A Harsh Word
Wrath just sounds like a harsh word, doesn’t it? It sounds way worse than punishment or even anger. It seems more in the category of fury, destruction, and violence. Yet wrath is an attribute given to God. He is wrathful and one day sinners will face his wrath.
Part of our world’s problem today is that they make God in their image rather than seeing him for whom the Bible says he truly is. They emphasize certain attributes over others when in reality he embodies every attribute perfectly. We want a loving God who is full of grace and mercy and we want those things to be his only attributes. However, he is also just and wrathful. If we remove any of these attributes then we no longer have the God of the Bible.
We shouldn’t hastily jump to thinking about God’s wrath as we experience wrath from others in our world. God has righteous wrath. He is right to be punish sinners for their sins against him. Packer reminds us that, "God’s wrath in the Bible is always judicial—that is, it is the wrath of the Judge, administering justice" (151). He goes on, "In the second place, God’s wrath in the Bible is something which people choose for themselves" (152).
God’s offer of grace is available to all people. However, Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:3 that we are all children of wrath by nature. We all reject God. Thankfully, God is the pursuer of us. He sent his own Son to purchase sinners for himself and adopt them into his family. God is infinitely good in giving Jesus.
How should we then respond? We should warn others of the wrath of God and joyfully proclaim to them his goodness in Jesus Christ. We should weep for our lost loved ones, pray for them, and seek to persuade them in the Good News. Packer reminds us, "Nobody stands under the wrath of God except those who have chosen to do so" (153). But let us live by the words of Charles Spurgeon who said, "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for."
