Do you feel like God is angry with you? Believers often struggle with repetitive, unresolved sin issues in their personal lives, failings that they can't seem to get beyond. It's easy to see God as angry...angry with me, angry with you...because of our sin failures. We often see our Heavenly Father through the same filter that we viewed our earthly dads. In most cases, that's a bad thing and gives us a very poor understanding of our Heavenly Father. I certainly hope that my sons don't use me as the lens through which they view God the Father.
Here is the main thought of this Post: If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, a true believer, you are not subject to God's wrath. You are subject to His correction, but not His wrath. There is a huge difference. His goal is to fix you, not to punish you. His goal is to conform you to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) so that He may love on you and enjoy your company forever. His correction will be complete, not half-hearted and not half-way. He knows what it will take to get to every last drop of badness. His ways may seem rather strong and stern at times, but His correction will not be done out of wrath.
The wrath of evil will increase as we get closer to the return of Christ. Jesus Himself said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake." (Matthew 24:9)
The persecution of True Believers by the unbelieving world and the devil will happen. The Book of Revelation makes clear reference to True Believes suffering the wrath of God's enemies. Jesus, in Revelation 2:10, says "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Paul wrote "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29) and "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12). “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake." (Jesus, in Matthew 24:9).
I can keep going, but it should be clear that True Believers will suffer the wrath of unsaved humanity and of spiritual darkness.
Here's the other half of the story. What at times may appear to be God's wrath towards True Believers is not His wrath at all. He corrects us, but it's not out of wrath. It's worth saying again: If you are a True Believer, His goal is to totally tranform you, not to punish you. His wrath is reserved for those who reject the forgiveness, salvation, and reconciliation offered through His Son, Jesus. "Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." (Colossians 3:6). But to the True Believer, Jesus says "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24)
God has plenty of wrath, but it is reserved for His judgement of the rebellious, God-hating, unbelieving world. Paul wrote that "the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." (Colossians 3:6).
To the True Believer, the Bible says this:
The Bible says that a so-called believer who is without God's correction is not a True Believer. Look again at the passage from Hebrews 6: "...if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons."
He is determined to transform the True Believer. He is not winking at your failings or my failings. He will get to them, all of them. But He is also not dealing with us out of anger. He is not overwhelmed or helpless in the face of our failings, so if you think your "stuff" is too big and too bad for Him or you think that He doesn't know what to do with you, get over yourself. My sin and your sin -- displayed in our actions and in the fouled up internal stuff that's behind our actions -- are not too big for Him.
We are not subject to His wrath. We ARE subject to His correction, all the way. His eye is on the prize: conforming you and me to the image of His son.
If He is not correcting and changing you, you are not what He calls a true son or daughter. That's pretty straight-forward, pretty simple, and something that should stir up the fear of God in us.
My prayer:
Change me, Lord! Don't leave me the way you find me now! You knew what You were getting into when you got me. For Jesus' sake, please keep forgiving AND changing me. Don't stop!
Here is the main thought of this Post: If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, a true believer, you are not subject to God's wrath. You are subject to His correction, but not His wrath. There is a huge difference. His goal is to fix you, not to punish you. His goal is to conform you to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) so that He may love on you and enjoy your company forever. His correction will be complete, not half-hearted and not half-way. He knows what it will take to get to every last drop of badness. His ways may seem rather strong and stern at times, but His correction will not be done out of wrath.
"For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)So, what kind of wrath can reach us? True Believers will experience the wrath of unsaved humanity and of spiritual darkness. In Genesis, Cain murdered Abel because Abel was righteous. Church history tells us that the prophet Isaiah was murdered by being sawed in two (mentioned in Hebrews 11:37). The Book of Acts has many examples of true Believers suffering the wrath of the unbelieving world. The Apostle Paul, before becoming a Believer, inflicted great wrath upon Jesus' followers. The martyr Stephen was hated and stoned to death for preaching about Jesus.
The wrath of evil will increase as we get closer to the return of Christ. Jesus Himself said, “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake." (Matthew 24:9)
The persecution of True Believers by the unbelieving world and the devil will happen. The Book of Revelation makes clear reference to True Believes suffering the wrath of God's enemies. Jesus, in Revelation 2:10, says "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
Paul wrote "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Philippians 1:29) and "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12). “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake." (Jesus, in Matthew 24:9).
I can keep going, but it should be clear that True Believers will suffer the wrath of unsaved humanity and of spiritual darkness.
Here's the other half of the story. What at times may appear to be God's wrath towards True Believers is not His wrath at all. He corrects us, but it's not out of wrath. It's worth saying again: If you are a True Believer, His goal is to totally tranform you, not to punish you. His wrath is reserved for those who reject the forgiveness, salvation, and reconciliation offered through His Son, Jesus. "Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." (Colossians 3:6). But to the True Believer, Jesus says "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." (John 5:24)
God has plenty of wrath, but it is reserved for His judgement of the rebellious, God-hating, unbelieving world. Paul wrote that "the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." (Colossians 3:6).
To the True Believer, the Bible says this:
" My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrew 12:6-11).As His child, bought by the blood of the Lamb, the True Believer will be chastened. It's important, then, to understand what God means when the Bible uses the word "chasten". Strong's Concordance (a great study aid, by the way) defines the Greek word behind "chasten" as "tutorage, that is, education or training; by implication disciplinary correction: - chastening, chastisement, instruction, nurture." That may not be quite how you understand the English word "chasten", but remember that a Bible word's overall sense in the original Greek may not be fully captured by the English word used to translate it.
The Bible says that a so-called believer who is without God's correction is not a True Believer. Look again at the passage from Hebrews 6: "...if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons."
He is determined to transform the True Believer. He is not winking at your failings or my failings. He will get to them, all of them. But He is also not dealing with us out of anger. He is not overwhelmed or helpless in the face of our failings, so if you think your "stuff" is too big and too bad for Him or you think that He doesn't know what to do with you, get over yourself. My sin and your sin -- displayed in our actions and in the fouled up internal stuff that's behind our actions -- are not too big for Him.
We are not subject to His wrath. We ARE subject to His correction, all the way. His eye is on the prize: conforming you and me to the image of His son.
If He is not correcting and changing you, you are not what He calls a true son or daughter. That's pretty straight-forward, pretty simple, and something that should stir up the fear of God in us.
My prayer:
Change me, Lord! Don't leave me the way you find me now! You knew what You were getting into when you got me. For Jesus' sake, please keep forgiving AND changing me. Don't stop!
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