Jesus Christ Who Delivers Us from the Wrath to Come
God hates sin, and He hates those who do iniquity (Ps 5:5; 11:5). He is angry with the wicked every day (Ps 7:11). God, unlike sinful man, is perfectly righteous in His anger.
When God acts upon His hatred, it is called “the wrath of God.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31), who executes justice against sinners, in His wrath.
The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Rom 1:18). People are warned by faithful preachers, “to flee from the wrath to come (Mt 3:7; Lk 3:7).” The judgment of God against sinners is sure, and there is eternal punishment waiting for lawless rebels (Mt 25:46; Jude 1:7).
All people are conceived under God’s judgment of Adam, that is, humanity. In Adam, all die (1 Cor 15:22), and it is appointed for each man to die (bodily), once, and then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27).
Jesus Christ is the just Judge of the whole earth. His judgment seat is upon the great white throne (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11), and everyone must appear before Him, on the Day of Reckoning, in which He will mete out His vengeance (Rom 12:19).
On that day, in terror, men will wish for rocks to fall on them, in the hope of escaping the wrath of the Lamb of God (Rev 6:15–17). Few will dare to even speak or write of these matters, despite the plethora of biblical content devoted to this subject.
The final end of the sons of Adam, the sons of disobedience, who are identified as children of the devil (Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:10), is fiery hell for eternity. This is just punishment for sinners, who are already condemned (Jn 3:18), by the inheritance of sin from Adam (Rom 5:12) and by their own practice of sinning against God (Rom 3:23).
Sinners live each day, storing up wrath for the Day of Wrath, the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:5). For this reason, we must ask, “Who can deliver us from the wrath to come?” The Apostle Paul informs us that Jesus Christ is the One who delivers us, His people, from the wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10).
We see God’s wrath upon the world in the Great Flood (Gen 6–9). We see it localized at Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 19) and also at the Red Sea crossing (Ex 14). It visits families, as with Korah (Num 16). God’s wrath can be upon individuals, as it was with Lot’s wife, King Saul, and Judas Iscariot.
For this reason, people should fear God and keep His commandments (Dt 8:6; Eccl 12:13), but the flesh is weak and ever warring against the Spirit (Gal 5:17). No one is willing or able to obey God (Rom 8:7), and for this reason, in God’s predetermined plan (Acts 2:23), He has appointed His only begotten Son to be the Savior (1 Jn 4:14), who delivers us from the wrath of God to come (1 Thess 1:10).
When Jesus Christ went to the cross of Calvary, He suffered the wrath of God against the sin that was laid upon him, our imputed sin to Him (Is 53:12; 1 Pet 2:24). Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21), and the way He finished this work was to become sin for us, and then endure God’s wrath against sin in His body (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24).
Jesus was crucified (Mt 27:35). He died in shame and humiliation, as a common criminal. As the sin bearing substitute sacrifice, in the place of His people, Jesus bore our sins in His body and shed His precious blood for our forgiveness (Eph 1:7). As the just for the unjust (1 Pet 3:18), He became a curse for us (Gal 3:13), that we might live at the cost of His death.
As a propitiation for the sins of His people (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17), from all over the world and across time, Jesus absorbed the wrath of God directed at His beloved bride, His church (Eph 5:25). He demonstrated the greatest love (Jn 15:20), by sheltering the ones He loved from the beginning, whose names were written in His book (Rev 13:8).
At the cross, Jesus delivered us, His church, from the wrath to come. Those condemned already have the fearful expectation of that great and terrible day forthcoming (Joel 2:1; Mal 4:5). Those who have received the token of His love (2 Cor 5:5) in their hearts, have the hope of the resurrection and eternal life before them. For, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1).
Christians have no fear in death because they no longer fear the judgment. The love of Christ has convinced us and compels us to us to live godly in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:10; Gal 2:19; 2 Tim 3:12; Titus 2:12; 1 Pet 4:2). Christ is in the believer, by His Spirit, and the believer is seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). This is an inseparable union with Christ that not even death can separate (Rom 8:35–39).
We conclude with great joy that it is Jesus Christ, who delivers us from the wrath of God, to come on the Last Day. He has done great things, as our strong deliverer. He is mighty to save, and God has given us His Word and His Spirit to comfort us, “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words (1 Thess 4:17–18).”
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 19, 2022
