His Wrath
Key. vi. 17. — “For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall he able to stand f”
There have been some terrible days of wrath in the past history of this world. That was a day of wrath when, wearied by the cry of their sins and iniquities, the Lord rained fire from heaven on the guilty inhabitants of Sodam and Gfomorrah. What consternation and dismay must have seized them when they beheld the first fiery strokes of His vengeance! What a change in their feelings, they who had thought themselves and their deeds of darkness so hidden from the eye of Gfod and from the strokes of His justice — they who had revelled in their iniquities, laughed at His threatenings, and mocked the prophecies of His vengeance! How must they have quailed and howled as each torrent of fire fell on their devoted heads! It was a day of vengeance, a day of wrath.
That was a day of wrath, also, when Gfod resolved on punishing the earth by sweeping it at once of its crimes and its inhabitants, — when He could no longer endure their evil imaginings and open rebellion, and when He burst the boundaries which He had set for the great deep, opened the sluices of the skies, and rained down death and destruction on all flesh. What wringing of hands and shrieks for mercy must have mingled with the roar of the
His Wrath.
angry floods, as thousands after thousands sank to rise no more! That was a day of wrath!
That was a day of wrath, too, when, after ages of forbearance and merciful interposition, long-threatened judgment overtook the Jewish people, and God let loose upon them their inveterate enemies, armed with all but supernatural power, to torment and destroy. Long had His mercy put off the vengeful day — for many generations had He sent them messengers and prophets, and last of all His Son, whom they rejected and slew, which filled up the measure of their iniquities and brought on them such tortures as had not been since the world began, nor shall be again till the last great day of wrath. Josephus tells us that 1,100,000 perished in the siege, that 115,880 dead bodies were carried out of one gate of Jerusalem in two and a half months. When Titus, in going his round along the valleys, saw them full of dead bodies, and the putrefaction running from them, he gave a groan, and, spreading his hands to heaven, called God to witness that this was not his doing. Their sufferings by famine were even worse than this death. We are told that when the Romans came within the walls and had begun their work of plunder, they found the upper rooms of the houses full of corpses. They stood in horror at the sight, and went out without touching anything. The awful prophecy that the mother should eat her own child was then fulfilled, and men gnawed their tongues for pain, and sought for death as a refuge from their misery. Truly that was a day of wrath!
These were all great and terrible visitations of the righteous vengeance of God against sinners. But they bear but a faint resemblance to the day which is coming, when there shall be a revelation of His judgment against all the unrighteousness and ungodliness of man from the beginning to the end of time. What a day that will be — who can conceive or describe?
There are two or three characteristics of the wrath then to be revealed, which we want just to glance at.
First, it will be the wrath of God; and this will embrace the soul as well as the body. The wrath of creatures is sometimes very terrible; it can inflict untold sufferings on its fellow-mortal, but it cannot reach beyond the body. We have all heard of instances in which the bodies of our fellow-creatures have been tormented and racked by men of hellish disposition and their engines of as hellish construction, whose souls have been not only calm and peaceful, but joyous and triumphant. Man cannot forge a dart which can penetrate the soul that is at peace with (rod. He can imprison and afflict the body, but the soul can mount and sing in spite of all his wrath and malice. But who shall endure God’s wrath? For it not only “drieth the bones,” but it “drinketh up the spirit.” Indeed, its principal sphere of action is the soul; and it seems only just that that which has been chief in sinning should be greatest in suffering. We all know that it is th.e soul that sinneth; the body is only the instrument of the soul, it only does what the soul bids, and in some instances the greatest sins are committed by the soul alone, consequently the soul must be the principal sufferer. Hence, Christ, in bearing our punishment, though His body suffered in a violent and painful death, suffered chiefly in His soul. He said to His disciples, w My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto
His Wrath.
death,” hours before He suffered any bodily anguish; and we are told He was in an agony, and sweat great drops of blood which ran down to the ground. Now what was it that thus wrought upon the spotless soul of Jesus? —
It was the Weight of His Father’s Wrath against Sin.
He was standing for us, in our stead, suffering in His soul the infliction of the justice of God against sin. It was this which drank up His Spirit, and made Him utter that exceeding loud and bitter cry. Now, if the wrath of God were so terrible to the Son of God Himself as to put Him in such an agony, what will it be to the undone sinner in the great day of wrath? Well might our Saviour say, “Fear not them which kill the body, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Neither angel nor devil can affright or torment the soul but by God’s permission. He is Lord of the soul of man; He created it, and He alone has power over it. Well might the Psalmist say, “Who knoweth the power of Thine anger?” No creature can conjecture the weight of God’s wrath on the soul. Whatever comes direct from God is most stupendous, whether in the way of mercy or judgment. His love and mercy are infinite and unsearchable, and so is His wrath. The weight of His little finger is heavier than the loins of man. God sometimes in this life lets in His wrath into the soul, filling it with terror and dismay, so that it becomes intolerable. Thus it was with Judas. The wrath of God filled his conscience with such terror that he could not bear it, but hanged himself to be rid of the burden, forgetting that he was rushing into greater terror still. So it has been with many a sinner who has cried out in death, 4 1 feel already the torments oi hell; I will not die, I dare not die.’ But whatever of the wrath of (rod sinners have ever felt here, it is light in comparison with what is to come hereafter — it is, as it were, only a sip from the top of that cup of fury, the dregs of which all the wicked of the earth shall wring out and drink.
Oh, sinner, consider whose wrath it is that you are treasuring up against the day of wrath. If it were the wrath of men, angels, or devils, it would be bad enough but it is the wrath of the Almighty God. God Himself will come out of His place to punish you — His own mighty hand will deal the blow — His awful voice pronounce the sentence. It must be so. It is according to His impartial justice that it should be so, for all your sins have been against Him. Though you sinned against the creature, yet the first and greatest of every kind of rebellion is against God. “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.” Therefore it is meet and right that He Himself should punish you.
