The Wrath of God

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. ⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

One of the most popular hymns in recent years is “In Christ Alone.” Here at Epiphany, we sing the hymn at the end of every Reformation service – as we did last week – because of its strong theology on the Word of God – “this cornerstone, this solid rock.” We sing this hymn at then end of our Easter worship because of its strong resurrection theology – “there in the ground, his body lay, Light of the world by darkness slain, then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again!” We have sung this hymn for funerals because of its strong theology on eternal life – “No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the pow’r of Christ in me. From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.”

It is a hymn that loudly proclaims justification, redemption and resurrection. It proclaims substitution and atonement and lots of other big, theological church words that we use to describe the doctrines of God’s Bible. The hymn also proclaims God’s wrath.

And that’s the problem. … At least for the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterians desired to include “In Christ Alone” in the new hymnal they are preparing for their denomination. But their hymnal committee first requested permission to avoid theological controversy by altering the hymn’s lyrics from “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied” to “Till on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified.”

To their great credit, the hymn’s authors, Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, rejected the proposal. So the hymnal committee voted to bar the hymn. The committee chair for the Presbyterian’s new hymnal said, “The song has been removed from our contents list, with deep regret over losing its otherwise poignant and powerful witness. The view that the cross is primarily about God’s needs to assuage God’s anger would have a negative impact on worshipers’ education.”

Failing to recognize God’s capacity for wrath can effectively trivialize God’s power. Singing about God’s wrath upon sinners serves as a direct reminder of God’s mercy to forgiven sinners. We confess our sins in the beginning of every worship service, for we are by our very nature, objects of God’s wrath because of our inborn sin passed on from generation to generation. We confess our sinfulness and beg for mercy from God’s just wrath. God then forgives our sins for this reason alone – “on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.” 

When the wrath of God is removed, then the central act in all of human history has been emptied of all its power and meaning. If God really is not all that angry with sinners, then Christianity is nothing more than feeble moralism in which we urge people to be a little nicer to each other. If Christ’s death did not pay the terrible price for a world of human sin, then His death was nothing but a pathetic and weak act that can do nothing to change our lives. If Christ did not bear in His sacred body the wrath and punishment we deserve, then we are still in our sins and will endure God’s wrath and punishment on the Last Day.

The Bible – which “In Christ Alone” is based on – balances the wrath of God with the mercy of God. However, if people refuse to receive the mercy of God for Christ’s sake, then they will receive the wrath of God coming from the Lord Jesus in blazing fire.

In 2 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul is writing to Christians who are being persecuted for their faith. He wants these Thessalonian Christians to understand that “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.” As Christians, we endure persecution for our faith – from our government, in a secular society, on a university campus, possibly in a public school hallway or workplace. But there is much more serious persecution of Christians going on around the world.

·         In Peshawar, Pakistan, 78 Christians were killed and more than 100 were injured when a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up at the end of the Anglican Church service.

·         In the Nigerian town of Zangang, 15 Christians were murdered by gun-shooting, machete-wielding herdsmen. Other believers were wounded and hundreds of our brothers and sisters in Christ were displaced from their homes.

·         Most of the 250 African migrants who drowned trying to reach Europe were Christians fleeing religious persecution.

And those are just a few of the persecutions from September that I could mention.

When Christians fall victim to those who harass and mistreat us for our faith, we wonder, “Where is the justice?” After all, we are children of God by faith in Jesus; we love Him and strive to serve Him. Yet our lives are tormented through the deliberate aggression of those who deny God and disrespect us … even disdain us.

Don’t despair. There will come a time, God says, when those who have rebelled against Him and brought trouble to His people will themselves have trouble, and God’s believers will have relief. God will carry out His justice. We may suffer temporally here on earth at the hands of unjust men for our faith, but the unbelievers will suffer eternally in hell at the hands of a just God for their lack of faith. “This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.”

Because of God’s wrath there will be justice. And relief.

However, we cannot become complacent in our faith. We, too, may endure God’s wrath if we are not careful. Paul says that God’s wrath will be poured out on those “who do not know God.” But His wrath is also reserved for those who “do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” That means those who have heard the good news of Jesus as Savior and have rejected Him.

