Wrath!

and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, Revelation 6:16

Webster defines wrath as strong vengeful anger or indignation: retributory punishment for an offense or a crime : divine chastisement. Josh Buice wrote the following about God’s wrath: “God’s wrath is not a reckless rage, an uncontrollable anger, a senseless fury, or an unjust vengeance. The wrath of God is a precise and controlled response to the belittling of his holiness. Everyone who perishes under the wrath of God in eternity will not be because God lost his temper with them and mistreated them.”

The progressive Christian movement has rejected the notion that a loving God would send anyone to Hell.    Rob Bell was a former Mars Hill pastor with over 10,000 members. When he was the pastor, he wrote a book called Love Wins. In that book, he states that Muslims and Hindus will be saved by Christ even if they have not confessed Christ as Lord and Savior. He believes that since Jesus is love, He will send no one to Hell. He is not saying that everyone will be saved, but they cease to   exist if they are not saved. That is to say that they don’t go to Hell; they just go away.

In 2013 the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song the had voted for In Christ Alone, written by the Gettys, but altered a lyric from “as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied” to “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.” The Gettys refused to authorize the change, so they removed the song with   the original lyrics from their hymnal.

God is love but He is also a God of wrath. And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath 0n the nations which have not listened (Micah 5:15),  On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,(Col.2:6), Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Romans 5:9), Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience (Eph. 5:6).

But, Christian, we have nothing to fear from the wrath of God. We have, by God’s grace, been shown mercy. God has written your name in the Book of Life; it cannot and will not be  blotted out. We are saved from the wrath to come.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark