The wrath of God is a forgotten doctrine, even in the evangelical church. Part of the problem lies in the area of definition. When we use the word wrath we tend to think of uncontrolled anger. While that may be true of human wrath, it is far from the truth about God’s wrath. Here’s a working definition: God’s wrath is his settled hostility toward sin in all its various manifestations. To say it is "settled" hostility means that God’s holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever. God’s wrath is his holy hatred of all that is unholy. It is his righteous indignation at everything that is unrighteous.

Please note these distinctions. God’s wrath is not uncontrollable rage, vindictive bitterness, or God losing his temper. The Bible says in more than one place that God is "slow to anger" (Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 103:8 ). God never "loses his temper" the way we do. Wrath is God’s "natural" response to sin in the universe. He cannot overlook it, he cannot wink at it, he cannot pretend it is not there.


[list]
[li]Wrath is what happens when holiness meets sin.[/li]
[li]Wrath is what happens when justice meets rebellion.[/li]
[li]Wrath is what happens when perfect good meets pure evil.[/li]
[li]Wrath is what happens when righteousness meets unrighteousness.[/li]
[/list]


As long as God is God, he cannot overlook sin. As long as God is God, he cannot stand by indifferently while his creation is destroyed. As long as God is God, he cannot dismiss lightly those who trample his holy will. As long as God is God, he cannot wink when people mock his name.

God’s judgment on sin (in this life) is generally not of the fire and brimstone variety. That rarely happens. When God wants to judge a community or a nation, he simply lets sin take it natural course. If we insist on destroying ourselves, God says, "OK, go ahead and destroy yourselves. I won’t stop you." He simply lets us go our merry way. The true judgment on the human race is that man has turned away from God and does not realize it.

What is the judgment of God when men turn away from him? God "gives them up" to their own devices (Romans 1:24-32). He lets them follow their own desires. He doesn't try to stop their meteoric descent into the abyss. God "abandons" the human race by letting men reap what they sow. Nothing more terrible could ever be contemplated. When men "abandon" God in their thinking, God "abandons" them. He respects the choices we make. If a man or a woman decides to live without Him, He says, "Fine. You can live without me. In the end, you'll be sorry. But if that's your decision, I'll respect it."

To speak this way is not to deny the biblical truth of God's grace that goes far beyond our sin. But our problem is not that we have over-emphasized God's wrath, but that we have hardly mentioned it at all. The late Francis Schaeffer remarked that if he had an hour to witness to a man he would never meet again, he would spend the first 45 minutes talking about sin, righteousness and judgment, and the last 15 minutes talking about the gospel message. That's a pattern we could all do well to follow. The gospel will never be truly Good News until people have first understood the Bad News that makes the Good News necessary.

Source

Re: God's Wrath -- A Forgotten Doctrine

Excellent thread here!

frosbel:

The gospel will never be truly Good News until people have first understood the Bad News that makes the Good News necessary.

Bang on point!

This is so inspiring, thanks frosbel, God bless you. God2man.

@ frosbel

The late Francis Schaeffer remarked that if he had an hour to witness to a man he would never meet again, he would spend the first 45 minutes talking about sin, righteousness and judgment, and the last 15 minutes talking about the gospel message. That's a pattern we could all do well to follow. The gospel will never be truly Good News until people have first understood the Bad News that makes the Good News necessary.

as much as i agree with your post, there is a part i want you to consider. God's wrath is not forgotten in our days rather its the dispensation we are that has made it look so. this is the dispensation of grace where you are given enough room to consider the gift of eternal life and make your choice, here you are coerced into decision making:

2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

the grace window is gradually closing up and the wrath of God will soon be unleashed on the ungodly. God does not entertain ignorance here, this is the reason christians cannot keep quiet but must shout about the grace of God available to humanity and the unreserved love God has for them.

Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

there are people that think God is slow to act when it comes to iniquities but they are wrong cos the time is drawing very close when sin will reap its dividends.

@ poster, thanks a lot for this insightful information, God bless your heart.

Our God is the God love; in fact, He is love personified. Notwithstanding, He's also the God of judgement.

He has not and will not condone sin. "the soul that sinneth, it shall die". He doesn't hate man but hate the sin in the man. Knowing man is helpless against sin; He sent His Son to die and give victory over sin to man.

If only you will give Him the chance to set you free from the boundage of sin and make you son/daughter of God!

God does not visit the christians with wrath. He deals with us in love . We may be chastened and rebuked of him but it's still by his love .

Hebrews 12:6
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

The wrath of God is for his enemies .