Our Creator is both a god of wrath and mercy; however, His wrath is to be feared by only the guilty. Before creation, God’s mercy formulated a justification plan involving Christ dying on the cross for our sins, in order to satisfy the wrath of God toward sinners. Those who believe in and accept God’s grace will be declared not guilty of their sins on judgment day, will escape God’s wrath for forever, and will experience eternal life in heaven. Unfortunately, those who don’t become a Christian will be deemed guilty of sin, and will face God’s wrath in hell. Since God’s wrath is to be feared by the unjustified, there is no greater decision than to be justified
God’s Wrath Is Just
God is infinitely holy and just. When God chooses to be wrathful, it is always in response to sin being committed. If there was no sin in the world, God would have no reason to be wrathful, and would never be angry.
J.I. Packer describes God’s wrath: “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil”.
If man never sinned against God, there would be no evil in the world, and God would never display His wrath toward man. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. So, man is faced with a decision between heaven and hell.
God’s wrath is His love in action against sin
God chooses to judge sin because He is holy and just. If God wasn’t justice of the peace, man’s lawless deeds would undermine the freedoms of self and others – imagine what would happen if God didn’t care if His creation broke His law (like murder, stealing, rape, lying) – if everything was permissible and there were no punishments to sin, the sinful natures of men would go hyperactive, and people would constantly sin and plunder and injure another for person gain, and people would get mad, and retribute sin for sin to one another. Injured parties, having their freedoms tarnished and needs unmet, would get mad after someone’s sin injured them and retribute evil for evil. In a world where nuclear weapons, guns, knives, and bombs are being used by people with the capacity to do evil, it’s scary to imagine the mass destruction which take place as hatred and anger fuels the sinful hearts and minds of those being injured by another person, and if, God felt everything was permissible and didn’t judge sin. Survival of the fittest would be the theme. A society cannot remain free when it’s immoral, especially if there are no law or order present. Thankfully, God’s wrath is His love in action against sin.
One may think they only commit minor sins, but God is a holy and just God who make the rules, and we must trust His perfect wisdom in judging sin. Some can complain if they want, but the fact is God makes the rules and we don’t, and He has the power and authority to enforce them. We are incapable of truly knowing the detriment our actions have upon others and ourselves. We must trust in the wisdom and mercy of God’s justice in our lives.
For example, If the behavior of a child is not under the control of his parents, and if the child believed everything was permissible, even if the child started with small misbehaviors, the kid would instinctively be tempted to do worse actions, because the child thinks he or she can get away with it. Then that child could potentially do something destructively bad, possibly harming self or another person, limiting freedom. Thank goodness, God is authoritative to His creation, trying to prevent their sins from creating destruction that undermines freedom, through the governing of societal behaviors, similarly to how a loving parent watches over his or her children.
God’s Wrath Is To Be Feared
God is all-powerful; nothing can prevent God from doing what He wants. The Creator of all things, He has the capacity to create or end human life with a single command. There is no possible way that anyone can usurp God’s prerogative to not send someone to hell if they are not a Christian on judgment day. If you end your life on earth as an unbeliever, there is nothing in eternity that can prevent you from not going to hell, for God’s decision would be final. No second chances. No ifs and ands or buts. No excuses. If God finds a person guilty of sin on judgment day, nothing will stop that individual from going to hell.
God is holy and just; He is wrathful toward sin. The Judge decided that the “wages of sin is death”. Hell is the destination of the guilty. Unfortunately, “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. On their own merit, everyone deserves to go to hell. Torture beyond measure. We are all sinners; we all deserve hell. Thankfully, the God of wrath is also a God of mercy. He formulated a plan called justification that gives a sinner an opportunity to avoid going to hell through God’s grace.
The Mercy of God Desiring To Free Man From His Chains
Because of man’s sinfulness, entire humanity is under the curses and consequences of sin, and subject to the wrath of God. Unless God’s mercy would somehow intervene, the entire world is doomed to hell.
Being saved requires being perfect as God is, which is impossible for mortal human. The only person who lived a perfect life was Jesus Christ, God’s Son who God sent to pay to penalty of our sins, by dying on the cross. Christ sacrifice on the cross satisfied God’s wrath forevermore to those who become a Christian.
Christ is the focal point of God’s justification plan. According to John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me’”.
How God’s Justification Plan leads to eternal freedom
“Justification is a legal declaration from God that you are innocent of sin.” Since “all have sinned”, we actually are sinners, but God’s mercy chose His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins as an atoning sacrifice in our place, so those who put their faith upon that fact and accept God’s gift of mercy while choose to repent from their sins, will be justified, experience eternal life in heaven and not in hell, will become a child of God, and escape God’s wrath forevermore. Christ paid the death sentence in our place, so we don’t have to, and because Christ was sinless, His shedding of blood atoning sacrifice satisfied God’s wrath to our sins. We don’t have to pay, because Christ served the sentence for us, and because God accepted the atoning sacrifice of Christ for our sins, we are declared innocent of our sins, because the punishment that our sins required to be met, was completed, when Jesus died on the cross and resurrected three days later. So, when time is served for a crime, and is accepted by the judge as being sufficient payment for the sin, then that person is no longer guilty, and is free to live as a free person. That person is justified, declared innocent legally by the judge.
When a sinner becomes a Christian, he or she is justified, legally declared innocent of all sins because of God’s grace. Since He is now declared innocent of all crimes because of Christ’s payment on the cross is perceived adequate in the eyes of the God, the Judge. Thus, the new believer will be declared innocent on judgment day and will escape hell. When someone is justified by faith, not only will they experience heaven and not hell in the afterlife, but will never face God’s wrath again, because God pardons every sin committed by that individual in their life. This includes all past, present, and future sins.
