The Cup of Wrath! (Andrew Bonar, 1810–1892)

Psalms 75:8

“For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.” 

It will help greatly to the right apprehension of this solemn subject, to notice that Christ is the speaker of these sober truths. They cannot, then, have been spoken harshly; they must have been uttered in all tenderness.

This shall be in the day when He returns to judge the earth. It is He, meanwhile, who upholds all by the word of His power; He keeps the world from falling into ruin; He it is who sustains that blue firmament, as well as earths foundations, "I bear up the pillars thereof" — and were I to withhold my hand, all would tumble into ruin.

Oh that an unthinking world would consider! Oh that fools would learn wisdom, and the proud fall down before their Lord. For the Judge shall surely come, with the cup of red wine in His hand — a cup of wrath, of which every rebellious one must drink to the dregs! The horns of the wicked shall soon be laid low, and the righteous alone exalted (Psalm 75:9-10).

It is of this cup, that we this day wish to speak to you. It gives an alarming, awakening view of our God and Savior. It is not "God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," but God the Judge, Christ the Judge. It is not the King with the golden scepter, inviting all to draw near — it is the King risen up in wrath, in the evening of the day of grace, to "judge all the wicked of the earth."

Oh there is a Hell, an endless Hell, awaiting the ungodly! The Judge warns us of it — in order that none of us may be cast into that tremendous woe! Say not in your hearts, "God is too loving and merciful ever to condemn a soul to such woe." If you continue in sin, you shall know too late that the Judge does condemn; not because He is not infinitely loving, but because your sin compels Him so to do. Listen to what is written, and you will every unbeliever shall drink of this wine of God's indignation.

I. The Cup of Wrath

The general idea of the verse is, that there is wrath against sin to be manifested by God, terrible beyond conception. As it is written in Ezekiel 18:4, "The soul that sins, it shall die;" and Psalm 7:11-12, "God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turns not — He will whet His sword; He has bent His bow, and made it ready. He has prepared for him the instruments of death." In Psalm 11:6-7, "Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this is the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loves righteousness." In Psalm 21:9, "You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger." In Job 36:18, "Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with His stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver you." In Romans 2:5 we read, You "treasures up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;" and in Revelation 14:9-10, "If any man worships the beast, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of His holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb!" Can words be found more emphatic to express God's indignation at man's sin?

"A CUP" is spoken of. A measured out portion. (Psalm 11:6 and Psalm 16:5, "The Lord is the portion of my cup"). It is frequently used to express a full amount; as when fulfillment of curse is called the "cup of trembling," (Isaiah 51:22); and in Ezekiel 23:31-33, wrath upon Samaria is, "the cup of Samaria."

God's wrath shall be given forth in a measured portion, deliberately and fairly considered. There shall be nothing of caprice, nothing arbitrary, in God's judgment on sin; all shall be fairly adjusted. Here are the sins — there is the cup, of a size proportioned to the sin, and full. God's perfections direct and dictate the filling of it. It is "a cup of red wine." He elsewhere calls it "The wine of my fury;" and Revelation 16:19, it is "Wine of the fierceness of His wrath." In the East, red wine was usually the strongest; but besides, the fiery nature of the contents is indicated by the color.

This "red wine" is pressed out of the grapes by the divine attributes. It must be the concentrated essence of wrath; no weak potion, but one like that in Jeremiah 25:16, where they "drink, and are moved, and are mad;" or that in Ezekiel 23:32, 33, "A cup deep and large; it contains much; a cup of astonishment and desolation, filled with drunkenness and sorrow."

It is "mixed with spices." This signifies that the wine's natural quality has been strengthened; its force has been intensified by various ingredients cast into it. Such is the sense of "mingled wine" in Isaiah 5:22, and in Proverbs 9:5, "Come... drink of the wine which I have mingled." We must distinguish this from the expression "without mixture," in Revelation 14:10, where the speaker means to say, that there is no infusion of water to weaken the strength of the wine.

Here in Psalm 95, there is everything that may enhance the bitterness of the cup; and let us ask, What may be these various ingredients? From every side of the lost sinner's nature, forms of misery shall arise. The body, as well as the soul, shall be steeped in never-ending anguish, amid the unceasing wretchedness of eternal exile and lonely imprisonment. Further, each attribute of Godhead casts something into the cup!

Righteousness is there, so that the rich man in Hell (Luke 16) dare not hint that his torment is too great. Mercy and Love stand by and cast on it their ingredients, testifying that the sinner was dealt with in longsuffering, and salvation placed within his reach. O the aggravation which this thought will lend to misery. Omnipotence contributes to it; the lost man in the hands of the Almighty is utterly helpless, as weak as a worm! Eternity is an ingredient, telling that this wrath endures as long as God lives. And truth is there, declaring that all this is what God spoke, and so cannot be altered without overturning His throne.

Yet more! While shame and contempt, and the consciousness of being disowned by every holy being, fiercely sting the soul — there are ingredients cast in by the sinner himself. His conscience asserts and attests that this woe is all deserved, and the man loathes himself. Memory recalls past opportunities and times of hope despised. Sin goes on increasing, and passions rage; cravings gnaw the unsatisfied soul with eternal hunger! It may be that every particular sin will contribute to the mixture — a woe for lusts gratified; a woe for every act of drunkenness, and every falsehood and dishonesty; a woe for every rejected invitation, and every threatening disregarded. Who can tell what more may be meant by the words: "mixed with spices?"

It has "dregs" in it. The dregs lie at the bottom, out of sight, but are the bitterest. Do these mean hidden woes not yet conceived of by any? Such as may be hinted at in the words, "Better he had never been born!" Such as Christ's woes seem to speak of? These shall be the reverse of the saved man's joys, "which never have entered the heart" to imagine!

Backsliders seem sometimes to have begun to taste these dregs. Apostates, like Spira, have shown a little of what they may be. But oh, the reality in the ages to come! For it shall be the wrath of Him whose breath makes the mountains smoke, and rocks earth to its center. O the staggering madness of eternal despair!

God "pours out of the same." "The wicked shall drink it down to its very dregs!" They are not meant to be merely shown; this is not a cup whose contents shall only be exhibited and then withdrawn. No, the wicked must "drink it" and cannot refuse. When Socrates, the Athenian sage, was adjudged to drink the cup of poison, he was able to protest his innocence, and thus to abate the bitterness of the draught, though he took it as awarded by the laws of his country. Here, however, there shall be nothing like protest, nothing of and such alleviation of the awful draught which the sinner must drink! "God pours out," and the guilty soul "shall drink it down to its very dregs!"

Job 27:22, says "They would gladly flee out of his hand," but cannot, for it is written, "God shall cast upon him, and not spare." In Jeremiah 25:15-16, we have the Lord most peremptorily commanding, "Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad." And further, He insists, verse 28, "But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it!" "They shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty" (Job 21:20).

And what do those words already quoted in Revelation 14:10 mean? "He, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb!"

It shall not, on God's part, be a mere silent feeling of indignation at sin; there must be infliction of curse. There is no thunder while the electricity sleeps in the cloud. The seven seals showed no deliverance for earth, while unbroken; the seven trumpets summoned no avengers, till sounded; the seven vials brought down no judgment, while only held in the angels' hands. Ah yes, the penalty must be exacted, and it will require eternity to exact it all!

