Today was an important study, in that we needed to see the difference of how God interacted with man before the cross, doling out wrath in proportion to the infraction committed. The first infraction was in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7), which set the world on a collision course with “the wrath to come.” Matthew 3:7
We looked at a few examples of how the punishment fit the crime in the Old Testament:
First, we saw God's wrath poured out upon all of humanity in the flood, due to their imagination was only evil continually. Genesis 6 – 8 Second, we saw God's wrath poured out with fire and brimstone, upon Sodom, and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain because of their unbridled sexual immorality. Genesis 19:24-25 Third, we saw God's wrath poured out upon the soldiers sent to arrest Elijah in 2 Kings 1:7-13
God metes out the exact punishment to fit the crime, from large scale, like the flood, to medium scale with the destruction of the cities of the plain, to a surgical strike to burn to a crisp two captains and the soldiers.
What we need to understand is that through the substitutionary death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his burial and three days and nights in paradise, and victorious resurrection, he took upon himself the sins of the whole and drank the cup of wrath for us all.
Matthew 26:39,42: And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
The wrath to come is what God will pour out upon mankind during the tribulation. There will be many times in the tribulation where men will suffer for their rejection of God's grace through Christ Jesus. Revelation 16:19 is an example of the ever increasing crescendo of wrath, culminating in the 2nd Advent, physical return of Messiah King Jesus.
Revelation 16:19: And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
As we saw in Paul's instruction to us in Romans 12:17-21, Colossians 3:1-6, 1 Thess 1:10 & 5:9, living in the dispensation of grace commands us to be forgiving and live peaceably, because we have been saved from the wrath to come. Vengeance is the Lord's. He will repay in the future after we are gone. He is the divine accountant, and his books will be reconciled and accounts settled!
Right division of scripture keeps us from applying what was written in the Old Testament into the dispensation of grace where wrath is concerned. We will look at the historical commentary of man's rebellion in Romans 1:18-32 and the system of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:7-8 in our next Bible study together.
Things different are not alike! Things different are not the same!
