How would we know that God is angry with us and what can we do to turn his wrath back? What is repentance and how is it tied in with God’s wrath?
Repentance is an attitude with an action, it is a changing of one’s mind and heart, to acknowledge wrongdoing and to turn back to doing what is right.
Romans 2:4-9… Do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering because you do not know that the kindly [quality] of God is trying to lead you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revealing of God’s righteous judgment. And he will render to each one according to his works: everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good; however, for those who are contentious and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness there will be wrath and anger, tribulation, and distress, upon the soul of every man who works what is injurious…
God’s word plainly declares that God is going to render a judgment to those who are contentious, to those who disobey truth, the ones who are obeying unrighteous in there works.
What would God’s wrath look like how could we identify it?
Deuteronomy 29:22-29… And the future generation, even [when] they have seen the plagues of that land and its maladies with which Jehovah has sickened it… which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath; yes, all the nations will be bound to say, why did Jehovah do like this to this land? Why the heat of this great anger? Then they will have to say, it was because they abandoned the covenant of Jehovah their God, and they proceeded to go and serve other gods.
God’s anger will show up by manifesting itself as a plague upon the land as a sickness along with disease, there will come an evil madness that would show up and fall upon wicked mankind.
How did Phinehas stop the anger of God a make atonement for Israel?
Numbers 25:11-13… Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath from upon the sons of Israel by his tolerating no rivalry at all toward me in the midst of them, so that I have not exterminated the sons of Israel in my insistence on exclusive devotion. For that reason, say, here I am giving him my covenant of peace. And it must serve as the covenant of a priesthood to time indefinite for him and his offspring after him, due to the fact that he tolerated no rivalry toward his God and proceeded to make atonement for the sons of Israel.
Phinehas turned God’s wrath from upon the sons of Israel by his tolerating no rivalry and he proceeded to make atonement for the sons of Israel.
If we were to read the full Bible’s account, we see that this Phinehas was a priest and he saw something that was not right, and he took action to correct the problem. Phinehas became an enforcer for God’s standard. He rightly identified the problem and the source for why God was angry, and he took action to remove that problem from among God’s people. Phinehas became God’s wrath in action against wickedness.
Has God used others to express his anger against mankind? So, why did the king Artaxerxes become the enforcer for God’s wrath?
Ezra 7:21-24… And by me myself, Artaxerxes the king, an order has been put through to all… 23 Let all that is by the order of the God of the heavens be done with zeal for the house of the God of the heavens, that there may occur no wrath against the king’s realm and his sons…And as for everyone that does not become a doer of the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be promptly executed upon him, whether for death or for banishment, or for money fine or for imprisonment.”
Artaxerxes the king did not want God to express his anger against his kingdom nor his sons, so he made a law that anyone who is not a doer of the law of God, then there should come to be a judgment that would be executed upon that person.
What are the dos and don’ts when it comes to dealing with God?
As we read the next passage of Scripture, we can begin to see the failings and shortcomings of those who had to endure God’s wrath. It did not start with them by simply speaking against God, no that’s what they end up doing. It started with not trusting God, they had not prepared their heart to accept his ways, and they were turned against him in their thoughts and their actions to outright rebellion, even to the point of speaking against God. Let’s look at their foolishness and see how this plays out as the psalmist tells us in his own words from his perspective.
Psalm 78:8-64… And they should not become like their forefathers, a generation stubborn and rebellious, A generation who had not prepared their heart and whose spirit was not trustworthy with God… They also began to forget his dealings and his wonderful works that he caused them to see. In front of their forefathers, he had done marvelously in the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan… And they kept sinning still more against him by rebelling against the Most High in the waterless region; And they proceeded to test God in their heart by asking for something to eat for their soul. So, they began to speak against God. They said: “Is God able to arrange a table in the wilderness? … That was why Jehovah heard and began to be furious; And fire itself was kindled against Jacob, and anger also ascended against Israel. For they did not put faith in God, and they did not trust in salvation by him… They had not turned aside from their desire, while their food was yet in their mouth, then God’s wrath itself ascended against them. And he went killing among their stout ones; And the young men of Israel he made collapse. Despite all this they sinned some more and did not put faith in his wonderful works. So, he brought their days to an end as if a mere exhalation, and their years by the disturbance. As often as he killed them, they also inquired for him, and they returned and looked for God… And they tried to fool him with their mouth; And with their tongue they tried to lie to him. And their heart was not steadfast with him; And they did not prove faithful in his covenant. But he was merciful; he would cover the error and not bring ruin. And many times, he made his anger turn back, and he would not rouse up all his rage. And he kept remembering that they were flesh, That the spirit is going forth and does not come back. How often they would rebel against him in the wilderness, they would make him feel hurt in the desert! And again, and again they would put God to the test, and they pained even the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his hand… He went sending upon them his burning anger, Fury and denunciation and distress, deputations of angels bringing calamity. He proceeded to prepare a pathway for his anger. He did not hold back their soul from death itself; And their life he handed over even to the pestilence. Finally, he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, The beginning of their generative power in the tents of Ham… And they began to test and rebel against God the Most High, and his reminders they did not keep. They also kept turning back and acting treacherously like their forefathers; They turned around like a loose bow. And they kept offending him with their high places, and with their graven images they kept inciting him to jealousy. God heard and got to be furious, and so he condemned Israel very much. And he finally forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent in which he resided among earthling men. And he proceeded to give his strength even to captivity and his beauty into the hand of the adversary. And he kept handing over his people to the sword itself, and against his inheritance he became furious. His young men a fire ate up, and his virgins were not praised. As for his priests, they fell by the very sword, and their own widows did not give way to weeping…
God has not changed, he still has his standards, his laws are in place, it is mankind who is disregarded his right to rule in his sovereignty and his righteousness. It will be them who will pay for their disobedience, their disregard for God and his ways.