O fellow-sinner, we have tried to say something of this doom; but what are words of man? You have seen a porous vessel, in which was fine flavored liquor. Outside you tasted the moisture, and it gave a slight idea of what was within; but slight indeed. So our words today. And remember each new sin of yours will throw more ingredients into the mixture. It is the merciful One Himself, who speaks in Ezekiel 22:14: "Can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken it — and will do it." It is dreadful to read and hear this proclamation of wrath; but it is all given in order to compel us to flee from it. As one of our poets (Montgomery) sings:

"Mercy has writ the lines of judgment here;
 None who from the earth can read them, need despair."
 

II. The story of One who drank this cup to the dregs!

We would not leave you merely contemplating the terrors of that wrath. We go on, in connection with it, to speak of one whose history has a strange bearing on our case.

There has been only One who has ever "drunk this cup to its very dregs!"

Cain has been drinking it for 5,000 years and finds his punishment greater than he can bear, but has not come to the dregs.

Judas had been drinking it for some 2000 years, often crying out with a groan that shakes Hell, "Oh that I had never been born! Oh that I had never seen or heard of the Lord Jesus Christ!" But he has not reached the dregs.

The fallen angels have not come near the dregs: for they have not arrived at the judgment of the Great Day.

The only One who has taken, tasted, drunk, and wrung out the bitterest of the bitter dregs — has been the Judge Himself, the Lord Jesus!

You know how often, when on earth, He spoke of it. "Are you able to drink the cup that I shall drink of?" (Matthew 20:22). "The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). The universe saw Him with it at His lips. It was our cup of trembling; the cup in which the wrath due to the "multitude which no man can number" was mixed. What wrath, what woe! A few drops made Him cry, "Now is my soul deeply troubled!" In the garden, the sight of it wrung out the strange, mysterious words, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death!" though God-man, He staggered at what He saw, and went on trembling.

The next day, on Calvary, He drank it all! I suppose the three hours of darkness may have been the time when He "was drinking down the dregs"; for then arose from His broken heart the wail which so appealed to the heart of the Father, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" As He ended the last drop, and cried out, "It is finished!" we may believe angels felt an inconceivable relief — and even the Father Himself! So tremendous was the wrath and curse! — the wrath and curse due to our sin!

In all this, there was nothing too much. Love would protest against one drop too much; and never do you find God exceeding. Did He not hasten to stay Abraham's hand, when enough had been done on Moriah? and at that same spot again, David's day, when Justice had sufficiently declared the sharpness of its two-edged sword — did He not again hasten to deliver, crying, "It is enough!" How much more then, when it was His beloved Son!

He sought from Him, all that was needed by justice. And so we find in this transaction, what may well be good news to us. For Jesus drank that cup as the substitute for "the great multitude," His innumerable people, given Him of the Father; and thereby freed them from ever tasting even one drop of that fierce wrath, that "cup of red wine, mixed with spices," with its dregs — its unknown terrors.

Now, this One, this One alone, who so drank the whole — presents to the sinners of our world, the emptied Cup — His own Cup emptied! He sends it round the world, calling on mankind  —  sinners to take it and offer it to the Father as satisfaction for their sins. Come, O fellow-sinner, grasp it and hold it up to God! Plead it, and you are acquitted!

Yes, if you are anxious at all to be saved and blessed, take up this emptied cup. However cold your heart, however dull your feelings, however slight your sorrow for sin — take this emptied cup. Your appeal to this emptied cup arrests judgment at once. Do not think you need to endure some anguish of soul, some great sorrow — to take some sips of the red wine, far less to taste its dregs — before you can be accepted. What thoughtless presumption — imitating Christ in His atoning work! If Uzziah, the king, presenting incense when he ought to have let the priest do it for him, was smitten for his presumption — take care lest you be thrust away, if you presume to bring the imagined incense of your sorrow and bitter tears. It is the emptied cup which is offered us, not the cup wet with our tears, or its purity dimmed by the breath of our prayers. Feelings of ours, graces of ours, can do nothing but cast a veil over the perfect merits of Christ!

Children of God who have used this cup — keep pleading it always. Ever make it the ground of your assurance of acceptance. Examine it often and well — see how God was glorified here, and how plentifully it illustrates and honors the claims of God's righteousness. Full payment of every claim advanced by Justice is here; and so you, in using it, give good measure, pressed down and running over! What then remains but that you render thanks and take this salvation, often singing —

"Once it was mine, that cup of wrath,
 And Jesus drank it dry!"

What should ever hinder your triumphant joy? Be full of gratitude; and let this gratitude appear in your letting others know what it has done for you, and may do for them.

For again we say to you, fellow-sinner, if you accept it not, soon you shall have no opportunity of choice. May I never see one of my people drinking this dreadful cup! May I never see it put into their hands! The groaning of a soul, dying in sin, is at times heard on this side of the veil, and it is the saddest and most haunting of all solemn and awful scenes. But what is that, compared to the actual drinking of the cup, and wringing out the very dregs!

Never may Satan have it in his power to upbraid you with having once had the offer of salvation, an offer never made to him! It seems to me that every Sabbath, especially the Lord takes Gospel-hearers aside into a quiet secluded nook, and there sets down before them the "cup of red wine, mixed with spices," and then the emptied cup of Jesus — earnestly, most earnestly, most sincerely, most compassionately — pressing them to decide and be blessed. Men and brethren, never rest till the Holy Spirit has in your eye so glorified Christ who drank the cup, that you see in Him your salvation and God's glory secured beyond controversy, beyond even Satan's power to question or assail!

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The Wrath of God (Arthur Pink, 1886-1952)

It is sad indeed, to find so many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology—or who at least wish there were no such thing. While some who would not go so far as to openly admit that they consider it a blemish on the divine character, yet they are far from regarding it with delight. They do not like to think about it, and they rarely hear it mentioned, without a secret resentment rising up in their hearts against it. Even with those who are more sober in their judgment, not a few seem to imagine that there is a severity about the divine wrath, which makes it too terrifying to form a theme for profitable contemplation. Others harbor the delusion that God's wrath is not consistent with His goodness, and so seek to banish it from their thoughts!

Yes, many there are who turn away from a vision of God's wrath, as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the divine character or some blot upon the divine government. But what says the Scriptures? As we turn to them we find that God has made no attempt to conceal the facts concerning His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him. His own challenge is:

"Look now; I myself am He! There is no god other than Me! I am the one who kills and gives life; I am the one who wounds and heals; no one delivers from My power! Now I raise My hand to heaven and declare, "As surely as I live, when I sharpen My flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will bring vengeance on My enemies and repay those who hate Me. I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword will devour flesh!" (Deut 32:39-42).

A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God—than there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy—He hates all sin; and because He hates all sin—His anger burns against the sinner (Psalm 7:11).

The wrath of God is as much a divine perfection—as is His faithfulness, power, or mercy. It must be so, for there is no blemish whatever, not the slightest defect in the character of God; yet there would be, if "wrath" were absent from Him! Indifference to sin is a moral blemish, and he who does not hate sin—is a moral leper. How could He who is the Sum of all excellency, look with equal satisfaction upon virtue—and vice; wisdom—and folly? How could He who is infinitely holy disregard sin and refuse to manifest His "severity" (Rom 11:22) toward it? How could He, who delights only in that which is pure and lovely—not loathe and hate that which is impure and vile? The very nature of God makes Hell as real anecessity, as imperatively and eternally requisite, as Heaven is! Not only is there no imperfection in God—but there is no attribute in Him, which is less perfect than another.

