Saved by him from the wrath of God

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Romans 5:9

Jesus saves hell-bound sinners from the wrath of God. That is the gospel not often emphasized these days. You can’t say it with a smarmy smile. It is deadly serious business. And of course there have been harsh excesses in churches overstating God’s wrath. I have felt the oppressive false guilt of too many hellfire and brimstone pulpit-pounding raving preachers who did not match the holiness they claimed to represent. We have seen grace get lost in condemnation by hyper-fundamentalist anger. But that was an error. They got the wrath of God wrong and substituted human anger for it.

How do we then get the wrath of God right? God’s wrath is judicial. It is His holy, abiding anger and judgment decreed against evil. It is what forced the creation of hell for the rebellion of Satan and the fallen angels who opposed the hosts of heaven. It is what led to our own fallen destiny when cursed by sin our first parents were driven from paradise. It is what Jesus taught awaited evil people such as the “rich man” in Luke 15 and those who reject the rule of His kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. Guess Who preached hell best? It was Jesus.

So wrath is not about an out of control anger. It is about measured judgment and justice that sin and rebellion rightfully both deserve. It is in keeping with the nature of a holy God to have wrath against evil.

But we have Jesus Who has satisfied the wrath of God by the cross. And by faith in His sacrifice we are justified as His blood saves us from the wrath of God our sins deserve. We receive mercy and grace in the moment of faith. We are delivered from a destiny of wrath we rightfully should experience. We are saved by Jesus from the wrath of God! Amen!

“In Christ alone, Who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

‘Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live”