Father, God, because of Your being righteous and just, You reveal Your wrath "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1 :18 KJV).
We also know from Your Word, that those who do not have Your Son, do not have everlasting life, "but the wrath of God." Your wrath, Father, "abideth" on those persons (John 3:36); that is a fearsome phenomenon on which to ponder!
Your wrath has been described as being "furious" and of "great vengeance" (Ezekiel 25:17 & Nahum 1:2-6 KJV) like that of grapes being trampled in a wine press (Revelation 14:10 & Isaiah 63:1-6).
Great and terrible is the force of Your wrath, Father! Indeed in Revelation there are several terrifying accounts of the wrath of God being meted out upon the wicked. As angels unseal seals allowing the judgments' full sway, we read of torment with fire and sulfur (Revelation 14:10). Your wrath, oh Father God, "poured full strength" as if in a "great wine press of the wrath of God".
The seven angels, each with a golden bowl of God's wrath gets poured out one by one. Look at the list of God's fury as the bowls are poured out onto the earth: the people who have the mark of the beast and have worshiped it suffer harmful and painful sores; another bowl is poured into the sea and the sea becomes blood causing every living thing to die; rivers and springs of water become full of blood; the sun is so hot the people get scorched with its fierce heat; another bowl is emptied onto the throne of the beast and its kingdom and all are plunged into darkness causing the people to gnaw their tongues in anguish; the Euphrates River is another recipient of an angel's bowlful and the water dries up preparing the roadway for the armies of Armageddon; and the seventh bowl is poured out into the air, a catalyst sparking thunder, lightning, earthquakes that cause the city to split into three parts, and great hailstones weighing about 100 lbs each (45 kg) [Revelation 16].
Yet the people still curse God and are unrepentant!! Can you imagine all that terror and then rebellion? God is definitely justified (not that He needs our permission) in what He does. "Your wrath, oh Father God, "poured full strength" as if in a "great wine press of the wrath of God" is formidable."
"If it were not because of Your mercies, Father, we all would be consumed! We praise You and thank You for Your overwhelming mercies; those mercies that are new and abundant every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23)!
You continue to tell us, and we are so glad you did, in the revelations You gave to John on the Isle of Patmos, that there will be an end to Your wrath poured out on Earth. Revelation 15:1 says,
"Seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last for with them the wrath of God is finished."
Then we read of how those angels did pour out the "wrath of God" and that it must have been so very awful! There was lots of smoke as Your power came out to fill the sanctuary, obliterating the sight until the "seven bowls full of the wrath of God,"..."was finished" (Revelation 15:7-8).
Father, God, no wonder there is such a parenthesis of praise and worship with harps and song, giving adoration to You! (Revelation 15:3-4). Your holiness always fills and reveals to us Your righteous acts. Thank-You, Father!
Most of all, on Lord's Day, as we break the bread and drink from the cup of wine, symbolizing our rescue plan through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, we, too, thank, praise and worship You for giving us the gift of faith to accept your gift of salvation extricating us from the "wrath of God"!
We give you praise that this is a very different cup. It is not a cup of Your wrath upon the people You were rescuing but upon Your Son Jesus Christ. For Your Son, it was Your wrath he endured on our behalf; for us it was, and still is, a cup of your mercy and love and forgiveness and LIFE!
One of the stanzas of Keith and Krystin Getty's song In Christ Alone, sums it up so succinctly...
In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,Fullness of God in helpless babe!This gift of love and righteousness,Scorned by the ones He came to save.'Til on that cross as Jesus died,The wrath of God was satisfiedFor ev'ry sin on Him was laidHere in the death of Christ I live.
In Jesus Name, we give You thanks and praise.
Here is another song of praise to help fill our hearts with gratitude; Oh the Mercy of God by Geoff Bullock.
~ERC July 2018~
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