The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of divine justice, against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence, which He passes upon evildoers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God's government, shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is—which they despise; and how dreadful is that threatened wrath—which they so little regarded. Not that God's anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it—or in return for injury received. No, though God will vindicate His dominion as the Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive.

That divine wrath is one of the perfections of God, is not only evident from the considerations presented above—but is also clearly established by the express declarations of His own Word. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" (Rom 1:18). Robert Haldane comments on this verse as follows:

"The wrath of God was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed, and man driven out of the earthly paradise. Afterwards it was revealed by such examples of punishment as those of the Deluge, and the destruction of the Cities of the Plain by fire from heaven—but especially by the reign of death throughout the world. It was proclaimed in the curse of the law on every transgression, and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice, and in all the services of the Mosaic dispensation. In the eighth chapter of this epistle, the Apostle calls the attention of believers to the fact, that the whole creation has become subject to vanity, and groans and travails together in pain. The same creation which declares that there is a God, and publishes His glory—also proves that He is the Enemy of sin and the Avenger of the crimes of men. But above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven—when the Son of God came down to manifest the divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in His sufferings and death, in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God had before given, of His displeasure against sin. Besides this, the future and eternal punishment of the wicked is now declared in terms more solemn and explicit than formerly. Under the new dispensation, there are two revelations given from heaven, one of wrath, the other of grace."

Again, that the wrath of God is a divine perfection is plainly demonstrated, by what we read in Psalm 95:11: "Unto whom I swore in My wrath." There are two occasions of God's "swearing": in making promises (Gen 22:16), and in pronouncing judgments (Deut 1:34ff). In the former, He swears in mercy to His children; in the latter, He swears to deprive a wicked generation of its inheritance because of murmuring and unbelief. An oath is for solemn confirmation (Heb 6:16). In Genesis 22:16 God says, "By Myself have I sworn." In Psalm 89:35 He declares, "Once have I sworn by My holiness." While in Psalm 95:11 He affirms, "I swear in My wrath." Thus the great Jehovah Himself appeals to His "wrath" as a perfection equal to His "holiness". He swears by the one as much as by the other! Again, as in Christ "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9), and as all the divine perfections are illustriously displayed by Him (John 1:18), therefore do we read of "the wrath of the Lamb!" (Rev 6:16).

The wrath of God is a perfection of the divine character, upon which we need to frequently meditate.

First, that our hearts may be duly impressed by God's detestation of sin. We are ever prone to regard sin lightly, to gloss over its hideousness, to make excuses for it. But the more we study and ponder God's abhorrence of sin, and His frightful vengeance upon it—the more likely are we to realize its heinousness.

Secondly, to beget a true fear of God in our souls: "Let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a consuming fire!" (Heb 12:28-29). We cannot serve him "acceptably" unless there is due "reverence" for His solemn Majesty and "godly fear" of His righteous anger; and these are best promoted by frequently calling to mind that "our God is a consuming fire!"

Thirdly, to draw out our souls in fervent praise for our having been delivered from "the wrath to come" (1 Thess 1:10).

Our readiness or our reluctance to meditate upon the wrath of God, becomes a sure test of our hearts' true attitude toward Him. If we do not truly rejoice in God, for what He is in Himself, and that because of all the perfections which are eternally resident in Him—then how does the love of God dwell in us? Each of us needs to be most prayerfully on his guard, against devising an image of God in our thoughts which is patterned after our own evil inclinations. Of old the Lord complained, "You thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself!" (Psalm 50:21). If we don't rejoice "at the remembrance of His holiness" (Psalm 97:12), if we don't rejoice to know that in a soon-coming Day, God will make a most glorious display of His wrath by taking vengeance upon all who now oppose Him—it is proof positive that our hearts are not in subjection to Him, that we are yet in our sins, and that we are on the way to the everlasting burnings!

"After this, I heard the sound of a vast crowd in heaven shouting, 'Hallelujah! Salvation is from our God. Glory and power belong to him alone. His judgments are just and true. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and he has avenged the murder of his servants.' Again and again their voices rang, 'Hallelujah! The smoke from that city ascends forever and forever!'" (Rev 19:1-3).

Great will be the rejoicing of the saints in that day when the Lord shall vindicate His majesty, exercise His awful dominion, magnify His justice, and overthrow the proud rebels who have dared to defy Him.

"If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord—who shall stand?" (Psalm 130:3). Well may each of us ask this question, for it is written, "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (Psalm 1:5). How sorely was Christ's soul exercised with thoughts of God's marking the iniquities of His people, when they were upon Him! He was "filled with horror and deep distress" (Mark 14:33). His dreadful agony, His bloody sweat, His strong cries and supplications (Heb 5:7), His reiterated prayers ("If it is possible—let this cup pass from Me"), His last dreadful cry ("My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?") all manifest what fearful apprehensions He had of what it was for God to "mark iniquities." Well may poor sinners cry out, "Lord, who shall stand," when the Son of God Himself so trembled beneath the weight of His wrath! If you, my reader, have not "fled for refuge" to Christ, the only Savior, "how will you stand in the swelling of the Jordan? (Jer 12:5).

When I consider how the goodness of God is abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind who said, "The greatest miracle in the world is God's patience and bounty—to an ungrateful and rebellious world. If a prince has an enemy fortified in one of his towns, he does not send them provisions—but lays heavy siege to the place, and does what he can to starve them. But the great God, who could wink all His enemies into destruction, bears with them, and is at daily cost to maintain them! Well may He command us to bless those who curse us, who Himself does good to the evil and unthankful. But do not think, O sinners, that you shall finally escape! God's mill goes slow—but grinds small! The more admirable His patience and bounty now is—the more dreadful and unsupportable will that fury be—which arises out of His abused goodness. Nothing is smoother than the sea; yet when stirred into a tempest, nothing rages more! Just so, nothing is so sweet as the patience and goodness of God—and nothing is so dreadful as His wrath when it takes fire! " (William Gurnall, 1660).

Then "flee," my reader, flee to Christ; "flee from the wrath to come!" (Matt 3:7) before it is too late! Do not, we earnestly beseech you, suppose that this message is intended for somebody else. It is to you! Do not be contented by thinking you have already fled to Christ. Make certain! Beg the Lord to search your heart and show you yourself.

A Word to Preachers—
Brethren, do we in our spoken ministry, preach on this solemn subject as much as we ought? The Old Testament prophets frequently told their hearers that their wicked lives provoked the Holy One of Israel, and that they were treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. And conditions in the world are no better now than they were then! Nothing is so calculated to arouse the careless and cause carnal professors to search their hearts—as to enlarge upon the fact that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11). The forerunner of Christ warned his hearers to "flee from the wrath to come" (Matt 3:7). The Savior bade His auditors, "Fear Him, who after He has killed—has power to cast into hell; yes, I say unto you, Fear Him!" (Luke 12:5). The Apostle Paul said, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor 5:11). Faithfulness demands that we speak as plainly about hell—as about heaven.