A Few Intentions God Had When Dreaming Up Justification
Before the world was created, omniscient God knew His human creations would be incapable of being sinless. God’s holiness had to judge sin, or He would become flawed, and unsuitable to perfectly govern this world. However, God’s infinite mercy had compassion on man, desiring no one to be sentenced to hell. He also saw the sufferings that man would endure due to His sinful nature, and intensely wanted to restore Him, which can potentially happen through an intimate love relationship with God and as man strives not to yield to his sinful nature. Before this could take place, God knew He had to first restore man’s relationship with Him that was previously destroyed when Adam first sinned.
Before God decided to have Christ suffer on the cross, His omniscience knew who before creation every person in the history of this world who would reject Him and He knew every life giant each person would struggle to overcome, and every hurt and pain and tear felt by every man and woman. The mercy of God still had compassion on them, and still chose Christ to pay the penalty of their sins.
When God purposed man to have free will, God believed that man should have the freedom to choose, even though He knew the misuse of that liberty would lead man to rebel against Him; rebellion beginning with Adam and Eve. It would have been much safer for God to restrict free will when man was first created, but humans would never have had experienced freedom if He did. Free will is a liberty to enjoy, but after making unsound decisions, it can easily become a tyrant.
Both sin and unsound decisions in general have separated man from God, and the absence of God in man’s life has led to much tyranny of humankind. I believed this grieved God greatly, forcing God’s hand to judge man; however, God’s mercy for His creation still chose to purpose Christ to save them, knowing that countless humans throughout history would choose not to take advantage of God’s plans for deliverance. Even though Christ would suffer immensely for our sins, and many would still reject and mock God, God still loved man with a relentless, unconditional love.
God Purposed Christ To Suffer For Your Sake
God purposed Christ to die for the sins of all, including you and me. His love for all His creation is indescribably enormous. He knows all of your faults and still chose Christ to suffer for your sake. I strongly believe it grieves God to see you daily suffer; He desperately desires to make your life be of freedom. Christ died so you could become a child of God, escape hell and God’s wrath, and to enjoy rewards in heaven forevermore. Abba Father immensely wants you to abide in Him and experience His overabundant joy and peace. He also would like to rehabilitate you, making you into increasingly better person. He wants to be your Shepherd, to give you everything you need. He wants you to give you daily wisdom to make sound decisions and to empower you to become an overcomer for His glory. Christ suffered immensely on the cross, all because of God’s infinite mercy and love. If you are not a Christian, please become one today!
Becoming a Christian
We are saved only by God’s grace, and not by our good deeds – if we try to earn our way to heaven through good works, we will never do enough good to be perfect; for perfection, on our own merit, is what it takes to be saved. Thankfully, Jesus was perfect, and He chose to pay the penalty for our sins, and God declares those who have faith in Christ: an innocent, beloved child of God who will never experience God’s wrath, who will in the afterlife experience heaven for eternity. Also, because of justification, God will perceive His adopted child as perfect in His eyes, even though we are still in a sinning state.
When Jesus died on the cross, He died for the sins of the whole world. Man was incapable of paying the penalty of his own. No amount of good works on man’s part could ever clear the debt he owed to God. In essence, we are saved by grace, and not by works
So how do I become a Christian? Here are 4 steps on how to get saved:
- Recognize that you are a sinner. (Romans 3:10, 23) “There is no one righteous, not even one… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
- Recognize that Jesus died on the cross for you. (1 Peter 3:18) “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.”
- Repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19 NIV) “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”
- Receive Jesus as you Savior. (Romans 10:9-10) “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
For more information on how to become a Christian, click on this hyperlink: Plan Of Salvation
Jesus’ satisfactory and substitutionary work on the cross
The doctrine of justification by faith states: “God declares you righteous through the satisfactory and substitutionary work of Jesus on the cross.” Christ’s atoning sacrifice met the essential requirements that God needed in order to be simultaneously just and merciful to us. If God’s mercy just let sinners off scot-free without being proper justice being served, God wouldn’t be a just God; if God just simply punished sinners by sending them to hell, He wouldn’t also be a merciful God. Christ was a sinless sacrifice who also willingly chose to die for our sins. He became the sufficient substitutionary atonement for all our sins, adequately enabling God to be both a just and merciful God who remained infinitely perfect in nature. Justice stated we deserved the death penalty, but the Trinity’s mercy chose Christ to pay it, completely clearing the debt we owe to God.
Since Jesus was an suitable substitute for serving our prison sentence in the Judge’s (God) perceptions, God didn’t violate any of His holy, righteousness, justice and mercy natures. Thus, God was able to save man through the justification plan, as God continued to maintain His infinitely perfect state of being. God will never become a flawed deity for any reason.
Quote:
“God’s holiness, righteousness and justice are immutable parts of His character, so He exercises judgment on sin as One who is sovereign in His moral kingdom”.
“Yet, he himself has fulfilled that righteous penalty in the person of His Son (Jesus) so that, without violating His holy nature, He guarantees forgiveness and justification to all who believe”.
(“The Bible has the Answer” by Morris and Clark, 1976, page 153).
Freedom requires sound decision making
God has given you and I the freedom of free will; to choose one’s path is a liberty every human desires. Unfortunately, when we don’t make wise decisions, it can potentially tyrannize us immensely for eternity.
There is no greater decision than upon your eternal salvation. Hell and the wrath of God are the consequences of making the wrong choice. Heaven and freedom and the absence of God’s wrath all result from being a child of God.
Are you a Christian? Will God declare you justified on judgment day? There is no greater consequence than being unjustified.
Bible Verses
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
“But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5).
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26).