. . . Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Do
you remember the time you were lost as a child, or slipping over a
precipice, or about to drown? Then suddenly you were rescued. You held
on for “dear life.” You trembled for what you almost lost. You were
happy. Oh, so happy, and thankful. And you trembled with joy.
That’s
the way I feel at the end of the year about my rescue from God’s wrath.
All day Christmas we had a fire in the fireplace. Sometimes the coals
were so hot that when I stoked it my hand hurt. I pulled back and
shuddered at the horrendous thought of the wrath of God against sin in
hell. Oh, how unspeakably horrible that will be!
Christmas
afternoon I visited a woman who had been burned over 87 percent of her
body. She has been in the hospital since August. My heart broke for her.
How wonderful it was to hold out hope to her from God’s word for a new
body in the age to come! But I came away not only thinking about her
pain in this life, but also about the everlasting pain I have been saved
from through Jesus.
Test
my experience with me. Is this trembling joy a fitting way to end the
year? Paul was glad that “Jesus . . . delivers us from the wrath to
come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). He warned that “for those who . . . do not
obey the truth . . . there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8). And
“because of [sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness] the wrath of
God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6).
Here
at the end of the year, I am finishing my trek through the Bible and
reading the last book, Revelation. It is a glorious prophecy of the
triumph of God, and the everlasting joy of all who “take the water of
life without price” (Revelation 22:17). No more tears, no more pain, no
more depression, no more sorrow, no more death, no more sin (Revelation
21:4).
But
oh, the horror of not repenting and not holding fast to the testimony
of Jesus! The description of the wrath of God by the “apostle of love”
(John) is terrifying. Those who spurn God’s love will “drink the wine of
God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he
will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy
angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment
goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night”
(Revelation 14:10–11).
“And
if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was
thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Jesus will “tread the
winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Revelation
19:15). And blood will flow “from the winepress, as high as a horse’s
bridle, for 184 miles” (Revelation 14:20). Whatever that vision
signifies, it is meant to communicate something unspeakably terrible.
I
tremble with joy that I am saved! But oh, the holy wrath of God is a
horrible destiny. Flee this, brothers and sisters. Flee this with all
your might. And let us save as many as we can! No wonder there is more
joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
righteous (Luke 15:7)!
John Piper