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The Wrath of God (Thomas Watson, 1620-1686)

What does every sin deserve? God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41. Man having sinned, is like a favorite turned out of the king's favor, and deserves the wrath and curse of God. He deserves God's curse. Gal 3:10. As when Christ cursed the fig-tree, it withered; so, when God curses any, he withers in his soul. Matt 21:19. God's curse blasts wherever it comes. He deserves also God's wrath, which is nothing else but the execution of his curse. What is God's wrath? I. It is privative. That is, it deprives of the smiles of God's face. It is hell enough to be excluded his presence—in whose "presence is fullness of joy." Psalm 16:11. His smiling face has that splendor and beauty in it, which ravishes the angels with delight. This is the diamond in the ring of glory. If it were such a misery for Absalom, that he might not see the King's face; what will it be for the wicked, to be shut out from beholding God's glorious face! "To be deprived of the sight of God, is the greatest of all punishments." II. This wrath has something in it positive. It is "wrath come upon them to the uttermost." 1 Thess 2:16. [1] God's wrath is IRRESISTIBLE. "Who knows the power of your anger?" Psalm 90:2. Sinners may oppose God's ways—but not his wrath. Shall the briers contend with the fire? Shall finite contend with infinite? "Have you an arm like God?" Job 40:9. [2] God's wrath is DREADFUL. We are apt to have slight thoughts of God's wrath; but it is very tremendous and dismal, as if scalding lead should be dropped into one's eyes. The Hebrew word for wrath signifies heat. To show that the wrath of God is hot, therefore it is compared to fire in the text. Fire, when in its rage, is dreadful. So the wrath of God is like fire, it is most dreadful. Other fire is but painted fire, compared to this. If when God's wrath is kindled but a little, and a spark of it flies into a wicked man's conscience in this life, it is so dreadful, what will it be when God shall "stir up all his wrath"? Psalm 78:38. How sad is it with a soul in desertion! God then dips his pen in gall, and "writes bitter things;" his poisoned arrows stick fast into the heart. "I have suffered your terrors and am in despair. Your wrath has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me." Psalm 88:15, 16. Luther, in desertion, was in such horror of mind, that he had no blood seen in his face—but he lay as one dead. Now, if God's wrath be such towards those whom he loves, what will it be towards those whom he hates? If those who sip of the cup find it so bitter, what will they do who drink its dregs? Psalm 75:8. Solomon says, "The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion." Proverbs 19:12. What then is God's wrath? When God musters up all his forces, and sets himself in battalia against a sinner, how can his heart endure? "Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you?" Ezekiel 22:14. Who is able to lie under mountains of wrath? God is the sweetest friend—but the most dreadful enemy! (1) The wrath of God shall seize upon every part of a sinner. The wrath of God shall seize upon the BODY of a reprobate. The body, which was so tender that it could not bear heat or cold, shall be tormented in the wine press of God's wrath! Those eyes which before could behold amorous objects, shall be tormented with the sight of devils! The ears, which before were delighted with music, shall be tormented with the hideous shrieks of the damned! The wrath of God shall seize upon the SOUL of a reprobate. Ordinary fire cannot touch the soul. God's wrath burns the soul. The memory will be tormented to remember what means of grace have been abused. The conscience will be tormented with self-accusations. The sinner will accuse himself for presumptuous sins, for misspending his precious hours, and for resisting the Holy Spirit. (2) The wrath of God is without intermission. Hell is an abiding place—but no resting place; there is not a minute's rest. Our earthly pains have some abatement. If it is the stone or colic, the patient has ease at times; but the torments of the damned have no intermission; he who feels God's wrath never says, "I am at ease." (3) The wrath of God is eternal. So says the text. "Eternal fire!" No tears can quench the flame of God's anger; no, though we could shed rivers of tears. In all pains of this life, men hope for cessation—the suffering will not continue long; either the tormentor dies or the tormented; but the wrath of God is always feeding upon the sinner. The terror of natural fire is, that it consumes what it burns; but what makes the fire of God's wrath dreadful is, that it does not consume what it burns. "Those that are lost will so die, as to remain always alive." Bernard. The sinner will forever be in the furnace! After innumerable millions of years, the wrath of God is as far from ending—as it was at the beginning. If all the earth and sea were sand, and every thousand years a little bird should come, and take away a grain of sand, it would be a long while before that vast heap of sand were emptied; but if, after all that time, the damned might come out of hell, there would be some hope; but this word "FOREVER" breaks the heart! How does it consist with God's justice to punish sin, which perhaps was committed in a moment, with eternal fire? On account of the heinous nature of sin. Consider the Person offended; it is a charge of the highest treason. Sin is committed against an infinite majesty, therefore it is infinite, and the punishment must be infinite. Because the nature of man is but finite, and a sinner cannot at once bear infinite wrath, therefore he must be satisfying in enmity, what he cannot satisfy at once. (4) While the wicked lie scorching in the flames of wrath, they have none to commiserate them. It is some ease of grief, to have some to condole with us; but the wicked have wrath and no pity shown them. Who will pity them? God will not. They derided his Spirit, and he will now laugh at their calamity. Proverbs 1:26. The saints will not pity them. They persecuted them upon earth, therefore they will rejoice to see God's justice executed on them. "The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance." Psalm 58:10. (5) The sinner under wrath has no one to speak a good word for him. If an elect person sins, he has one to intercede for him. "We have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John 2:1. Christ will say, "It is one of my friends, one for whom I have shed my blood; Father, pardon him." But the wicked who die in sin have none to solicit for them; they have an accuser—but no advocate; Christ's blood will not plead for them; they slighted Christ and refused to come under his government, therefore Christ's blood cries against them. [3] God's wrath is just. The Greek word for vengeance signifies justice. The wicked shall drink a sea of wrath—but not one drop of injustice! It is just that God's honor be repaired, and how can that be but by punishing offenders? He who infringes the king's laws deserves the penalty. Mercy goes by favor, punishment by desert. "To us belongs confusion of face." Dan 9:8. Wrath is that which belongs to us as we are sinners; it is due to us as just wages, which are paid. Use one. For information. (1) God is justified in condemning sinners at the last day. They deserve wrath, and it is no injustice to give them that which they deserve. If a malefactor deserves death, the judge does him no wrong in condemning him. "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged. Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments." Revelation 16:5-7. "After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: 'Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments!' And again they shouted: 'Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!'" Revelation 19:1-3. "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Galatians 6:7. (2) See what a great evil sin is—which exposes a person to God's wrath forever! You may know what an evil sin is—by the wrath and curse it brings! When you see a man brought to the gallows, you conclude he is guilty of some heinous crime which brings such a punishment; so when a man lies under the fierce anger of God's wrath, and roars out in flames, you must say, "How horrid an evil sin is!" Those who now see no evil in sin—will see it looks black, in the looking-glass of hell-torments! (3) See here, that which may check a sinner's mirth. He is now brisk and frolicsome; he "sings idle songs to the sound of the harp" (Amos 6:5). "But know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment!" Ecclesiastes 11:9. Let him remember that the wrath and curse of God hang over him, which will shortly, if he does not repent--be executed on him! The sword of God's justice hangs over a sinner, and when the slender thread of life is cut asunder--it falls upon him! For a drop of pleasure--you must drink a sea of wrath! Your momentary pleasure cannot be so sweet--as God's eternal wrath is bitter. The delights of the flesh cannot countervail the horror of conscience. Better lack the devil's honey--than be stung with the eternal wrath of God! The garden of Eden, which signifies pleasure, had a flaming sword placed at the east end of it. Gen 3:24. The garden of carnal and sinful delight is surrounded with the flaming sword of God's wrath! Use two. For reproof. The stupidity of sinners is reproved, who are no more affected with the curse and wrath of God, which is due to them. "None considers in his heart." Isa 44:19. If they were in debt and the sergeant was about to arrest them, they would be affected with that; but though the fierce wrath of God is ready to arrest them, they have no concern. Though a beast has no shame, he has fear—he is afraid of fire. But sinners are worse than brutish—for they fear not the "fire of hell" until they are in it! Most have their consciences asleep, or seared; but when they shall feel the vials of God's wrath dropping, they will cry out as Dives, "Oh! I am tormented in this flame!" Luke 16:24. Use three. For exhortation. (1) Let us adore God's patience, who has not brought this wrath and curse upon us all this while. We have deserved wrath—yet God has not given us our desert. We may all subscribe to Psalm 103:8, "The Lord is slow to anger;" and to ver 10, "He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities." God has deferred his wrath, and given us space to repent. Rev 2:21. He is not like a hasty creditor, who requires the debt, and gives no time for payment; he shoots off his warning-piece, that he may not shoot off his damning-piece. "The Lord is long suffering to us, not willing that any perish." 2 Pet 3:9. God adjourns the assizes, to see if sinners will turn; he keeps off the storm of his wrath: but if men will not be warned, let them know that long forbearance is no forgiveness. (2) Let us labor to prevent the wrath we have deserved. How careful are men to prevent poverty or disgrace! O labor to prevent God's eternal wrath, that it may not only be deferred—but removed. What shall we do to prevent and escape the wrath to come? [1] By getting a saving interest in Jesus Christ. Christ is the only screen to stand between us and the wrath of God; he felt God's wrath—that those who believe in him should never feel it. "Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come." 1 Thess 1:10. Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace was a type of God's wrath, and that furnace did not singe the garments of the three Hebrew children, nor did they have "the smell of fire upon them." Dan 3:27. Jesus Christ went into the furnace of his Father's wrath; and the smell of the fire of hell shall never pass upon those who believe in him. [2] If we would prevent the wrath of God, let us take heed of those sins which will provoke it. Edmund had a saying, "I had rather leap into a furnace of fire, than willingly commit a sin against God." There are several fiery sins we must take heed of, which will provoke the fire of God's wrath. The fire of rash anger. Some who profess religion cannot bridle their tongue; they care not what they say in their anger; they will even curse their passions. James says, "The tongue is set on fire of hell;" chap 3:6. Oh! take heed of a fiery tongue, lest it bring you to fiery torment! Dives begged a drop of water to cool his tongue. Cyprian says he had offended most in his tongue—and now that was most set on fire. Take heed of the fire of malice. Malice is a malignant evil, whereby we wish evil to others; it is a vermin which lives on blood; it studies revenge. Caligula had a chest where he kept deadly poisons for those against whom he had malice. The fire of malice brings men to the fiery furnace of God's wrath! Take heed of the sin of immorality. "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Heb 13:4. Such as burn in immorality are in great danger to burn one day in hell! Let one fire put out another; let the fire of God's wrath—put out the fire of lust! (3) To you who have a well-grounded hope that you shall not feel this wrath, which you have deserved—let me exhort you to be very thankful to God, who has given his Son to save you from this tremendous wrath. Jesus has delivered you from wrath to come. The Lamb of God was scorched in the fire of God's wrath for you! Christ felt the wrath which he did not deserve—that you might escape the wrath which you have deserved! Pliny observes, that there is nothing better to quench fire, than blood. Christ's blood has quenched the fire of God's wrath for you. "Upon me be your curse," said Rebekah to Jacob. Gen 27:13. So said Christ to God's justice, "Upon Me be the curse, that My elect may inherit the blessing." Be patient under all the afflictions which you endure. Affliction is sharp—but it is not wrath, it is not hell. Who would not willingly drink in the cup of affliction—who knows he shall never drink in the cup of damnation! Who would not be willing to bear the wrath of man—who knows he shall never feel the wrath of God! Christian, though you may feel God's rod—you shall never feel God's bloody axe! Augustine once said, "Strike, Lord, where you will—so long as my sin pardoned." Say, "Afflict me, Lord, as you will in this life, seeing I shall escape the wrath to come!" Thomas Watson, "The Ten Commandments"  https://www.gracegems.org/

