, the point is that if we don’t receive the righteousness of God in Jesus, who became the propitiation of our sins, the wrath of God is upon us. What makes the good news the good news? Bad news! The bad news is that God’s wrath is upon us and coming for us. People have struggled with this concept and have tried to redefine or sideline the wrath of God. A British Scholar named C. H. Dodd (also A. T. Hanson) in the 1930s did not care for this idea. He was a brilliant mind, and he made some significant contributions to the field, but when it came to the “wrath of God,” he felt that this was so primitive and archaic. He knew Greek literature very well in which gods and goddesses would get super angry and do some outlandish things. It didn’t have anything to do with justice, but it was all about ego and wounded pride. The technical term is “anthropopathism.” So, decided to redefine it as nothing more than “an inevitable process of cause and effect in a moral universe.” Even popular preachers have done the same over the past decades. They avoid all this “hell fire and brimstone” preaching because people need to hear positive things…A pulpit search committee once asked for my advice on hiring a new pastor but wanted to make sure that he wasn’t the “turn or burn” type preacher…
Application: What do you make of the “wrath of God?” Have you received the gospel/good news? If not, there’s bad news or the antigospel for you.
You may ask – “What does this have to do with the end-times prophecy? The word “orge” is found about 6 times in the Book of Revelation referring to the wrath of God. Also, the word “thumos” is found about 7 times referring to the wrath of God. Here’s one example: Revelation 6 14 “Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath (orge) of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath (orge) has come, and who is able to stand?” How can we understand end times prophecy if we don’t understand the wrath of God?
With that said, let’s try to understand the meaning of the expression “the wrath of God.” The source of the meaning is the Old Testament. There are 2 main words found in the Hebrew: first is “ ’ap” found over 95 times which literally means “nose” and figuratively “wrath.” The other Hebrew word is “chamah” found over 70 times which literally means “heat” and figuratively “rage.” There’s yet another one used exclusively for God’s anger, “charon,” found about 24 times. Most of the times, the Hebrew words for anger are not necessarily used but the fact that God gets angry is very clear. God’s anger or wrath is a function of his holiness (D. A. Carson). God is not some emotional and angry being, but “he is determined in his holiness to oppose evil.” For God to back up on his wrath would be for God to back up on his holiness. For God to back up on his holiness would be for God to cease being God. For God to cease being God, lights out!
Here are some examples from the Old Testament:
- Self-description: Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,
- Against Evil: Job 4 8 Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same. 9 By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.
- Even his people: Psalm 90. 7 “For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. 8 You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.”
There’s another concept often found in the Old Testament. It is the “Day of Wrath”:Isaiah13 6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore all hands will be limp, Every man’s heart will melt, 8 And they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take hold of them; They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth;They will be amazed at one another; Their faces will be like flames. 9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.11 “I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12 I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold, A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, And the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.
Paul was trying to teach the church in Rome and us about the wrath of God:
- The Wrath of God at present is hidden but active.
- It is neither blind rage nor emotionless action.
- It is personal.
- It is a rational, reasonable, and willed response to sin.
- The “wrath of God” is a Subjective Genitive (God centered), not Genitive of Origin (Man centered).
- For more info, see S. H. Travis, Christ and the Judgment of God.
Romans 1 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them….24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions…28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Application: Can you see the wrath of God on our world?
2. The Wrath of God in the end-times will be open, comprehensive, and catastrophic.
Romans 2 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, (both orge and thumos here) 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
Romans 5 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Elsewhere, Paul explains this even more clearly:
1 Thessalonians 1. 9 For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 5 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Most people can see the wrath of God in the Old Testament, but they think that the New Testament is different, full of love and grace. Not true. It is the same righteousness and wrath of God found in experience and types in the Old Testament that is now on full display in the New Testament. It is not gone. Instead, it is on full display on the cross. Jesus demonstrates for us the ultimate righteousness of God and the wrath of God. Of course, he also demonstrated the love of God.
Is it really necessary for God to be angry over sin? My personal story of someone stealing my phone case and my anger over that. Imagine that multiplied by infinity!
Invitation: Do you have reason to be comforted? Are you comforting others? Are you saved?