Home        ChooseEverlastingLife!       |      Truth Letters          Truth Songs      |   HowGodStuffWorks Archives   |

God's Wrath --- is God Mad Forever?

Is God Going to spend eternity in a bad mood because of the sins of unbelievers?  This might surprise you, but God is not going to spend eternity angry because of sin. In fact, God, whose hatred of sin is as great as his love for the sinner, was perfectly propitiated at Calvary where Christ bore the punishment for the sins of the world... meaning God is now and evermore at peace with man.

 

Does that let unrepentant and unbelieving sinners of the hook?
No!! Because peace with God is only realized by those who are in Christ...that is, those who have entered God's peace through faith in the gospel.

 

Then how does the wrath of God abide forever on unbelievers if God has been 100% propitiated?  The picture is simple and given to us in John chapter three where Jesus says:

"No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." - Jn.3:13-16

If any of the Israelites who were bitten by the fiery serpent in the wilderness looked upon the bronze serpent on the pole held up by Moses, then they would not die from the poisonous venom. But if they did not look upon the bronze serpent, they would die even though the fiery serpent was long gone and not giving his victim a second thought.

The serpent bites in anger just as God pronounced his curse on sin in anger. God's curse put his wrath in motion for all who reject Jesus, who was made a curse for us on Calvary's cross. In Christ the curse has been reversed, but outside of Christ God's wrath on sin yet abides even though God is at peace with mankind.

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." - Jn.3:36

[for more on God's wrath, click on Moses above]

by Steve Popovich

 © 2007 HowGodStuffWorks.com

Share