today, i would like to focus on the initial striking point of God's wrath on the earth today. what, exactly, is the wrath of God? have we seen it evidenced in modern times? are sept. 11, 2001 hurricane katrina and the tsunami of 2005 agents of God's wrath on this fallen world?
or, have we simply forgetten eschatology and that God promises storms and wars just before the end of the world?
we need to look at wrath in both a historical and a prophetic light. the earth has only once experienced the full-fury of God's wrath and even then i am hesitant to use the word "full."
our visions and ideas of hell come more from dante's inferno than from biblical evidence. all we know is that it will be a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth and anyone who goes there will be forever cut off from God.
our concepts of wrath stem from the fall-out of human interaction. both of these are incomplete visualiztions of wrath because they stem from human experiences and ideas. jonathan edwards sermon "sinners in the hands of an angry God" is the most eye-opening (not to mention the scariest) visualization i have ever heard of or read of the wrath of God. [disclaimer: notice i said that i have heard of read; i realize that this is subjective and not merely objective, but i am convinced that anyone who reads this sermon would agree that it is one of the most powerful pieces of writing on the wrath of God if not the most powerful aside from the Scriptures.]
many christians would draw the conclusion of God's wrath when referring to hurricane katrina and september 11, 2001. hurricane katrina, more so for it's apparent similarities to the destruction of sodom and gomorrah. but here is my question: when God's wrath is poured out on people, the land suffers but the people are utterly destroyed; they are wiped out. no one survives save for the few God selected to rescue (i.e. lot and his family; noah and his family; joshua, caleb, moses and the children of israel under 21; etc.).
with this precedence, if katrina was God's fury, why were so many people saved?
now here's a question i get all the time: if God is a God of love then how can He be a God of wrath. the answer to that is not that He isn't a God of wrath, but that He is a God of justice and His wrath was not intended for humans. His wrath was intended for sin. He won't simply earse sin from the world. why not? because doing so would be against His nature. He is a God of love. to erase sin and force mankind into living in righteousness is not love. love gives the receiver the choice- not the giver. pure love does not seek it's own. He wants us to make the choice between what we choose to love and Him. He is not giving us a blind choice, we know that the wages of sin is death and those who claim not to know chose ignorance. those who do wrong and say they were unaware of the consequences are lying. they may want to believe that there are no adverse consequences, but they will discover their faith was in vain. only an insane person will believe in something they know to be false.
God is only angered by sin. He hates sin. He wants nothing to do with sin. however, He loves His creation, specifically the part that He formed in His own image- the part that He breathed His breath into. if we are sinful people, how can He love us? He loves the individual and despises what they do- in short, He has loads of patience for each individual.
now, i know you're wondering where the institution of religion part plays into what i've written. so here it goes: the institution of religion (particularly psuedo-christianity) states that when something bad happens to a primarily wicked lot of people, it is God's judgement. they claim the tsunami was God's judgement on the hindu, buddhist and muslim world; that september 11, 2001 was God's judgement on feminism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, lust and greed; and that hurricane katrina was God's judgement on sexual debauchery and homosexuality.
while some of these target groups might actually be reasons for a specific event, it is not God's judgement when He allows something of the magnitude of the tsunami, sept 11, 01 and hurrican katrina. He allows those things to draw people back to Him.
the institution would have you believe that God was angry and He destroyed those people to purge those areas, actual Scripture suggests that it is allowed so that people can return to the Lord, their Creator; their Maker.
the divine fall out is here: *[the institution of religion feeds on fear, the notion of God's wrath in all things adds to the fear. but God is Love Personified. He is Perfect Love. and we know that perfect love casts out all fear]*
there is a lesson to be learned from this though. first, looking back at amos 4, God clearly has set a precedent for allowing disaster to strike to draw men back to Him.
our second lesson can be learned from luke 13:1-5.
now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the galileans whose blood pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "do you think that these galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered this way? i tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will perish. or those eighteen who died when the tower in siloam fell on them- do you think that they were more guilty than all the others living in jerusalem? i tell you, no! but unless you repent, you too will perish."
where those who were lost to these great tragedies any worse than the rest of us sinners? no. don't wonder why they died. be concerned that you remained alive and that your life may be required of you at any moment.
sobering words.[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]
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