Friday, March 30, 2018

The Wrath of God and The Gospel

The Bible reveals God’s wrath in the proclamation of the gospel. Why does Paul so insist in Romans that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (3:23, KJV)? Because he wants us to know that “God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all” (11:32, ASV). Note the connection between the revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel (1:17) and the revelation of the wrath of God (v. 18). The wrath of God is not disclosed simply as a timeless principle of retributive righteousness. God’s judgment is proclaimed as part of the news of God’s purpose and work. You hear this in Paul’s preaching in the book of Acts. The message of judgment calls the nations from walking in their own ways (Acts 14:16), for now God “commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (17:30-31, ASV).

Even the appointing of a day of judgment shows God’s mercy, for it means that there is time given to the nations to repent. Judgment means hope, for the day of wrath is the day of deliverance from the oppressor. Only by judgment can there be a new order, a new world of righteousness. But when a self-righteous people assumed that the day of the Lord would be all brightness for them, they were warned that they, too, must face the Judge of all the earth, who does right (Amos 5:18-20). How, then, can the preaching of judgment bring hope to sinners? Why need they hear of a new creation delivered from groaning if they have forfeited all inheritance in it? The unimaginable answer of the gospel is that God’s absolute righteousness brings salvation through the outpouring of wrath. God’s good news is Jesus Christ, who comes to earth not once but twice. He will come at last to bring wrath, as the Judge of all the earth. The coming of God’s kingdom in consummation power means the “revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might” (2 Thess. 1:7-9, ASV).

But if that were Christ’s only coming, no sinner could be spared. “Who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire” (Mal. 3:2, ASV). Even John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner, had difficulty here. He preached the coming of the Messiah in judgment, the Messiah who would baptize with fire and hew down every tree of wickedness. When Jesus wrought miracles of healing rather than signs of wrath, when he opened the eyes of the blind rather than bringing thick darkness, when he raised the dead rather than slaying the wicked, John sent an inquiry from prison—the prison from which the Messiah had not set him free: “Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?” (Luke 7:19, ASV). Jesus kept John’s two disciples with him while he performed more miracles of hope. “Go,” he said, “and tell John the things which ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good tidings preached to them” (v. 22, ASV). Jesus’ answer reflects the prophecy of Isaiah 35:5-10, a promise of the blessings of renewal in God’s kingdom of salvation. But how could blessing come without judgment? What gospel is there for the poor until their exploiters and oppressors are judged? Jesus said to John, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall find no occasion of stumbling in me” (Luke 7:23, ASV). The answer that John awaited in faith is given to us in the gospel. Jesus came first not to wield the axe of judgment but to bear the stroke of death. Christ, the Judge who must tread the winepress of the wrath of God, Christ himself bears the wrath and drinks the cup from the Father’s hand. By his blood we are saved from wrath through faith in him (Rom. 5:9). Christ was made sin for us, bore the curse for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Only so can God be just and yet be the justifier of him who believes in Christ (3:26).

Paul preaches the revealed righteousness of God—righteousness in God’s wrath against sin; righteousness as God’s gift by grace—righteousness in the first and second comings of Christ. Because God’s wrath struck his own Son on Calvary, it is forever past for those who are united to Jesus Christ. The gospel calls us to the cross, where wrath is swallowed up by love, where grace and justice meet.

Adapted from Preaching Christ in All of Scripture by Edmund Clowney

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