Wrath can properly be referred to as anger, fury,
or rage. The title of this article is stating that God was furious about
something, but now not anymore, because something has changed. What was He
furious about? We can sum up the reason in one word—sin, which is defined as
lawlessness in 1 John 3:4. By the way, all mankind is guilty of sin (see Romans
3:23). If we are still a bunch of sinners, why is He no longer furious?
Usually, going from a furious to a non-furious state is an indication that either
the source of irritation or whatever brought on the fury has been removed or
dealt with in some way, like punishment.
God is holy. He hates sin! Yet God loves the
sinner, and the only way He can establish a loving, ongoing relationship with
the sinner is to separate the sinner from his or her sins. In order to
accomplish that, He put into motion plans He had before the foundation of the
world. God came to earth in the person of His Son Jesus,
lived among us, and died in our place. So Jesus, who was sinless, was punished on
our behalf. His blood washed away our sins, and therefore, God’s wrath was
satisfied. The condition for restoration of fellowship with us was met.
Hallelujah!
Although God’s wrath is satisfied, it is not an
automatic cover for everyone. Each individual must want forgiveness and ask for
it. After all, not everyone will admit to being a sinner or to having done
anything wrong. So then, people who believe what the Bible says about humans
must agree with God in that regard (confess their sins), and ask God for
forgiveness because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Anyone who takes this
step is forgiven. The new believer’s fellowship with God is restored in this
life and continues into eternity. It is made evident through the gift of the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This of course is the beginning of a new way of
life. The Bible calls it adoption. God becomes our Father, and rather than
being His enemies, we become His children. Others who have been adopted through
the same process are our brothers and sisters in Christ. This family bond is
universal. Together we form the Church, the body of Christ, where Christ is the
Head.
Indeed, God’s wrath is satisfied. We should
rejoice over this truth! God has gone from being angry and being compelled to
punish us with eternal separation (see Romans 6:23), to calling us His
children. After giving up His Son for us, He says there is nothing else He
won’t do for us. Wow, such love! In addition, He is preparing a place in heaven
for us. He says we will live in mansions. Jesus told His disciples, “In my
Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also”
(John 14:2-3 KJV).
We need to put an effort into maintaining our
restored relationship, nurturing it to blossom. How do we do that? Although we
don’t know it all yet, we can safely allow two basic rules to guide our lives,
and those rules are: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39
NIV). If we love God, we will seek to obey and please Him in all that we do,
and if we love our neighbors, we’ll seek their welfare in all situations.
In addition, we need to read the Bible and allow
it to guide our walk. We need to communicate with God through prayer. We need
to encourage sisters and brothers and be encouraged by them by sharing
fellowship with other believers. Next, we start to look for opportunities to
share the gospel with those who haven’t heard it, or don’t understand it. There
are many such in our neighborhoods, at our jobs, and everywhere we go.
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