Can we see the wrath of God being expressed today and what should we be doing?
Matthew 3:7-8… When he caught sight of many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to the baptism, he said to them: “YOU offspring of vipers, who has intimated to YOU to flee from the coming wrath? So then produce fruit that befits repentance.
John the Baptist advocated for repentance, and the proof of this repenting attitude would be in their works.
What are some more of the do’s and don’ts that have to do with God’s wrath?
John 3:35… The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.
Again God’s word identifies that we have to exercise faith in him by means of the provision that was given, we have to identify the son of God’s love then obey him.
What else do we need to watch out for?
Romans 2:1-9…Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, if you judge; for in the thing in which you judge another, you condemn yourself, inasmuch as you that judge practice the same things. Now we know that the judgment of God is, in accord with truth, against those who practice such things. But do you have this idea, O man, while you judge those who practice such things and yet you do them, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, because you do not know that the kindly [quality] of God is trying to lead you to repentance? But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revealing of God’s righteous judgment. And he will render to each one according to his works: everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good; however, for those who are contentious and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness there will be wrath and anger, tribulation and distress, upon the soul of every man who works what is injurious…
When we judge somebody were inexcusable, because nothing is to be judged until the appointed time that God judges all things by means of Christ Jesus, so who we to be judging one another? If we are judging than our hearts are hardened to the understanding of God’s richness, his kindliness, his long-suffering, and forbearance.
We are in need of understanding; we need to follow good examples of those who love God and work for his righteousness. Jesus was a perfect example to follow, as we imitate him, in our conduct, in our attitudes by letting our personalities be made over into God’s righteousness.
Ephesians 5:1-16… Therefore, become imitators of God, as beloved children, and go on walking in love, just as the Christ also loved YOU and delivered himself up for YOU as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling odor. Let fornication and uncleanness of every sort or greediness not even be mentioned among YOU, just as it befits holy people;4 neither shameful conduct nor foolish talking nor obscene jesting, things which are not becoming, but rather the giving of thanks. For YOU know this, recognizing it for yourselves, that no fornicator or unclean person or greedy person—which means being an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of the Christ and of God. Let no man deceive YOU with empty words, for because of the aforesaid things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partakers with them; for YOU were once darkness, but YOU are now light in connection with [the] Lord. Go on walking as children of light, for the fruitage of the light consists of every sort of goodness and righteousness and truth. Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord; and quit sharing with [them] in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness, but, rather, even be reproving [them], for the things that take place in secret by them it is shameful even to relate. Now all the things that are being reproved are made manifest by the light, for everything that is being made manifest is light. Wherefore he says: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and the Christ will shine upon you.” So, keep strict watch that how YOU walk is not as unwise but as wise [persons], buying out the opportune time for yourselves, because the days are wicked…
Colossians 3:5-10… Deaden, therefore, YOUR body members that are upon the earth as respects fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, hurtful desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of those things the wrath of God is coming.7 In those very things YOU, too, once walked when YOU used to live in them. But now really put them all away from YOU, wrath, anger, badness, abusive speech, and obscene talk out of YOUR mouth. Do not be lying to one another. Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new [personality], which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it…
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16… For YOU became imitators, brothers, of the congregations of God that are in Judea in union with Christ Jesus, because YOU also began suffering at the hands of YOUR own countrymen the same things as they also [are suffering] at the hands of the Jews, who killed even the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us. Furthermore, they are not pleasing God, but are against [the interests of] all men, as they try to hinder us from speaking to people of the nations that these might be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But his wrath has at length come upon them.
Revelation 6:12-17… And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and a great earthquake occurred; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the entire moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as when a fig tree shaken by a high wind cast its unripe figs. And the heaven departed as a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and [every] island were removed from their places. And the kings of the earth and the top-ranking ones and the military commanders and the rich and the strong ones and every slave and [every] free person hid themselves in the caves and in the rock-masses of the mountains. And they keep saying to the mountains and to the rock-masses: “Fall over us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
That is an appropriate question, who will be able to stand before God? Really should we not first kneel before God in fear?
Revelation 14:7-11… FEAR God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” And another, a second angel, followed, saying: “She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication!” And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and Sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.
The angel of God warns us that worshiping anything else besides God will lead to the drinking from the cup of God’s anger. When will God’s anger come, or when will all these things take place?
Revelation 11:18… But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give [their] reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”
God’s wrath comes at the appointed time, it is a time of judgment. What else do we know about the cup of God’s anger?
Revelation 16:19-21… And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nation’s fell; and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath. Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found. And a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great.
Babylon the great is forced to drink the cup of God’s anger. It causes a blinding madness were truth escapes them to the point that they will fight against the Lord of lords and King of kings.
Revelation 19:15-16… And out of his mouth there protrudes a sharp long sword, that he may strike the nations with it, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. He treads too the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty. And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Can you hear what the spirit has to say? Then repent and stop touching what is unclean. Separate yourself from the hate, anger, and abusive speech of this world. Stop lying to one another and ruining my earth. Do not become partakers with them in their fornication, uncleanness, sexual appetite, nor engage in their hurtful desires, and covetousness.
Stop judging one another with your hard and unrepentant hearts. Who of you has this right to judge your neighbor and who has given you this authority? Stop putting me to the test and prepare your heart to trust in me so says God. Put faith in me and in my word and take a knee and repeat these words: “Jesus Christ has become Lord of heaven and earth”.
Philippians 2:9-11… For this very reason also, God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every [other] name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Amen, yes come Lord Jesus!
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