23 Behold the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intentions of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand this. – Jeremiah 30:23-24
Wrath
Are there many topics more unpopular today than the wrath of God? We would expect those that deny the existence of God and the depravity of man to scoff at such an idea, but what about the so called church? How many buildings are filled every Sunday with desperate people who are being fed two “facts” from the pulpit; God is love and you are inherently good? Obviously the first is only part of the Truth and the second is blatantly false.
It may be easy to draw a crowd by telling people what they want to hear, however, in actuality, it is more loving to tell them what they need to hear. Mankind has a terrible “disease” called sin. The “disease” has a terrible consequence if not cured. Therefore, they need to be told of the “storm of the Lord”, as Jeremiah referred to the wrath of God. The heavens are not nearly as clear and calm as many would have us believe. A storm awaits. As Jeremiah has stated, “a whirling tempest will burst upon the head of the wicked”.
Appealing or not, the wrath of God must not be denied or ignored. As Paul reminds us, it is dangerous to suppress the Truth. Any Truth. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).
Flood
If anyone was familiar with the storm of the Lord, it was certainly Noah. When we think of the flood we picture the ark and the animals and the mercy that was extended to Noah and his family. But what impact did the flood have on Noah?
Day after day the storm of the Lord literally burst upon the heads of the wicked. Noah must have heard their pleas for help as they were overtaken by the flood waters. Their rooftops would only provide a refuge for so long. In desperation they must have climbed trees or ascended mountains to escape the deluge of God’s wrath. But to no avail. The rains of wrath would cover every inch of the earth and drown all life outside the ark.
As Noah looked out and saw the horizon covered with floating corpses and carcasses he must have reflected on the words of God.
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. – Genesis 6:5-7, 11-13
Fire
When the storm of the Lord descends, it doesn’t always do so in the form of flood waters. As Lot can attest. While the “whirling tempest” was descending, Lot and his family were being escorted to safety by angels. Once outside of Sodom, God’s wrath was unleashed on Sodom and Gomorrah in the form of burning sulfur raining down from Heaven.
Like Noah before him, no one could convince Lot that the wrath of God isn’t real. The morning after his escape, a dense smoke was rising from what was his hometown just the day before. All of his friends and neighbors were turned to ashes by the wrath of God. All of his possessions were consumed by the rain of sulfur. To make matters worse, his wife was turned to a pillar of salt for her disobedience.
As the stench of death rose to the mountain where Lot had found refuge, perhaps he reflected on the words of God.
“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me… “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.” – Genesis 18:20-21, Genesis 19:12-13
Lies
We do an injustice to God and to ourselves when we pit the God of the Old Testament against the God of the New Testament. He is One and the same and He never changes. And as the early Church could testify, His wrath wasn’t confined to the events of the Old Testament era.
After Pentecost, the Church was growing in size very rapidly as the apostles were testifying of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 4:33). In order to meet the needs of the new converts, many people were selling their goods and bringing the proceeds to the apostles for them to distribute. As Luke records, “great grace was upon them all”.
But there was a sober reminder in the midst of this “feel good” account. Just after Joseph (Barnabas) sold a field and laid the proceeds at the apostle’s feet, a couple named Ananias and Sapphira decided to follow suit. Except for one important detail. They lied about the proceeds. As Peter confronted Ananias with his sin, God immediately struck him dead and his body was carried out. Shortly after, his wife copied his sin and she too was immediately struck dead by God.
With the wrapped bodies of the deceased couple laying side by side, the young Church was gripped with fear (Acts 5:11). To them the wrath of God was just as real as His grace.
Reality
God’s Word tells us that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). As sinners we are under condemnation (John 3:18) awaiting the wages of death that our sins have earned (Romans 6:23). The wrath of God and eternal punishment away from Christ (Matthew 25:46).
Paul’s warning should keep us sober. “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). Do we really believe we can ignore the wrath of God?
Could Noah ignore the reality of the wrath of God with so much death floating on the flood waters? Could Lot ignore the wrath of God with the stench of death mingled with the smoke arising from Sodom and Gomorrah? With the corpses of Ananias and Sapphira laying side by side the early Church certainly had a healthy reminder of God’s retribution. It is hard to ignore dead people laying at your feet.
Love
What do we do to the heart of Jesus when we ignore or downplay the wrath of God? To Jesus, the wrath of God was so awful that it caused Him to sweat drops of blood as He anticipated drinking the cup. But if we were to be spared the wrath of God, drink it He must.
No, Jesus could not ignore the wrath of God. His struggle in Gethsemane illustrates just how fearful the reality of it is. Accordingly, His struggle in Gethsemane should heighten our understanding and awareness. Our sins are much more grievous and offensive to God than we will ever comprehend. Likewise, Christ’s love for us is much greater than we will ever realize.
Jesus could not ignore the wrath of God in the Garden of Gethsemane with the bitter cup before His face. Nor could He ignore the wrath of God as He hung on the cross with spiritually dead “corpses” covering the earth and the stench of sin filling the air.
Do we have the right to ignore the wrath of God? Only if we want to diminish His love.
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died he for me, who caused his pain!
For me, who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That thou, my God, shouldst die for me? – Charles Wesley