John 3:36 -
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever
does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
remains on him.”
We
were watching an episode of The West Wing the other night. The
President is visiting a small town in Oklahoma that a tornado has
just destroyed. He is in a shelter and speaking with a female
volunteer about what has happened. She tells him she used to drive
the school bus and that a number of the children who took her bus to
school had been killed by the tornado. She then questions how a
loving God could do this to people. They try to do the right thing.
They do good. They go to church. How could He do this?
This
verse, John 3:36,
came to my mind. The wrath of God REMAINS on all who do not obey,
who reject the Son. The Son takes away the wrath of God from all
those who believe. As Romans
5:1 says, “Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peace
with God. Think about that
statement for a moment. Is
God our enemy? The fact that
we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ did implies there
was no peace before. Wait a minute! I thought God loved us all?
Of course it's a
terrible thing when a tragedy strikes. I know people question these
things and invariably lay the blame at the feet of God for such
disasters. This shows how great the deception is that humanity is
under. The craziness of this deception is that we are the ones who
are fallen, sinful, corrupt, and enemies of God. His wrath is upon
us and we stand condemned already. Yet when tragedy strikes we point
the finger at God, wondering how He can do this to us; thinking
ourselves the innocent ones and He the villain. We hear all the time
that “God is love.”, and this is used to trump and justify all
wrongdoing, all sin. “Aside from a few bad apples we're all pretty
much good. Sure, we're not perfect, but God loves us.” We never
hear, “If you reject Jesus Christ, the wrath of God REMAINS on
you!” It's there ALREADY! It doesn't just come on you at some
future time. You're in it RIGHT NOW! At any moment He can strike
you down and be perfectly justified in doing it. As John 3:18
says, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe
is CONDEMNED
ALREADY, because he has not believed in the name of the
only Son of God.” A tornado, a car accident, a fire, some
illness, old age. Sooner or later, one way or another, we are all
going to die. How could a loving God do this to people?
I found myself
thinking of a different question. Knowing what the Scripture says of
fallen man's position before God, I wondered, “Why does a loving
God allow people to keep on living?” The fact that the
rejectors and blasphemers of Christ remain alive and live their lives
apart from Him, enjoying the many blessings they do, is a testament
to the patience and grace of God. What's
more, every breath we take is
a gift of God (Acts 17:25
“...since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath
and everything.”) and a proof
of His grace bestowed upon sinful, fallen humanity. Romans
2:8 throws a sobering light on the future of those who reject
Christ: “...but for those who are self-seeking and do not
obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and
fury.” The meaning of “wrath
and fury” as copied from the Strong's speak of “passion (as if
breathing hard):--fierceness, indignation, violent passion (ire, or
(justifiable)
abhorrence);
by implication punishment:--anger, indignation.” I picture God
coming after His enemies in vengeance, breathless in His wrath.
Thinking of God like this, as the Bible presents Him, scares the crap
out of me!!!
Knowing this is what
makes the Gospel the Good News. Jesus came to take the wrath of God
upon Himself in the place of the elect. He came to take the
punishment from God that we all deserve. For those who believe, the
elect, He suffered the wrath of God in their place. Because of this,
the truth of Romans 5:1 comes to those who believe – we have been
justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. God is no longer our enemy, breathless in His wrath as He
comes after his enemies. Because of what Jesus did we have peace with
Him. As it says in Romans 4: 7, 8
“Blessed are those
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”
