Wrath Revealed

It is an extremely dangerous world you and I live in.  However, this extreme danger is ultimately not the present COVID virus with its new, more deadly strains popping up throughout the world, nor is it the increasing threat of domestic or international terrorism.  It is not the increasing political strife and conflict in this nation and around the world, nor the threat of nuclear war.  It is not global warming and related natural catastrophes as so many politicians claim, nor the result of poverty or racial prejudice and inequality.  The extreme danger every man, women and child faces in every city, state and nation throughout the world every day, is, according to the Bible, the wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32), which all the dangers listed above, are expressions of.

This passage reveals to us both the reason for God’s wrath, and how His wrath has been and is presently being revealed within this present evil world, a world and wrath that Jesus came to deliver us from (Galatians 1:4).

The wrath of God in this passage of Romans refers to God’s active, passionate, personal and necessary expression, His perfect hatred and hostility, His righteous indignation and rage toward sin; His just and measured vengeance toward all of mankind (Romans 3:9-19) who have rejected God’s purpose for and rule over their lives; who in living contrary to God’s purposes and in opposition to His righteous laws, are actively and purposely suppressing the truth of the knowledge of the glory of God that is evident both in the creation (Psalm 19:1-6) and in our consciences (Romans 1:28-32). Therefore, those who continue to do so throughout their lifetime will be without excuse when they stand before God at the end of their lives, where they will be condemned for their ungodly and unrighteous lifestyles (Jude 12-15).

They will be condemned, having no excuse, because all of mankind beginning with Adam and Eve, has had sufficient revelation of God’s glory, of the infinite perfections of His eternal Being, to instill in our hearts a desire to know and love and be loved by God.  All of the natural world reveals that God is infinitely powerful (Genesis 1:1-27), infinitely wise (Proverbs 3:19), infinitely good (Genesis 1:31), and unequivocally glorious (Psalm 19:1-6).

God speaks into existence an infinitely glorious universe with its millions of constellations and its billions of stars and planets; and then the earth and all of the natural beauty of its oceans, rivers, mountains, plants and trees, filling it with the multiple varieties of birds and animals and fish and bugs, all of which were made to display His goodness, wonder and beauty.  He then creates in His image and likeness mankind, to freely enjoy and rule over all that He has created.

Thus, the creation is like a giant cosmic billboard that proclaims and displays the truth, the reality of the eternally majestic God, the “I AM” (Exodus 3:14), who is infinitely worthy of being known intimately, loved supremely, worshiped exclusively, trusted explicitly, obeyed perfectly and enjoyed eternally as the most glorious, most desirable, most excellent, most essential, most valuable, most awesome being in all the universe; the self-existent, self-sufficient creator and sovereign ruler of that universe.  And as such, we are dependent upon Him for all of our good and accountable to Him for how we live in relationship to Him and His creation.

Tragically, it is this dependence upon and accountability to God, which includes His divine right to define for us right and wrong, good and evil, that the devil will use to incite our pride, and invite us to join him in His rebellion against God’s rule over our lives.  He will do this by deception, (Revelation 12:7-9) by disputing the truth of God’s glory, of His desire and ability to make us exceedingly and abundantly happy in Himself, exchanging it for the lie that our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our greatest satisfaction would not be found in knowing and loving and being loved by God, but in our being like God, having the freedom to do whatever we please, whenever we please, however we please, dependent on and accountable to no one, just like God.

The devil diabolically proclaimed to Adam and Eve that they would receive this freedom by eating of the tree that God forbid them to eat from (Genesis 3:4-5), and that there would be no consequences in doing so, contrary to what God had promised (Genesis 2:16-17).   They believed him (the devil) and so has all mankind since, seeking this same freedom by suppressing the glory of God in our seeking our happiness and well-being on our own terms, independent of God and when necessary in opposition to God, taking upon ourselves the prerogative of God to define good and evil, right and wrong, and reaping the woeful consequences of doing so (Isaiah 5:20-21).

In my next post I will look more at how we suppress the truth of God, and how God throughout the ages has and is presently bringing woe, judgement and wrath on those who do, those who live without hope and without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12).

Grace and Peace ×