TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Rom. 1:18, N.I.V.
For a long time preachers have been "calling down" the wrath of God against sinners. The message is plain: "If you don't shape up, God is going to get you. And good!" Though they never really say it quite this way, they might as well: "Love God--or else!"
What an incentive to love! But love never happens when demanded "at gun point," as it were. And even if He puts the gun away, as long as you know He's wearing it in His holster and that it's loaded and ready to shoot, it's difficult to warm to His overtures.
What about God's wrath, anyway? It's about time we take a good look at it and see it for what it is. Will what we discover fit into our growing understanding of who God is? Or will we have to live with our old ideas of God's wrath, like it or not? After all, He is God! And the Bible does use words such as "wrath" and "anger" when describing the punishment of the wicked.
The clearest explanation of the wrath of God is found in chapters 1 and 2 of Romans. In our text for today we read, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness." The first indication of what this wrath is referring to is found in verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts" (N.I.V.). Verse 26 echoes this thought ,and verse 27 becomes explicit: "Men...received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (N.I.V.).
It is evident that God's wrath is His posture of allowing the consequences of sinful acts and behavior to fall upon man. In Eden He set in motion the plan of salvation whereby we have been spared, to a great degree, the effects of separation from Him. Were we to experience the actual results of this separation, we would not live to learn the awful truth of it. However, in order for us to experience reality, He allows us to encounter, even now, a measure of the consequences.
Romans 2:5-8 describes the final results of our choices. Those who have sought the Life-giver shall live. Those who have rejected Him have rejected life.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Rom. 1:18, N.I.V.
For a long time preachers have been "calling down" the wrath of God against sinners. The message is plain: "If you don't shape up, God is going to get you. And good!" Though they never really say it quite this way, they might as well: "Love God--or else!"
What an incentive to love! But love never happens when demanded "at gun point," as it were. And even if He puts the gun away, as long as you know He's wearing it in His holster and that it's loaded and ready to shoot, it's difficult to warm to His overtures.
What about God's wrath, anyway? It's about time we take a good look at it and see it for what it is. Will what we discover fit into our growing understanding of who God is? Or will we have to live with our old ideas of God's wrath, like it or not? After all, He is God! And the Bible does use words such as "wrath" and "anger" when describing the punishment of the wicked.
The clearest explanation of the wrath of God is found in chapters 1 and 2 of Romans. In our text for today we read, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness." The first indication of what this wrath is referring to is found in verse 24: "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts" (N.I.V.). Verse 26 echoes this thought ,and verse 27 becomes explicit: "Men...received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" (N.I.V.).
It is evident that God's wrath is His posture of allowing the consequences of sinful acts and behavior to fall upon man. In Eden He set in motion the plan of salvation whereby we have been spared, to a great degree, the effects of separation from Him. Were we to experience the actual results of this separation, we would not live to learn the awful truth of it. However, in order for us to experience reality, He allows us to encounter, even now, a measure of the consequences.
Romans 2:5-8 describes the final results of our choices. Those who have sought the Life-giver shall live. Those who have rejected Him have rejected life.
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