THE COMING WRATH

THE COMING WRATH

The greatest fear of believers and the world at large is the coming wrath which God shall pour down upon the earth. There is a coming horror and a great out pour of the Lord’s anger upon the earth. It is so horrific that just the thought of it makes many tremble in fear. The bible described it as the day of the Lord. The prophets of old spoke about it and how it will come with great destruction. In fact in their prophecies they said Alas! For it is near.

¹⁵ Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.{Joel 1:15}

Sound the alarm in Jerusalem! Let the blast of the warning trumpet be heard upon my holy mountain! Let everyone tremble in fear, for the day of the Lord’s judgment approaches.

² It is a day of darkness and gloom, of black clouds and thick darkness. What a mighty army! It covers the mountains like night! How great, how powerful these “people” are! The likes of them have not been seen before, and never will again throughout the generations of the world! ³ Fire goes before them and follows them on every side! Ahead of them the land lies fair as Eden’s Garden in all its beauty, but they destroy it to the ground; not one thing escapes.⁴ They look like tiny horses, and they run as fast. ⁵ Look at them leaping along the tops of the mountain! Listen to the noise they make, like the rumbling of chariots, or the roar of fire sweeping across a field, and like a mighty army moving into battle.

⁶ Fear grips the waiting people; their faces grow pale with fright. ⁷ These “soldiers” charge like infantry; they scale the walls like picked and trained commandos. Straight forward they march, never breaking ranks. ⁸ They never crowd each other. Each is right in place. No weapon can stop them. ⁹ They swarm upon the city; they run upon the walls; they climb up into the houses, coming like thieves through the windows. ¹⁰ The earth quakes before them and the heavens tremble. The sun and moon are obscured and the stars are hid.{Joel 2:1-10 TLB}

The bible says it will be a day of darkness and gloom. Fear will grip the waiting people. The earth and the heavens will quake, the sun and moon will be obscured and the stars will hide. You must take note the alarm will be sounded in Jerusalem.

I want you to compare this prophecy with the one given by Isaiah and Zephaniah as stated below.

¹⁴ “That terrible day is near. Swiftly it comes—a day when strong men will weep bitterly. ¹⁵ It is a day of the wrath of God poured out; it is a day of terrible distress and anguish, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, of clouds, blackness, ¹⁶ trumpet calls, and battle cries; down go the walled cities and strongest battlements!{Zephaniah 1:14-16 TLB}

That day will be terrible and frightening. It will be a day of anguish and sorrow, gloom and darkness, trumpet calls and battle cries. Strong men shall weep bitterly. God will pour down His wrath. The reason for this great wrath is because the people have sinned against the Lord. He will make them helpless and as blind men searching for a path. Their blood will be poured out into the dust and in the ground will their bodies get rotten. Fire will devour the whole land out of jealousy and He will make a sudden end of all the people on earth.

As you read these prophecies, I want you to ask yourself this question “Am I also going to be consumed in God’s wrath?”

⁶ Howl in pain! The day of the Lord is near, the day when the Almighty brings destruction. ⁷ Everyone's hands will hang limp, and everyone's courage will fail.⁸ They will all be terrified and overcome with pain, like the pain of a woman in labor. They will look at each other in fear, and their faces will burn with shame.⁹ The day of the Lord is coming—that cruel day of his fierce anger and fury. The earth will be made a wilderness, and every sinner will be destroyed. ¹⁰ Every star and every constellation will stop shining, the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will give no light.

¹¹ The Lord says, “I will bring disaster on the earth and punish all wicked people for their sins. I will humble everyone who is proud and punish everyone who is arrogant and cruel. ¹² Those who survive will be scarcer than gold. ¹³ I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place on that day when I, the Lord Almighty, show my anger. {Isaiah 13:6-13 GNT}

                   

This is what the Lord said; that He will bring disaster upon the earth and punish all wicked people for their sins. Who are these wicked people who are also arrogant and proud? The people who will receive the out pour of God’s anger. Again ask yourself “Am I among these people?”

It says here that the earth will be made a wilderness and every sinner will be destroyed. Who are these sinners? Do you think you are one of them?

The Lord’s fury and fierce anger is coming upon the earth. The sun will stop shinning and the moon will not give light. Everyone will tremble and be greatly afraid.

Having read the three prophecies above about the coming wrath, you should ask yourself some salient questions. Is God really going to pour his furious judgement on everyone both righteous and evil? Like Abraham asked “Will you destroy the wicked with the righteous? Will God be just to destroy the guilty and the innocent together? Will He still be a just God if He destroys the trees of righteousness He planted alongside the unrighteous sinners? If you don’t know that as a Christian you are a tree of righteousness, I recommend you read my article “THE PLANTING OF THE LORD”

Now let’s see what our Father Abraham and our Heavenly Father God agreed as regarding destroying the righteous with the wicked.

²⁰ So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant. ²¹ I am going down to see if their actions are as wicked as I have heard. If not, I want to know.”

²² The other men turned and headed toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham. ²³ Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose you find fifty righteous people living there in the city—will you still sweep it away and not spare it for their sakes? ²⁵ Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

²⁶ And the Lord replied, “If I find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will spare the entire city for their sake.”

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke again. “Since I have begun, let me speak further to my Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose there are only forty-five righteous people rather than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”

And the Lord said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five righteous people there.”

²⁹ Then Abraham pressed his request further. “Suppose there are only forty?”

And the Lord replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the forty.”

³⁰ “Please don’t be angry, my Lord,” Abraham pleaded. “Let me speak—suppose only thirty righteous people are found?”

And the Lord replied, “I will not destroy it if I find thirty.”

³¹ Then Abraham said, “Since I have dared to speak to the Lord, let me continue—suppose there are only twenty?”

And the Lord replied, “Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

³² Finally, Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me if I speak one more time. Suppose only ten are found there?”

And the Lord replied, “Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

³³ When the Lord had finished his conversation with Abraham, he went on his way, and Abraham returned to his tent. {Genesis 18:20-33 NLT}

It is true that the sin of our current world is far more than that of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is grievously heinous. We live in a dispensation when people come out boldly to say they have sold their souls to the devil, a generation that openly comes out to oppose God and His righteous children. A generation of wickedness in which the righteous are crucified for believing in Jesus. We live in a time when people have sex with animals, men with men, women with women, and fathers with their daughters. The evil of our age is so much so that God will not have to come down to see it like He did Sodom and Gomorrah. It is so glaring that even the heavens can see it from afar.

Notwithstanding the evil of this age, God still has a remnant. These are the righteous ones. The people planted by God himself to be called oak trees of righteousness. There is no destruction for these ones.

God concluded with Abraham that if he could find ten righteous people in Sodom, He would not destroy the land because He cannot destroy the righteous with the wicked. There are millions of Christians all over the world today with God’s righteousness. Do you think God will destroy us with the wicked because He is angry? I guess you know the answer. His wrath will be poured YES but upon whom shall it be poured?

The series continues next week. Watch out for the next article…..It will provide answers to every question asked here....GOD BLESS YOU.