I can’t say that I think about the wrath of God very much—for me, it is not a concern because I have “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10)

And: “…since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

That’s not to say we won’t experience the wrath of man and demonic confrontation—there’s plenty of that going on all over the world right now. We have the words of Jesus to counsel us, though…

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do….” (Luke 12 :4)

We also have this assurance: “…God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

It is our responsibility to feed our faith through our relationship with God and an intimacy with His Word so that we can “take up the shield of faith, with which [we] can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one….” (Ephesians 6:16)

My interest in the wrath of God was piqued the other day, though, when I read these words of John the Baptist that were recorded by Matthew:

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he [John] said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:7-8)

My “wait, what?” moment came after reading these verses, when I remembered that these religious leaders were troubling themselves about the “wrath to come” before the Savior came—The Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the only way to escape the wrath to come. The people of Israel did have a history of experiencing of God’s judgment for turning to idolatry, ignoring the scriptures, and persecuting the prophets—they did have a legitimate concern; however, they missed the mark when it came to the path God laid out for them.

What were they looking for? …and why were they concerned about the wrath to come without setting their hearts on the coming promised Messiah? Apparently, they hadn’t found peace with God through their laws and religious traditions; and by John’s description of them as a “brood of vipers” what they did have was poison. What an accurate portrayal of what manmade religion and worldly philosophies looks like! Also, an interesting consideration in John’s reference to these “authorities” as vipers is the implied relationship between them and the serpent “who is called the devil and satan, the one who deceives the whole world.” (Revelation 12:9)

As we witness so much open defiance to the Word of God nowadays, I’m quite sure that many people are neither looking for the coming Messiah nor the wrath to come. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees at the time of Jesus’ first coming, many are making up their own religions that will suit themselves and their fallen nature rather than seeking to serve the Creator of heaven and earth. …which makes it interesting that the theme of the politically elite declares a “green new deal” to save the planet, yet their hearts are far from the One who created all the planets and galaxies!

One of the enemy’s deceptions revolves around the nature of God, who is love, but who also reserves wrath for the disobedient and rebellious. These attributes of God’s nature are not incongruent with each other, though the unredeemed mind cannot grasp scriptural truth—because apart from Holy Spirit ignited understanding and discernment, scripture may appear to be filled with inconsistencies.

I love this description and contrast Paul offers in Ephesians:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved….” (Ephesian 2:1-5)

Paul wrote to the church in Rome: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth….” (Romans 1:18)

In fact, God’s wrath is present against ungodliness and unrighteousness even now. And as easy as it is to want to call down judgment and wrath, particularly upon corrupt politicians, people who challenge our relationship with God and His Word, and those reject truth and the righteousness of God, that is not what we, as Christians, are called to do. Nor is it our responsibility to decide what are demonstrations of God’s wrath and what is the result of living in a fallen world. Unmitigated hatred (which most of us would deny harboring) towards offensive people—and it is easier to feel that type of hatred when we experience frustration from the political maneuvering and mandates that would rob us of freedom—does not reflect the heart of God towards those who have turned their backs on Him.

It’s easy to overlook “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance;” and focus on the next verse, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (2 Peter 3:9-10)

This has been a good reminder that I need to keep a check on my attitudes and the words I say, particularly as lawlessness, rioting, and corruption in government abound. Frustration, animosity, and complaining are not fruit of Spirit! We do not want to adopt the self-righteous attitudes of the religious leaders that John confronted so long ago. And we cannot be surprised by the things that are happening now, especially as we study scripture and recognize the signs of Jesus’ imminent return. The thing is, as believers in Jesus, our lives need to mirror the heart of God not the attitudes of fallen human nature. John the Baptist’s words to the Pharisees and Sadducees are good counsel for us now when our hearts and our words reflect the sinful attitudes of this world— “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance!”