God's Wrath

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

God's wrath is set in motion by the curse of God brought about by Adam's disobedience to God's word

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you..." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return." Gen.3:14,17,19

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath {of God} through Him... Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned - Rom.5:9,12

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness
Rom.1:18
[The fact men are already under God's wrath is shown by their unrighteous response to the truth of God. God's wrath has been revealed (death and cursed ground), it is being revealed (sin, ongoing restlessness of nations, periodic judgment of nations through calamities, famine, plagues etc.), and it will be revealed (end of time, lake of fire]

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Eph.5:6
[two ways have been layed out; the way of wrath on which the children of disobedience walk and the way of righteousness---the way of kingdom blessings ---on which the redeemed walk.]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

 2)God's Word descends from heaven offering salvation
(the word becomes flesh)

"When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. When the sons of Israel saw {it,} they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.' Ex.16:14-15
(Manna forshadows God's Word made Flesh that descends from above)

"No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man" - John 3:13

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world...It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Jn.6:51,63
[Jesus was sent from heaven to offer words of life that provide an escape from God's wrath---both future and present]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

 3) Men reject the word from heaven proving they are children of wrath
(also known as children of Adam) 

The people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." Num.21:5

"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. " Eph.2:3
[man's appetite for the lusts of the flesh and aversion for the truth of God is a sure sign that the wrath of God is fermenting in a cup to be poured out]

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Jn.3:36

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

 4)Being a child of wrath manifests itself in restlessness of a sinner's soul

And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Num.21:6

But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud. "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked." Is.57:20-21

...but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. Rom.2:8

"... 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS'; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' ... And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? {So} we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. Heb.10-11,18-19

[restlessness and sin are the hallmarks of those who walk in disobedience on the road of God's wrath]

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God."  Rev.16:1
[God's wrath is also revealed by various tribulations he pours on the earth as an admixture to man's sin and restlessness.God is mercifully prodding man to the way of escape]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

5)The sinner becomes aware of God's wrath. He cries out for an escape.

So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people.  Num.21:7

And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:29-30

 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?.... that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,... Rom.9:22, 11:26-26
[Israel has become a vessel of God's wrath so that Gentiles might be drawn into God's blessing and that one day, all Israel might repent and escape God's wrath]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

 6)God provides a way of escape from His wrath

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery {serpent,} and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live."  Num.21:8

"No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.... And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Acts 16:31-32,34

[Disobedience to God's word led to a place of wrath, so now obedience to God's word of the gospel leads to the escape into eternal life]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

7)To all who receive the words receive peace with God and eternal life

And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.  Num.21:9

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, Heb.4:2-3

[the way of escape is so simple a young child can be led to it]

Story of God's Wrath

The OT Shadow

The Reality

 8)But to all who reject His words will continue under God's wrath forever

 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Num.21:6

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Heb.10:26-27

[God's wrath as revealed in this current age is greatly diluted, but not so for those who enter God's wrath in eternity]