We’ve been talking about a little discussed, and not a very popular topic called ‘God’s Wrath’.
The ‘wrath of God’ is not so much about “God’s Gonna Get You Because You Messed Up!’. The fact of the matter is...we were ‘already gotten’...and Jesus came to ‘get us out’. Whose ‘got you’, you might be wondering? (Well, 2 Tim.2:26 is one place to begin.)
That is what it means though to be ‘saved’...Jesus came to ‘save us from the wrath of God’. (Rom 5:9) Psalm 78:49 gives is insight as to ‘what’ the ‘wrath of God....is.
And if/when a new believer does not continue on, with their whole heart, in following Jesus, they are subject to ‘staying gotten’ or being ‘re-gotten’. Yes...that can really happen.
This...is where I believe we have been led astray or failed to truly understand just what the ‘wrath of God is and how it is very much a factor in why many people are struggling today.
First of all, Jesus explains what happens when these ‘unclean spirits’ go out of a man. And should we fail to follow and obey, we may end up in a worse condition than we were at first. (Matt. 12:43-45) His words, not mine.
When Paul warns us to ‘be not deceived with empty words...for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience’ (Eph. 5:6) it might be worth exploring what this pertains to. Many, many people today have been misled in to believing that because they ‘prayed a prayer’ and/or ‘joined a church’, that they are somehow immune or protected from the ‘wrath of God’. Nothing could be further from the truth if they have not made Jesus their Lord and turned to Him with their whole heart. And then got ‘in the Ark’, to escape the flood of God’s wrath.
What I am sharing here is coming straight out of our bibles. But it can hit you in such a way where your first thought is ‘This cannot be true’ and ‘if it is, why have I never heard it before?’.
I want to just continue sharing statements of fact supported by the bible for you to look up on your own. I’m not here for any other reason other than to share what your bible is saying. What you do with this information is entirely up to you.
Romans 1:18 declares that the “wrath of God IS BEING revealed from heaven against ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men...” It does not imply that ‘it will be in the far off future’, but IS BEING...as in now. (Matt. 3:10)
Later down in that same chapter it list many of those attributes that God considers or identifies as being evil and wicked, spurned from a ‘debased mind’. (Think carnal mind vs. spiritually minded-Rom. 8:5-8}. Some of those ‘ungodly’ or ‘unrighteous’ acts include everything from sexual immorality, to strife, deceit, gossip, murder, envy, unforgiving, etc. These would align with all the ‘evident deeds of the sinful flesh nature that Paul addresses in Gal. 5:19-21.
He mentions there as well that people who practice such things have no inheritance in the kingdom of God, prefacing the fact that IF...one is truly being led by the Spirit, they won’t be fulfilling these tendencies of the flesh nature. (Gal. 5:16). Want to take a guess why that is? Because they have crucified the deeds of the flesh nature with all its sinful passions and desires. (Gal. 5:24).
That is, after all, what children of God who are led by His spirit are busy doing as followers of Jesus. (Rom. 8:13-14)
Why do you suppose after Jesus healed a lame man and then seeing him a short time later moving about in the temple, admonished him to ‘go and sin more or something worse might come upon him’?
Imagine if you will...that when sin entered the world, it ushered in a flood of darkness and death (which God warned would happen back in Gen. 2:17 and in turn, removed God’s protective hedge or barrier that previously existed. Remember, Satan and all his fallen angels were already here on the earth after the rebellion in heaven. (Rev. 12:7-12). Do you remember what God did in Gen.2: 8? “He planted a garden and put man in that garden’. We also read in places in the NT when God plants a garden or vineyard, he sets a hedge around it. (Matt. 22:33) Hedges are there for protection.
But God did not abandon us ...He still makes a way for us to have relationship with Him so long we meet certain conditions. And having relationship with Him and meeting those conditions have great blessings included IF we meet those conditions and...consequences when we don’t. There’s always been ‘conditions’ and that should not surprise any of us. This was true in both the OT and the NT.
As I continue to write and post these...please know I am fully aware how this must be impacting some of you...and it’s a struggle trying to wrap your head around some of this. But as I have stated previously....when you wake up after being in a deep sleep and you sense the ‘house is on fire’...it is a jolt to your senses. But praise God He is waking us up. (Matt. 25:6)
That passage I cited earlier in Romans 1 where Paul lists a number of those godless and unrighteous acts and traits...he concludes with this sobering reminder...”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.” (1:32)
“Deserving of death”? Are we talking about the same God we’ve been introduced to and taught about over our lives? Did your bible really say that people who ‘practice such things are deserving of death’? Including those who are ‘unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful’?
Now maybe the story Jesus told in Matt. 18 might make more sense, the one about the unmerciful servant. The picture drawn out here is clear. We were forgiven of a great debt in which we could have never repaid, just like the servant in this story. But look what happened when he in turn refused to forgive someone else who ‘owed’ him. He pushed for judgement to be carried out and had the one who owed him thrown in jail. When the king who had first forgiven him hears about this, he orders him to be brought before him where he is called a ‘wicked servant’. (32)
And why is he called ‘wicked’? Because he was forgiven a great debt when he had begged for mercy and then he refused to ‘love others as the king had loved him’. (Does this sound vaguely familiar to what Jesus commands us?
Now look at what happens to him in vs. 34...the king was angry and...’delivered him to the torturers/tormentors until he should pay all that was due him.” Now take a second here and ponder this...just who or what might those ‘tormentors/torturers’ be?
Guesses...anyone?
As Jesus finished up this parable, look at the warning He tags on the end of it. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother of his trespasses.” (35). I don’t know about your bible but in my bible, those words are in red, which means Jesus spoke those words. And for the record, I do not see any asterisk * or disclaimer that exempts ‘believers’ here from being ‘handed over to the tormentors’. In fact, if you read through this one more time...it seems as if He is actually directing this TO believers. (Two obvious clues support that...did you catch them?)
Now look at Eph. 4:27...where we are admonished to ‘give no place to the devil’. Do you think it is even possible that that being ‘unmerciful’ or ‘unforgiving’ can give place to the devil? Sure sounds like it to me from what I read there.
And if you need a little more proof, take a look at 2 Cor. 2:8-11 where Paul was addressing a situation in the church there where a man had been put out because of his sin. (You might make note of 1 Cor. 5:5). Apparently this act of ‘handing him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh’ had the desired results because now he is repentant. So what is Paul’s advice now to the church? To forgive him and to affirm their love and forgiveness towards him. Paul really stresses the importance of forgiving this person...”lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
Are you seeing any ‘dots connected’ here? I sure hope so. This might be a good time to reflect and ask God to reveal your own heart to you...to see if there is anyone whom you have struggled to ‘forgive from the heart’ of their offense...whether they asked for it or not. The stakes seem a bit high here for you if you choose not to release them of their ‘debt’. In fact, I would not be surprised if something significantly positive might transpire in your own life/heart if you ask God for grace to do this very thing. And it might even include praying for...and ‘affirming’ your love towards that person; whether they ‘deserve it or not’. Remember, we are to ‘love others as He first loved us’. And ‘dying to bitterness’ is another way of putting to death this old nature. (Rom. 5:8)
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