The Anger of God (James Smith, 1860)

The greatness of God is unsearchable — and everything in God is great. Everything done by God, bears the stamp of his greatness. If he loves — he loves with an infinite love; and if he is angry — he is angry with an infinite anger. The love of God therefore, is unutterably glorious; and the anger of God is inconceivably dreadful. Moses when he saw God's majesty on the mount, said, "I exceedingly fear and quake," and years afterwards, though he knew God face to face, and conversed with him — yet reflecting upon what he had witnessed of his displeasure, he exclaimed, "Who knows the power of your anger!"

God is only angry with sin — for he hates nothing that he has made, apart from sin. There is something in sin that reaches to his heart, and stirs up his fiercest indignation. He is always angry with sin, see it where he may, or in whom he may. If therefore we would be clear from the wrath of God — we must get rid of sin. God's anger is like his nature — it is JUST — in proportion to the nature, number, and aggravation of the sinner's crimes. God's anger is HOLY — free from any improper bias, or impure mixture. God's anger is CONTROLLED and quiet, not turbulent and boisterous. God's anger is WISE — the very opposite of the anger that is in the bosom of fools, and arises from respect to his character, regard to his law, and concern for the good of his universe. God's anger is OMNIPOTENT — being only restrained by his justice, wisdom, and holiness, otherwise it would crush and crumble to dust every transgressor! God's anger is ETERNAL — for God must eternally hate sin, and be angry with sinners. Unless therefore sin is gotten rid of — the wrath of God abides on us forever!

The effect or manifestation of this wrath on the sinner, is compared to all that is fearful and dreadful that we know of. It is darkness — utter, total, murky darkness. It is cold, piercing, penetrating cold — making the sufferer exposed to it, to gnash his teeth. It is heat — a fire, a lake of fire, a consuming fire, fire and brimstone; the endurance of which is the second death. It is being confined in a horrid dungeon, bound with worse than iron chains, and left in black despair forever! It is an undying worm, gnawing the vitals, and causing the most intensified pain forever. God's wrath reaches to the soul — and it extends to eternity! The sufferings of the body may be dreadful — but who can guess what will be the agony of the soul, suffering under the wrath of God forever!

Well then may we ask, "Who can comprehend the power of your anger? Your wrath is as awesome as the fear you deserve!" Psalm 90:11. If we ask Cain, he cries out, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.'' If we ask Judas, he says, "It renders life insupportable," and he goes and hangs himself. If we ask the infidel on his death-bed, he cries, "Hell would be an asylum — if it would only hide me from the eye of God!" If we ask fallen angels, we hear them cry out to the Savior, "What have we to do with you, Jesus Son of God; we beseech you torment us not!" If we could uncover the vault of hell, and ask lost souls, what, oh! what would they say! Say, as one of old did, "I am tormented in this flame!"

But let us go to Gethsemane and Calvary, and there we shall see something of the power of his anger. When sin was only imputed to his beloved Son, it pleased the Lord to bruise him; and being in agony, he prayed the more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Hear his deep heart-rending groans, his heavy soul-piercing sighs, and his loud and bitter cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" Sustained by indwelling deity, comforted by holy angels — he yet trembled, quaked, and feared; and offered up strong cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.

