DAY 29: THE WRATH OF GOD

 PHRONESIS DEVOTIONAL

30 DAYS DEVOTIONAL WITH PREACHER SAM

September 29, 2023.

Topic: THE WRATH OF GOD

Bible Reading: Genesis 6:1-9

Verse for Meditation: Colossians 2:9 NKJV

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Just to reiterate what was shared yesterday, every sin committed has its consequences, but that is not God punishing the believer. Every of His punishment was dealt with in Christ, and what He did is so powerful enough to reconcile us with God. The Bible says, “... He [God] forgave all [past, present and future] our sin.” (Col. 2:13 Parenthesis Mine).

Yet as God’s children, we are chastised but through His Word. I have heard some folks say that God allowed certain things to happen to us in order to teach us a lesson. That is not true, His Word is sufficient enough to teach us. Those negative circumstances may occur because of the fallen world that we live in or as a result of the fallen man (E.g. sickness), or as a result of committing a sin, or our ignorance of the devil’s trick or even our carelessness which granted the devil access into our space (E.g. unforgivingness). But never God.

James 1:13-17 NKJV

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.

15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

There are two responses to the gospel; the first is to believe it, then we must emulate it. You cannot live your life carelessly after believing in the gospel; it must show in your service and devotion to God and also in our good works.

Understanding what Christ has done will lead us to service. And the goal of the devotional from day 1 is to cause you to have a better relationship with God, and service and devotion to Him too.

Now to understand God’s wrath we must first of all understand that the whole Bible say just one theme; God’s plan for salvation in Christ Jesus, so the centre focus is Christ.

“You search the Scriptures... these are they which testify of Me.” (Jn. 5:39). The Scriptures that Jesus was referring to at that time were the Old Testament writings (From Genesis to Malachi), and Jesus was saying that they were all a revelation about Himself.

Luke 24:27, 44 NKJV

27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.”

From the above texts we can deduced that the Old Testament is about the promise of salvation, the gospel is about the provision of salvation, and the epistle is about the announcement of salvation. Those promises were concealed in a veiled manner, but were revealed and explained in the New Testament. Thus, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, but the New Testament is the Old Testament explained (Ref; 2Cor. 3:12-18).

I’m saying all these in a bid to say that whatever we have seen about the acts of God in the Old Testament were all explained in the person of Christ Jesus in the New Testament.

Jesus says, “... He who has seen Me has seen the Father...” (Jn. 14:9). The writer of the Hebrews reiterated it, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God...” (Heb. 1:3 NLT). “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. 2:9).

So to understand God’s character, we look at Christ. And was Christ wrathful? No! And by the way, God does not change (Num. 23:19; Mal. 3:6; Jas. 1:17); He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). God did not get born again and decided not to be wrathful anymore.

A careful study of the gospel will reveal to you that in most cases when Jesus used the word, ‘woe’, He was referring to the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus never used it for any of His disciples. These scribes and Pharisees had hardened their hearts towards Christ’s teaching. Hence, God’s wrath is against those who have hardened their hearts to the gospel (Jn. 3:36; Rom. 1:18; 2:5, 8; Eph. 5:6).

Paul wrote, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness...” (Rom. 1:18). That means the response of God against sin is His wrath. And that was satisfied in Christ Jesus! Now as His children, His response to us is His mercy, grace and love.

Now there have been some debates about God being a moral monster. We cannot answer that now, but bear in mind that the nature of God is consistent throughout the scriptures, and that God’s wrath is just.

For instance the great flood, God’s wrath was expressed as a grief and not as a vengeful anger (Gen. 6:6). Hence, God resigned to the fate that the world He created was going to have to come to an end, until Noah. Such resignation was born out of grief.

Time will not permit me to share vividly on the height of atrocities and decadence at that time, but Noah was found to be different. And guess what? God did not destroy the world immediately with the flood. Historians say it took 60 years for the ark to be completed. That means those folks had 60 years to repent, for Noah preached righteousness to them but they didn’t repent (2Pet. 2:5). That level of reprobacy only seems possible because the human race was corrupted.

In closing, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promised, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2Pet. 3:9). It is our duty to tell the world about Jesus, and that God is not mad at them because they sin, but that He loves them and wants them saved. God’s final wrath and judgement is the lake of fire, that is why He is exercising patience and giving them ample opportunity to repent. 

PRAYER:

DEAR FATHER, THANK YOU FOR SUCH REVELATION I NOW HAVE ABOUT YOU. AMEN!

DECLARATION:

I WILL ANNOUNCE THIS GOSPEL AND GET MEN SAVED FROM GOD’S FINAL WRATH.

Bible Reading Plan: Colossians 4; 1 John 4; Proverbs 30