Today, the guys consider the wrath of God – an essential component of faithful preaching, but also a reality that is often misunderstood, ignored, and even maligned. Contrary to popular belief, the wrath of God is not an embarrassment or flaw within Christian theology; rather, it is part of what holds the whole picture of the gospel together. While atheists and deconstructionists argue that the wrath of God indicates a bloodthirstiness in God and divine child abuse and child sacrifice, they miss the workings of the Trinity in the sacrifice of Jesus. God didn’t inflict undue suffering on a person lesser than He, but the second Person of the Godhead – the eternal Son who is co-equal with the Father – took on the sin of His people and willingly laid down His own life. Ultimately, God bore God’s own wrath toward sin and sinners.

To not hate evil would make God morally reprehensible, but the disconnect humans face is that they simultaneously want and need God to bear wrath toward evil and are themselves evil. As terrifying as this disconnect is to face, we need to feel the weight of it. We cannot rightly grasp the good news of the gospel and the mercy it holds out to us without first understanding the law, our breaking of it, and our standing as sinners before a holy God who hates evil. It is only in view of God’s wrath and our deserving of it that we truly understand our need for Jesus and are driven to cast ourselves on His grace! Seeing the truth of wrath allows us to see the beautiful exchange of the atonement. Jesus took on the sin of His people, and His perfect righteousness was imputed to them. The wrath due them was borne by Him, and when God now looks at them, He sees the righteousness of His Son.

What great news this is! And because this news only arises out of the unadulterated reality of God’s wrath understood in its own right, we must remember in our evangelism that the wrath of God is a necessary terror to the unconverted. It urges them to stop playing games and to flee from the wrath to come and find their refuge in Jesus.

You can also find useful content at gracequotes.org.
Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.
Ray Comfort
Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne
Mark Spence
Oscar Navarro