What must the power of the wrath of God be, which produced such dreadful effects on the pure and holy Son of God? Oh, sinner, the wrath of God will extinguish hope forever! It will prevent the enjoyment of the smallest ray of comfort forever!

Is the wrath of God thus terrible? It is! Is it certain, yes, most certain, that every impenitent sinner must endure it. May it be escaped? Yes, blessed be God, it may, and therefore it is that we write thus, that we may warn you to "flee from the wrath to come!" But it can only be escaped by faith in Jesus, by heart-felt repentance for sin, and fervent prayer to God. No duties you can perform, no sufferings you can endure — will ever deliver you. It must be faith in Jesus, and faith in Jesus alone — producing deep sorrow for sin, and bringing the soul as a suppliant into contact with God.

Hell may be escaped now — but not always. The door of mercy will soon be closed. The way of escape will soon be shut to you. Therefore today, while it is called today, flee, O flee from the wrath to come! For if you do not escape — you must endure the wrath of God forever! Think, O think what will be the bitter sufferings of the soul, upon whom the wrath of God is poured out without mixture, no mercy with it — without abatement, without cessation, always one dreadful, fearful, eternal storm! God's wrath has made him swear, that the unbelieving and the impenitent, shall not enter into his rest — and he will not, cannot violate his oath!

Let us then press home the question to our hearts? "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" None of us need to, for we may escape the lake of flaming brimstone; we may find refuge from the burning wrath of an angry God! Nor only so, we may secure the opposite — all the sweetness of his love, all the ravishing effects of his mercy, all the glories of his heaven — may be secured by us.

Jesus, is the refuge — let us flee to him. Jesus, is the hiding place — let us repair to him. Jesus is the covert from the tempest — let us betake ourselves to him. Yes, to Jesus, to Jesus let us flee! His arms are open to receive us. His heart beats high with pity and compassion for us. His blood will cleanse us from all sin. His righteousness will free us from every charge. In him — there can be no danger. In him — we have no cause for fear. Oh, those precious, those solemn words! O holy Spirit, write, O write them both on the writer's, and the reader's heart, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him!"

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The Wrath Of God (Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981)

We   now come to look at the apostle's final statement about man in sin; and that is, that he is under the wrath of God. In other words Paul deals with sin, as sin affects man's standing before God. He shows what God says and thinks and does about man in that condition which we have already considered: There can be no question at all but that this is the most important aspect of the subject. The others were vitally important, but there is nothing which is as important as this. It is because we so constantly forget this that the world is as it is today - and indeed that the Church is as she is. We are so self-centred and concerned about ourselves that we fail to remember that the most important thing above all else is the way in which God looks down upon it all. That is the subject with which we now have to deal.

      The apostle puts it like this. He says that "we were all by nature the children of wrath, even as others". Here we have a twofold statement. And there is no doubt at all but that these two matters that we are compelled to look at together are two of the most difficult and perplexing subjects in the whole realm and range of biblical doctrine. That is why they have often led to great misunderstanding, and are subjects which people often in their ignorance not only fail to understand but bitterly resent. There is no subject, perhaps, which has more frequently led people to speak - albeit unconsciously - in a blasphemous manner, than this very matter which we are now going to consider. The apostle says two things: that we are all under the wrath of God; and secondly that we are all under the wrath of God by nature.

      Why should we examine these things? Someone may well ask that question. Why spend our time on a subject like this, a difficult subject? There are so many other things that are interesting at the present time and attracting attention. Why not deal with them? And in any case, amid all the problems that confront the world, why turn to something like this?

      Well, lest there be someone who is harbouring some such idea, and is provoked to put such a question, let me suggest certain reasons why it behoves us to consider this matter. The first is that it is part of Scripture. It is here in the Bible and, as we shall see, it is everywhere in the Bible. And if we regard the Bible as the Word of God, and our authority in all matters of faith and conduct, we cannot pick and choose; we must take it as it is and consider its every part and portion.

      Secondly, we must do so because what we are told here is, after all, a question of fact. It is not theory, it is a statement of fact. If the biblical doctrine of the wrath of God is true, then it is the most important fact confronting every one of us at this moment; infinitely more important than any international conference that may be held, infinitely more important than whether there is to be a third world war or not. If this doctrine is true, then we are all involved in it, and our eternal destiny depends upon it. And the Bible states everywhere that it is a fact.

      Another reason for considering it is this: that the apostle's whole argument is that we can never understand the love of God until we understand this doctrine. It is - the way in which we measure the love of God. There is a great deal of talk today about the love of God, and yet were we truly to love God, we would express it, we would show it. To love God is not merely to talk about it; to love God, as He Himself points out constantly in His Word, is to keep His commandments and to live for His glory. The argument here is that we really cannot understand the love of God unless we see it in the light of this other doctrine which we are now considering. So it is essential from that standpoint.

      Let me put it in this way. I suggest that we can never truly understand why it is that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, had to come into this world unless we understand this doctrine of the wrath of God and the judgment of God. As Christians we believe that the Son of God came into this world, that He laid aside the insignia of His eternal glory, was born as a babe in Bethlehem, and endured all that He endured, because that was essential for our salvation. But the question is, Why was it essential to our salvation? Why did all that have to take place before we could be saved? I defy anyone to answer that question adequately without bringing in this doctrine of the judgment of God and of the wrath of God. This is still more true when you look at the great doctrine of the cross and the death of our blessed Lord and Saviour. Why did Christ die? Why had He to die? If we say that we are saved by His blood, why are we saved by His blood? Why was it essential that He should die on that cross and be buried and rise again before we could be saved? There is only one adequate answer to these questions, and that is this doctrine of the wrath of God. The death of our Lord upon the cross is not absolutely necessary unless this doctrine is true. So, you see, it is a vital matter for us to consider.

 Lastly, I would put it in a very practical form. This doctrine is essential from the standpoint of a true evangelism. Why is it that people do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why is it that people are not Christians and not members of the Christian Church? Why does the Lord Jesus Christ not come into their calculations at all? In the last analysis there is only one answer to that question: they do not believe in Him because they have never seen any need of Him. And they have never seen any need of Him because they have never realised that they are sinners. And they have never realised that they are sinners because they have never realised the truth about the holiness of God and the justice and the righteousness of God; they have never known anything about God as the judge eternal and about the wrath of God against the sin of man. So you see this doctrine is essential in evangelism. If we really believe in salvation and in our absolute need of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must start with this doctrine. There, then, are the reasons for considering it. The apostle supplies them; I am simply repeating them.

