In general sense, the wrath of God has been with us from the time Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. That the wrath is on-going, there is no denying of the fact. The wrath of God is manifestly evident in the lives of individuals, communities, institutions, and nations in a limited sense in the present time. On the other hand the wrath is also final, eschatological, and apocalyptic. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness of men who hold the Truth in unrighteousness.
“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.”(Romans 2:4-11 KJV).
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”(Revelation 14:9-12 KJV).
It is one of the major events of the Second Advent of our Lord, Jesus The Christ. It will occur after the cosmic and celestial disturbances, the sealing of the 144,000, and the Rapture of the saints, precisely at the breaking of the seventh seal. When we speak of the wrath of God in the Day Of The Lord or simply The Day Of The Lord, we mean when God’s wrath shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God who persecuted the saints of the Lord during the Great Tribulation.
“So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”(2 Thessalonians 1:4-10 KJV).
All the major prophets spoke of the Day of the Lord(Joel 1:1-4, 30, 2:28-32; Isaiah 2, 3:14, 15, 13:6-8, 9-10; Zeph.1:2; Rev.6:12-17). It is also called the day of wrath. It is the day(period of time) when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed from Heaven against all unrighteousness. It is so because God is patient and longsuffering. He gives us time to repent. It is in this area that human stupidity is so evident. Everyone of us may have observed this in our own life when we take undue advantage of God’s mercy and lovingkindness. The preacher oberserved:
“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. “(Ecclesiastes 8:11-13 KJV).
If we all drop dead the moment we commit a sinful act like it happened to Ananias and Saphirah(Acts 5:1-11), there will be no one left for Christ to rule over in the Millennium.
It is for the same reason, the longsuffering of God, that men mock God saying: “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”(2 Peter 3:4 KJV). This theory they call Scientific Uniformitarianism which states that all natural laws and principles have always operated the same way since the beginning of creation. In other words there have not been any divine intervention in the affairs of men since the creation of man. This is false because the Genesis records affirm that God destroyed the world of Noah’s day because of the sinfulness of man as He also did in Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Abraham and Lot his nephew. But they are ignorant of the fact that God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hence there is the manifestation of His wrath both in time and in the eschatological sense.
“For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:5-9 KJV).
God’s judgment in the antediluvian world did not occur immediately they sinned. It was the same in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. There were delays for decades and hundreds of years. But eventually, His patience was over and His wrath was manifested. It was final and apocalyptic for those eras. It is the same in our day. We must not assume that all there is about God’s wrath is the earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tropical storms, cyclones, monsoon rains and landslides, epidemics and pandemics, wild fires, climate change etc, we experience in time. God may not be directly responsible for these natural disasters. As the sovereign Lord of the Universe, they cannot happen without His sufferance. But we know He is not directly involved. We must make a distinction between what God permits and which He does, what He is actively involved in. To call what is happening now God’s wrath is to make a parody and travesty of Divine Justice. It is to make a mockery of God’s wrath. In the Day Of The Lord, neither the Bill Gates of this world nor the UN, nor WHO, nor any government for that matter shall be able to stand.
“Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, “And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”(Isaiah 2:10-15-22 KJV).
In the Day Of the Lord, God is actively involved. He directly intervenes in human affairs to rescue the righteous and destroy the unrigheous wicked and restore order in the earthly domain of His Universal Kingdom. In the day of the Lord no man or human institution no matter how prominent, no idol or demon, no matter how lofty shall be able to stand. The gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth, even they shall perish from udder the Earth and under these Heavens(Jere.10:11). And the idols He shall utterly abolish(Isaiah 2:18). See my comments on Isaiah 2: link: https://mtzionheritageministries.com/2019/09/02/exposition-on-isaiah-21-22/
For further reading, see my articles: The Day Of The Lord, link: https://mtzionheritageministries.com/2019/09/01/the-day-of-the-lord/ ,
The Day Of His Wrath, https://mtzionheritageministries.com/2019/09/01/the-day-of-his-wrath/
We must not confuse the wrath of God(Rev.6:17) with the wrath of Satan(Rev.12:12). The wrath of Satan administered through his minion the antiChrist and his gang is directed against the saints of God and any other persons who repudiate his authority(Rev.13). For instance some observant Jews and some “righteous Gentiles” will not succumb to the antiChrist though they believe not that Jesus is the Messiah(Zech.12:10-14; Matt.25:35-45). On the other hand, the wrath of God is administered by God Himself and is directed towards the unrighteous wicked for their evils who remain after the Rapture of the saints(Rev.8-9, 16-20). The believers are not appointed unto God’s wrath(1 Thess.1:10, 5:9). The wrath of God in the day of the Lord is specific, definitive and directional. It occurs at a specific time in history referred to as the End Of The Ages, the transitional period between the present age, Olam Haba, and the age to come, Olam Haze. It is directed against the wicked who know not God(Eph.5:6; Col.3:6). The believers are exempt from it. As touching the timing of the Rapture, our dear brother Dr. Jeminusi has observed that there is no mention of the Rapture in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 till after verse 29 which is after the Great Tribulation.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”(Matthew 24:29-31 KJV).
It is unthinkable that with all that is happening in the world today, thousands of people in Sweden, China, Europe and US being chipped with RFID and Bill Gates madness to get everyone didgitized and certified with a global ID and reprogrammed into humanoids through such programmes as Event 201, Quantum Dot Tottoo, and ID2020, a reasonable student of the word of God would stand up and still boldly declare unabashed contrary to overwhelming biblical evidence that the Rapture will be pretribulational without having denied the evidence of one’s senses. The primary truth is the word of God, but sometimes God also reveals the truth through nature and events orchestrated by man.
Avraham Shallom.
Mt Zion Heritage Ministries 