Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Jeremiah 46-48
Jeremiah 48:15
Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
The term “wrath of God” is only used ten times in Scripture. While the Old Testament is filled with examples of God’s wrath, that phrase is only used once (Psalm 78:31). This leaves nine of the usages of this sobering truth in the New Testament. More than half of those usages are in the book of the Revelation.
From Jeremiah chapter 46 through 51 Jeremiah prophecies the wrath of God as being poured out on the Gentile world. In these chapters some 21 Gentile nations are listed. The total width, breadth, and depth of God’s judgments upon those nations who abused Israel are read about in these six chapters. It is frankly difficult to read.
Today the world in general knows little of the wrath of God. For today, in the church age, or gospel age, whichever it may be called, is a day of grace. Grace, mercy, and forgiveness are the attributes of God most associated with His dealing with both nations and individuals. For John 3:17 states clearly: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. But just as clearly, there is also a ninefold warning in the New Testament of the coming wrath of God.
Jonathan Edwards preached a message to his congregation in Northampton Massachusetts in the mid 1700’s titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This sermon was a type of catalyst for that which is commonly called “the Great Awakening” in the American colonies. He, Jonathan Edwards, had his finger on the pulse of God’s multifaceted character, Salvation by grace and the wrath of God. Without understanding the wrath of God, salvation is devalued. For if there is no wrath to escape, why the need of being saved? Saved from what?
Jeremiah warned of the coming wrath of God, on both the Jews and the Gentiles, though he did not use that term. Jesus, John, and Paul, all three, warn those living today of the coming wrath of God. The only escape from which is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank the Lord for His salvation! All that a saved person will ever know about that eternal wrath is that which they read about it in the pages of His Holy Word.
Dr. William T. Howe
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