      Now let us look at the two statements themselves. The first thing the apostle says is that all who are born into this world are under the wrath of God. He says we "were all the children of wrath, even as others"; we were all the children of wrath, as the rest of mankind - that is what "even as others" means. Here we come face to face with this tremendous doctrine which I know full well is not only unpopular at the present time but is even hated and detested. People can scarcely control themselves as they speak about it. The whole modern idea has been for a number of years, that God is a God of love and that we must think of God only in terms of love. To talk about the wrath of God, we are told, is utterly incompatible with any idea of God as a God of love. The way in which it is put is this. They say: Of course that idea of the wrath of God stems from the ancient idea of God as a sort of tribal God. The trouble is that there are still certain Christians who believe in that God of the Old Testament, who was nothing but a tribal God. The gods of mythology were all of that type and of that kind; they displayed their anger and their wrath; but, of course, we know now from the New Testament and from Jesus that this is quite wrong and quite false. We no longer believe in the God of the Old Testament, we believe in the God of the New Testament, in the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You are familiar with the argument. Indeed, some go even further, and say that it is only during the past century that we really have become sufficiently enlightened to understand these matters, and that, until the beginning of this present century, people still believed in the wrath of God, and, therefore, had a completely false conception of God. I remember reading a very learned book in which the author stated that this idea of the wrath of God was nothing but a kind of projection into the character of God of the notion of the typical Victorian father, the stern repressive father who kept his children down and disciplined them severely and punished them. His suggestion was that people just carried that idea over and projected it right into God Himself. But that, he held, was nothing but a false bit of psychology from which we have by now delivered ourselves, and we now know that the idea of wrath in a God of love is something that is self-contradictory.

      Is there any answer to such contentions? Let me dispose of one preliminary misunderstanding. There are some people who completely misinterpret the very term wrath. They think of wrath instinctively as some uncontrolled manifestation of anger. They cannot think of it apart from the idea of somebody trembling in a rage and pale with passion, who has lost self-control and is speaking in a violent manner and doing violent things. Now that is quite a false and wrong idea of the meaning of wrath. Sinful man, it is true, does sometimes manifest his wrath in this way, but all that does not enter at all into the term as used of God in the Bible. Wrath is nothing but a manifestation of indignation based upon justice. Indeed, we can go further and assert that the wrath of God, according to the scriptural teaching, is nothing but the other side of the love of God. It is the inevitable corollary of the rejection of the love of God. God is a God of love, but God is also and equally a God of justice and of righteousness; and if God's love is spurned and rejected there remains nothing but the justice and the righteousness and the wrath of God.

      Now let us demonstrate the contention that this is something which is taught everywhere in the Scripture. In the Old Testament it is to be found at the very beginning. When man fell in the garden of Eden, God visited and spoke to him and pronounced judgment upon him. He drove him out of the garden, and there at the eastern gate of the garden He placed the cherubim and the flaming sword. What is the meaning of the flaming sword? It means just this very thing; it is the sword of God's justice, it is God's sword of wrath and of punishment, punishing man for his sin and making it impossible for him to come back and eat of the tree of life and live for ever. There, at the very beginning, is a manifestation of God's righteous judgment and His wrath upon sin. It is to be found running right through the Old Testament: in the story of the flood, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the various punishments of the children of Israel, whether as a nation or as individuals. The Old Testament is full of this. God has given His law and He has pronounced that if men break it He will punish them - that is His wrath. And when they have done so He has punished them. He has punished individuals, He has punished the nation, even His own chosen people. He punished them, He poured His wrath upon them by raising up the Chaldean army which came and sacked Jerusalem and carried away the people as captives into Babylon. That was a manifestation of the wrath and the righteous judgment of God. It is everywhere in the Old Testament; you really cannot believe the Old Testament unless you accept this doctrine of the wrath of God.

      When you come to the New Testament, in spite of all that modern critics would have us believe, the doctrine is again present everywhere. The first preacher in the New Testament is John the Baptist. What did he say? He said, "Flee from the wrath to come"; "Repent and be baptised every one of you, flee from the wrath to come". The Pharisees came to be baptised of John, and he looked at them and said, "Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" It was his great message. Indeed it was the message of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But, and most surprising of all, we find it in the verse that is generally quoted as the supreme statement of God as a God of love - John 3: 16, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son". Why did He do so? The answer is "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". The alternative to everlasting life is perishing. And it is John 3: 16 that teaches it. But the thirty - sixth verse of that third chapter of John is still more plain, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him". In other words, all men are under the wrath of God, and unless we believe on the Son of God the wrath of God abides upon us. What can be more plain or explicit? There it is in the Gospel of John the apostle of love.

      The apostle Paul teaches the same truth equally clearly. Preaching in Athens he says that, "God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the whole world in righteousness by this man whom he hath appointed". judgment! The wrath of God! In Romans 1: 18, we read: "For the wrath of God is manifested [is already revealed] from heaven, against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men". Paul has no gospel apart from this; it is because of the wrath of God that he is preaching the gospel. In this Epistle to the Ephesians which we are considering, in the fifth chapter and the sixth verse, you get exactly the same thing, "Let no man deceive you with vain words", says Paul "for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience". Again, in summarising his gospel to the Thessalonians in the First Epistle and in the first chapter and the last verse, Paul says that the Thessalonians have turned to Christ and await Him from heaven - what for?--well, he says, because He "delivered us from the wrath to come". The same idea is to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews in several places. And if you go right on to the Book of Revelation you will find it there in a most remarkable phrase. It is a phrase about the "wrath of the Lamb". It seems quite contradictory, quite paradoxical. You think of a lamb in terms of innocence, harmlessness. And yet there is this pregnant phrase, "the wrath of the Lamb". It is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the whole world who is to judge the world in righteousness. So it is quite clear that the idea that love and wrath are incompatible is a complete denial of the plain teaching of the Scriptures. Indeed I would go so far as to say that unless we start with this idea of the wrath of God against sin we cannot possibly understand the compassion of God, we cannot understand the love of God. It is only as I realise God's wrath against sin that I realise the full significance of His providing a way of salvation from it. If I do not understand this I do not understand that, and my talk about the love of God is mere loose sentimentality which is indeed a denial of the great biblical doctrine of the love of God.

      The apostle's teaching, then, is that until we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we are under the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is an expression of God's hatred of sin, an expression of God's punishment of sin. It is a clear statement to this effect, that if we die in our sins we go on to eternal punishment. That is the teaching of Scripture. The wrath of God against sin manifests itself finally in hell, where men and women remain outside the life of God in misery and wretchedness, slaves to their own lusts and desires, selfish and self-centred. The apostle's teaching is that that is the position of all who are not Christians. They are under the wrath of God in this life, they will remain under the wrath of God in the next life. That is the position of the sinner, according to Scripture. If you object to the idea you are objecting to the Scriptures, you are setting up some philosophic idea of your own contrary to their plain teaching. You are not arguing with me, you are arguing with the Scriptures. You are arguing with these holy apostles, you are arguing with the Son of God Himself If you believe that the Bible is divinely inspired, then you must not say, "But I don't understand". You are not asked to understand. I do not understand it, I do not pretend to understand it. But I start from this basis, that my mind is not only finite but is, furthermore, sinful, and that I cannot possibly understand fully the nature of God and the justice and the holiness of God. If we are going to base everything on our understanding, then we might as well give up at this point. For the Bible tell us that "the natural man" and "the natural mind" cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God (see I Corinthians 2). It was the desire to understand that led to the Fall. Intellectual pride and arrogance is the first and the last sin. The business of preaching is not to ask people to understand; the commission of the preacher is to proclaim the message. And the message is that all are under the wrath of God until they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But indeed we must go even one step further.