What will You do when the Day of His Wrath
is Come?
But I want you to note, further, that this wrath will be just wrath; it will be in exact accordance with every man’s guilt. John says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their WORKS.” Those who knew their Lord’s will and
His Wrath.
did it not, are to be beaten with many stripes; but those who knew’ not, with few stripes. Not only will this wrath be just, but the sinner will be made to feel and acknowledge it to be so; his conscience will take sides with God, and in spite of his feelings pronounce this wrath to be just. Conscience is a witness of God’s own appointing; it stands, as it were, an impartial judge between God and the sinner. You cannot bribe your conscience even now to swerve one iota from the light that is in it — you cannot make it say that is right which it feels to be wrong. You may refuse to listen to it, and you may act contrary to its teaching; but it will mutter its condemnation in your soul, and right miserable it often makes you even here. What an awful witness to be against you in the day of wrath!
If, when God is beginning to let His wrath out upon you, you could cry, 4 Stop, hold, listen, 0 Almighty Judge! I am not guilty of this or that,’ you might find some comfort. But conscience will make you speechless, for it will bring every sin you ever committed to your remembrance, and will say Amen to every charge which is brought against you. Conscience will be the most terrible witness which can appear against a man in that day, because it knows all about him, just as God does. It is the only witness in the universe which knows so much. The Devil knows a good deal about wicked men, but even he does not know so much as their own consciences for he does not know their secret thoughts and motives, as conscience does.
You see, conscience is an inseparable companion; it goes with us wherever we go, and notes whatever we do. It is with us all through life, and in death; and when the soul and body part, the soul and conscience do not part, but go together into the next world; so that its record exists for every moment of our lives, from the dawn of reason to the last thought in death. Paul may well ask, “Who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?” And, therefore, there is no one so proper to give evidence for or against a man in the great day of account as conscience. Hence God tells us He will judge every man according to the testimony of his conscience; both saints and sinners shall stand or fall by its verdict. God will judge upon clear evidence according to those things written in the books of His own omniscience and in the book of the sinners conscience. God will have one book and the sinner another, and both will agree to the letter. Sinner, this book is in your bosom now. You have been writing one of its pages to-day. Beware, it may be brought up against you in the great day of His wrath. Beware what you write in it to-night. You would be surprised to see how many entries it has already of mercy abused and rejected, calls unheeded, convictions stifled, opportunities trifled with, sermons forgotten; mind what you add to this black catalogue, for you must either get it cancelled by the blood of Jesus, or add another occasion for wrath against the day of wrath. Ah, this will be the climax of your guilt, the centre on which the fire of God’s vengeance will fix itself for ever and ever in your guilty soul, that
You Rejected Jesus.
That after the wonderful love of God in redeeming you by the precious blood of His Son, you would not listen, submit, repent, and be saved; but, in spite of
His Wrath.
all He could do, would push your way down to eternal death. We are told that as the righteous take their places in glory they will sing, u Just and righteous art Thou, 0 King of saints.” And, oh, rnethinks the first sentence that is groaned out by the lost sinner as he sinks into perdition will be, 6 It is just.’
But, further, I want you to remember that it will be uttermost vjrath — wrath unmixed with mercy.
Some of us have seen sinners drink terrible cups of suffering in this world; but we none of us ever saw one without some sweet in it. There is no calamity in this life without some alleviating circumstances, no pain without some palliative; hence the world has accepted the adage, “There is nothing bad but it might be worse.” But this adage will be out of date when the great day of His wrath is come. Then the bad will be as bad as it can be; and the worst, the very worst, will have come. Now, the vilest of sinners may find mercy for the seeking — then, it will be too late even to ask for it. Mercy’s term will have expired, and justice, and judgment will be the habitation of His throne for ever. There are many now who, when asked if they are prepared for judgment, say, 6 Well, 6 no; but you know God is merciful,’ — intimating that, though they continue in sin and rebellion till death, God will be too merciful to send them to hell at last. They forget that He must be just as well as merciful and that there is but one way by which He can show mercy to the guilty, and that is through His Son to those who repent and accept Him. But these people refuse to repent, and reject God’s only way of mercy, How will they dare ask for mercy then? It would be like the murderer asking for mercy when he gets to the scaffold. The date of mercy will be out, the day of grace over, and nothing left but wrath and fiery indignation for ever, for, alas!
This Wrath will be also Everlasting!
Ah, if sinners or saints, or poets or philosophers, could only find any satisfactory evidence that this wrath would ever come to an end, what a jubilee there would be amongst the wicked both on earth and in hell! But, sinner, remember that the same words are used to describe the duration of the misery of the wicked which are used to set forth the duration of the blessedness of the righteous — yea, and the duration of the existence of God Himself. He who was the embodiment of ‘truth and love, who came to seek and to save us, and not to mock us by false representations of future woe, declares that “it is better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having twn hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” And in another place He calls it “the fire that never shall be quenched.” And in speaking of the wicked in the last great day, He says, “and these shall go away into everlasting punishment.” Others may choose for themselves, but God forbid that you or I should make the fearful experiment of finding out the meaning of these awful words. Oh, my unsaved hearers, will you not be persuaded to flee from the wrath? Mercy still holds out; Jesus still shows His wounds and pleads His blood. Will you ground your arms, and take refuge under His cross? Will you come and drink of the water of life freely; or will you persevere in your rebellion and go on to drain the “cup of the wane of the fierceness of His wrath” FOR EVER?