Read: Revelation 14
Devotion: There are many today who do not believe in the wrath of God, which Scripture defines as God’s righteous hatred against sin. Of course, those who are non-religious or who belong to another religion don’t readily admit that Yahweh’s anger burns toward sin and that he will one day bring judgment on the earth for its iniquity. Sadly, however, in that group of wrath deniers are whole swaths of professing Christians. Universalists, for example, hold that everyone will be saved. They openly deny that God is wrathful and that he will judge the wicked.
But there are also those who deny God’s wrath in practice. These would be the professing Christians and professing Christian churches who don’t necessarily teach against the reality of God’s wrath, but who ignore its reality in what they do teach and in how they live. Foolishly taking the “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” approach these churches avoid the topics of sin, God’s wrath, judgment, and the need for change and repentance. If those topics are broached at all they are quickly minimized, usually done so through an overemphasis of God’s love, mercy, and patience. That may come as a shock, but yes, it is possible to overemphasize those wonderful attributes of God. But when someone holds up God’s love or mercy as a cover for one’s sin, that’s a telltale sign that they do not have a balanced understanding of who God is.
This denial of God’s wrath, whether willfully or ignorantly, shouldn’t surprise us, however. This has been the prevailing worldview of mankind since the fall. It was true in the days of Noah, who was a herald of righteousness and yet was not believed by his contemporaries (2 Pet. 2:5). We can imagine as he was building the ark and his neighbors came by to ask him what he was doing. Perhaps he told them about the coming flood, God’s righteous judgment toward sin, and plead with them to repent. A likely response: “You are crazy Noah. God isn’t angry with us. He’s not going to destroy the world.” The same was also true during the kingdom days of Israel and Judah. Though God had sent prophet after prophet to the people of Judah about how their sin was kindling his wrath, they continued to be unrepentant and refused to believe that judgment was coming (Jer. 5:12). “God’s wrath may be kindling toward the Gentile nations, but our sin would never incur his wrath,” they concluded.
The same is true today. But just because people close their ears and try to bury their heads into the sand, that doesn’t make the reality of God’s wrath any less real. Revelation is the end of the story. Christ gave his people this book to bless us as we read, hear, and keep it (Rev. 1:3). Chapter fourteen, which you read, is just a small picture of what the outpouring of God’s wrath upon the earth will look like. The cup of God’s wrath is filling up. We don’t know the day or hour when it will be filled, but it will be full one day, and on that day God promises that all those who have rejected Christ, refused to repent, and have remained in the kingdom of darkness will be forced to drink it down to the dregs.
Any attempt to whitewash or minimize that reality is not loving; it is utter foolishness because it goes against the very purpose for which God has told us about his wrath to come. It is purposed to instill a fear of God in us, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10). In light of the promise of God’s wrath in Revelation 14: 9-11, what are believers to do? They are to endure so that they too aren’t counted among those described in those verses (see Rev. 14:12). It’s unloving to not tell the person on the train tracks about the oncoming train. Likewise, it is unloving not to warn the sinner about the wrath of God that is to come. Beyond our duty to warn unbelievers to flee from the wrath to come in the refuge of Christ, when we deny or minimize God’s wrath we also deprive our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ of a greater understanding of God’s love and mercy toward them in Christ. God has revealed to us his wrath in order for his people to better understand his glory (Rom. 9:22-23; Eph 1:3-14). How could we possibly understand our salvation if we don’t know what we’ve been saved from? The more we learn of God’s wrath the more we learn of God’s love for us because we come to a greater understanding of exactly what Christ endured on the cross on our behalf. The cup of God’s wrath is real, and we are the better when we give it the time and weight that the topic deserves.
Ponder and Pray: As a family, discuss how understanding sin, its consequences, and the wrath of God helps us to better experience the riches of God’s mercy and love? Finish by sharing prayer requests and praying for one another.