      That brings us to the second matter. The apostle says that we are all in that condition by nature - "we were all by nature the children of wrath, even as others". What does this by nature mean? We have already shown in a previous study in this series that this has one meaning only, and that is, "by birth". We were all by our very birth the children of wrath even as others. You notice that the apostle does not say that we "become" the children of wrath because of our nature; he says we "were". In other words the apostle, in line with the whole of the Bible, does not teach that we are born into this world in a state of innocence or in a state of neutrality, and that then, because we sin, we become sinners and thereby come under the wrath of God. That is not what he says: he says the exact opposite. He says that we are born into this world under the wrath of God; from the moment of our birth we are already under the wrath of God. It is not only something that is going to happen to us, neither is it something that results only from our actions. There are people who teach that, but that is a blank denial not only of the teaching here but, as we shall see, of the teaching elsewhere in Scripture. He does not say that we are under the wrath of God only because of our nature or because of the manifestation of our nature. He says that we are in that position "by birth".

      What, then, does this mean? The answer is to be found in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans where it is argued out in detail and thoroughly from verse twelve to the end of the chapter. What is the argument? Let me summarise it. In that chapter the one great truth the apostle is concerned to prove is that our relationship, as believers to the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly analogous to our relationship formerly to Adam. He keeps on repeating the comparison and goes back and forth. He talks about what was true of us in Adam and then shows what is true of us now in the Lord Jesus Christ. He starts in verse twelve saying, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned", and so continues. Any careful and unbiased reading of that argument, which is basic to Paul's doctrine of assurance, will compel us to see that all along he says that our relationship to Adam was identical with our present relationship to Christ. If, therefore, we believe that we are what we are in Christ because of what God has imputed to us in Christ, we must also, believe exactly the same on the other side about what was imputed to us in Adam. That is the argument. But the apostle is not content merely to state it generally, he states it in particular also. Let me pick out the important verses. Take verse twelve: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned . . .". The punishment of sin is death. Adam sinned and death came upon him, yes, but not only upon Adam - upon all men. As a result of Adam's one sin, death passed upon all men. Why? The last part of the verse explains - "all sinned" in Adam. That is the statement which we will expound later.

      Then take verses thirteen and fourteen of that chapter. Paul introduces a statement in a parenthesis, beginning at verse thirteen, "For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression". Are you tempted to say, What does all this mean ? I cannot follow it, I want some simple gospel of comfort. That is how we tend to speak, we who think that because we live in the twentieth century we are greatly superior to all generations that have ever lived before us. We pride ourselves on our being so learned and intellectual and able to understand great things, whereas previous generations were primitive. But we do not realise that the apostle Paul wrote these words to people who lived nearly two thousand years ago, and that he meant them to understand them. He was not writing to great philosophers; he was writing to simple Christian believers, many of whom were but slaves, and others soldiers in Caesar's household; and he meant those people to understand these things. Shame on us modern Christians who must be spoon-fed, and who just want something nice and easy and simple. If you do not accept this doctrine, then it is God's Word you are rejecting.

      I again ask, What does it mean? Paul says that until the law sin was in the world. The law was given through Moses, you remember; but there was that long interval between Adam and Moses, at the least it was. probably a period of some two thousand five hundred years. Now during that whole long period sin was in the world, but sin, he says, is not imputed when there is no law. In other words, if there is not a law to define sin, the sin is not brought home to a man. The business of law is to bring the sin home to man's mind and heart and conscience. If there were no laws, for instance, about parking and about motoring, you and I might still do wrong things, but if there were not a law about these matters we could not be punished. That is what he is saying, "sin is not imputed when there is no law". "Nevertheless", he says, "death reigned from Adam to Moses". Here is the problem: though the law was not given until Moses, nevertheless, from Adam to Moses people died. All the people born into the world died. Why did they die? What is it that produced death in those people though there was no law imputing sin at that period? The apostle's answer is that there is only one explanation; they all died because they were involved in the sin of Adam. There is no other explanation. The only reason why death reigned from Adam to Moses is that that one sin of Adam brought death upon the whole of his posterity. In other words, we are born "by nature the children of wrath".

      Notice then the next thing, which is still more extraordinary. He says that death reigned from Adam to Moses, "even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression". What can that mean? It means that death reigned even over those persons who had not actually committed an act of sin as Adam did when he fell. Who are they? And there is only one possible answer; they were infants who died in infancy. All other men sinned. Everybody who has lived since Adam has committed deliberate acts of sin. The only people who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who have not deliberately sinned, are infants who are too young to exercise their will because they are not conscious. Death reigned, says Paul, from Adam to Moses, even over infants also. Why do infants die? There is only one answer. Infants die because Adam's transgression involves them. "Death passed upon an men, even upon them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression".

      But going on to verse fifteen we read, "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift; for if through the offence of one many be dead". There it is again. Then he turns to the other side about Jesus Christ. In verse sixteen, we have, "And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift" - and then, "for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification". The judgment, the condemnation, was by one to condemnation: the one sin of Adam brought this upon the whole of mankind. But conversely, he says, many sins are forgiven in the righteousness of One, even Jesus Christ. Then once more in verse eighteen: "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation". Is not that as explicit as anything could be? "As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men" - no exception - "to condemnation". We are "born the children of wrath". And finally, in verse nineteen, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners". You and I and all mankind were made or, as a more accurate translation puts it, "constituted" sinners by that one sin of Adam. That is the teaching. We are "all by nature the children of wrath even as others".

      Ah, you say, I do not understand that, I cannot grasp that, it seems to me almost moral. Of course you do not understand it, Who can understand such things? It is not a question of understanding, it is a question of whether you believe the Scriptures not. For the apostle says exactly the same thing in I Corinthians 15, that great and - wonderful chapter which is read at funeral services, "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive", and so on. It is precisely the same argument. It is the basis of the Christian faith. Whether we understand it or not, it is the truth. You have to explain the universality of sin; you have to explain the universality of death, and especially the death of infants. And this is the biblical answer. Adam was the whole of humanity and he represented the whole of humanity. He was our federal head. As the Lord Jesus Christ is the Representative of all who are saved, as His righteousness is imputed to us, so Adam was our representative and his sin is imputed to us. We fell in him, we are damned in him and because of his action. In exactly the same way those who believe in Christ are redeemed by Him and saved in Him and righteous in Him because of His action on our behalf That is the argument. If you believe the one side about Christ, you must believe the other about Adam. If you deny this, you are virtually denying that.

      Let us be careful therefore. There is nothing more tragic than the way in which Christian people bring the relics of their philosophies and their own understanding into the Christian faith. Many who claim to believe the Bible, and who regard it as authoritative, reject it at this point because they do not like the doctrine, or because they cannot reconcile certain matters. But the reconciliation is here before us. Though we were dead in trespasses and sins, hateful and hating one another, polluted by sin, sinful in practice, living in trespasses and sins and under the wrath of God, and absolutely helpless and hopeless, the very God against whom we have sinned, the very God whom we have offended, has Himself provided the way of deliverance for us. He does so in the Person of His own dearly beloved Son, whom He did not spare even from the suffering and the agony and the shame of Calvary and that cruel death. He has offered us, and provides for us, the way of complete deliverance and reconciliation to Himself in spite of the fact that our sin in Adam and our own sins, and our own sinful state deserve nothing but His eternal wrath. That is the love of God! That is the "love so amazing, so divine"! God has done that for us, who deserve nothing but eternal wrath, which we could never have done for ourselves.

      May God in His grace enable us to receive these things so that we may go on to consider the next verse with its glorious "but". Though all we have been considering was true of us, "God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ". Blessed be the name of God!

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