I’ve heard plenty of Christians try to say that God doesn’t judge. We may say that God doesn’t judge so that we don’t have to feel guilty about not worshiping Him on His appointed day. We may say that God is only loving and forgiving so that we can deliberately commit that really juicy sin because we’ll just ask for forgiveness later. We may say that God doesn’t have an opinion on lifestyles so we can get away with our pre-marital sex, and so we don’t have to confront our friends with their homosexual lifestyle. We may say that God doesn’t pronounce judgment so that we can roll our eyes and talk back and lie and gossip and cheat and bully. We may say that God isn’t so harsh with heathens so that we can justify our own sinful, hedonistic lifestyles.

We have attempted to neuter God by taking away His wrath. We have attempted to emasculate God by emptying Him of His authority. We have mutilated the God of the Bible by removing His wrath and only emphasizing His mercy.

But then we are no better than the heathen. For these verses are a warning for us, too.

The Triune God is not just some vague deity in the sky that you can say you believe in and then do nothing with. He deserves your respect and fear. He deserves your praise and worship. He deserves your thanks and glory. And when He does not receive those things from you, then you defile the house of God and He will bring down on your head what you have done (Ezekiel 9:10).

When you reject your Baptism when God made His promise to you; when you reject your confirmation vows when you made your promise to God; then you leave God no choice but to honor your choices and reject you. You are no longer serving your King. You will be judged because you are a wicked servant (Luke 19:22).

This Judgment Day talk is frightening, isn’t it? And it should be! Unless … unless when the Father judges us – He sees our lack of worship, our idolatry, our lifestyle choices, and all of our other sins as being covered by the blood-bought righteousness of His Son as our Savior. Unless He sees Jesus’ perfection rather than our misdeeds. Unless He declares us forgiven through His Son’s sacrifice instead holding our sins against us. Unless He has punished His Son rather than having to punish us.

Are you a Christian? Has God counted you worthy of His kingdom because of your faith in His Son? Do you believe in the prophets’ and apostles’ testimony of Christ to you?

If you answered “yes” to each of those questions, then Judgment Day has already taken place for you. It took place when the ever-living Son of God hung dead on the cross. It took place when the guilty verdict was placed on Him. When God the Father had forsaken His only begotten Son. When our death was suffered by Him. When the whip tore His skin. When the nails were pounded into His flesh. When the punishment for our sin and rebellion was placed on His shoulders. When His corpse was placed in the tomb.

All the judgment of God against all of humanity’s sin took place on that one day, in that one place, on that One Man. On the cross. In the tomb. Under God’s wrath. Your Servant took your place. Your King took your place. Your God took your place – as your Substitute – to set you free. And you are free. It is finished! God’s judgment has been endured by Jesus so that you and I as Christians might receive God’s pardon and forgiveness.

God’s wrath was poured out in history’s past instead of being poured out in our eternal future.

This verdict of freedom and pronouncement of forgiveness is what you hear in this church every week. For every week, as we gather in church, we have a small dress rehearsal for Judgment Day. Every week in worship is like a little Judgment Day as the King comes to us and tells us His judgment. He announces in the absolution, “I have forgiven your sins by my sacrifice.” He reveals, “You are mine,” every time we see the pastor make the sign of the cross because it reminds us of the cross that was placed over our hearts and heads at our baptism – the date when we became God’s. In the Scripture lessons, sermons and hymns He declares, “I will either be your unrelenting Judge or your all-merciful Savior.” When we taste His body and drink His blood in the Lord’s Supper He proclaims, “I am giving myself to you.”

It is through Word and Sacrament, faith and forgiveness that we are made certain of our salvation.

But this certainty of salvation should never make us gloat or become complacent in our faith. Rather, in every service, every word of Scripture, ever groan of our prayers, every note of our hymns, every syllable of our sermons, we see a little more of Christ. And we marvel at Him! But that is nothing compared to that Last and Great Day of Judgment when “on the day he comes to be glorified in his people and to be marveled at among all those who have believe.”

We look forward to the Day of Judgment without fear, rather with comfort and relief. We are actually looking forward to the wrath of God. Why? Because, “on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”  Amen. 

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