God’s Future Wrath in Revelation
There are actually two different Greek words that the Spirit of God moved John to use for explaining God’s wrath in the book of Revelation; and each of these words shows how greatly God hates sin.
First, we see God as having: Fierce Rage. The first original word is thumos and that word is used 7x to describe God in Revelation, and when it describes God He is shown “to rush along fiercely”, “to be in a heat of violence”, or “to breathe violently”.
A way to imagine the meaning of this word is to think of someone panting with incredible rage. Only in Revelation it is not some sinful human, it is the very God of the Universe who steps onto the scene at the end of days, panting with holy and just rage against sin.
Next, we see God as having: Smoldering Wrath. The second, and even stronger word is the Greek word orge which carries the meaning “to grow ripe for something”. This word describes wrath as something that builds up over a long period of time, like a river that flows into a vast lake behind a mighty dam, and then finally when full, a devastating flood breaks loose.
That is how Revelation portrays God who after “storing up” His holy, just, and perfect wrath against sin finally starts to unleash it. Here we have the God of the Universe not suddenly flaring up, but holding a long-standing and ever-increasing hatred to sin, that is part of His very nature as God.
So Almighty God is viewed as stepping into Earth’s events, panting with rage, and with a deeply settle and long built-up wrath against sin and sinners who refuse to repent.
In the New Testament, the wrath of God is most displayed here in the book of Revelation. So to set the stage for this doctrine, we will read the verses in chapter 6 that explain these two elements of the wrath of God.
Please stand with me and join me in reading these words portraying the Doctrine of God’s Wrath.
Rev. 6:12-17 (NKJV) I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
As you can see, the word wrath and the events that are prompted by the wrath of God begin with the sixth seal, starting at verse 12. As we saw last time, the sixth seal most likely portrays the period after the mid-point of the Tribulation.
What that means is that all the awful events of the first 42 months of the Tribulation (seals one through five) are not directly prompted by God’s wrath. We will explore the implications of that next week. But, starting with the sixth seal, the wrath of God begins to be directly poured out. Note with me as we walk through these passages in Revelation that:
God Has Three Types of Wrath
(ROK-20b)
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