S1Ep5 - God's Wrath — The Fire We'd Rather Ignore

Pastor Greg Griffith and Marcus Nathan tackle the hard roast of God’s wrath — the side of holiness we’d rather skip. They unpack why facing it matters, and how the cross turns wrath into mercy for those in Christ.

Stay up to date by following us on your favorite social networks.

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

Have questions or comments? Email us at [e-mail].

Thanks for listening!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Coffee Break Theology a King of
Kings podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back to Coffee Break Theology, where we
tackle deep truths in digestibledoses.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Nice.
That's Greg, I'm Marcus, andtoday's brew.
It's bold, hot and not theeasiest to swallow.
We're talking about the wrathof God, yep.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
This isn't the cheeriest topic, but it's
absolutely essential, because ifwe don't understand God's wrath
, we'll actually never be ableto grasp the depth of His love,
or?

Speaker 3 (00:43):
the beauty of the cross, grasp the depth of his
love or the beauty of the cross?
Did you know that there aremore references in scripture
about God's wrath, about hisanger and fury, than there are
about love and tenderness?
No, I didn't.
I read this and I was like, oh,that's okay.
Like I said last week, thismight sound weird, but I'm
actually.
This is one of my favoritetopics theologically.
It really is.
I'll explain a little bit laterwhy that is.

(01:04):
But what are we talking abouttoday?
God's wrath?
When we say that, what are weactually saying?
That's a good question toponder here.
But let's be clear God's wrathis not like human anger.
Human anger is basically tempertantrum.

(01:26):
It's fickle, it's based onemotion.
God's is not like that.
He isn't self-indulgent, he'snot foolish, he's not impulsive.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, and that's right, and it's a reminder that
God's wrath is holy and it'sjust because it's a response to
sin and so it's rooted in hisrighteousness.
Actually, from the Psalms,Psalm 711, it says this God is a
righteous judge and a God whofeels indignation every day.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, and if you just know that about God, that
doesn't sound very fun.
But God's not cranky, that'snot what it is.
It's because sin destroys whathe loves.
They're opposite of each otherwhat he loves and what's trying
to take that away?
His creation, his people,that's what he loves.
Wrath is God taking sinseriously?

(02:17):
And if sin is serious, like wediscussed a couple weeks ago,
then we should want a God, aholy God, who will take it
seriously, discussed, a coupleof weeks ago, then we should
want a God, a holy God, who willtake it seriously.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, and that's so important, is like we actually
want and need a God who haswrath in him, since we have sin
in our world.
Luther said it this way God,god must punish sin, or
otherwise he wouldn't be holy.
Right, and so we confess in asmall catechism.
In the explanation of the 10commandments, we say God

(02:48):
threatens to punish all whobreak these commandments.
Therefore, we should fear andthis is that fear like, be
afraid of Fear his wrath and notdisobey him.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Let's be honest when we talk about God's wrath.
That makes people uncomfortable.
It does we like the God of hugs, not the God of judgment?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
But ignoring his wrath, it doesn't make it go
away.
Romans again.
Paul writes this to the Romans.
He says this the wrath of Godis revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness andunrighteousness of men.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
And if we downplay his wrath, we shrink the cross
Right.
If sin isn't serious, why didJesus have to die?
We talked about that last week.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Exactly.
See, the cross is where God'swrath is fully laid out Right,
and it's where God's love meetshis wrath.
Isaiah 53 says meets his wrath.
Isaiah 53 says he was piercedfor our transgressions.
The punishment that brought uspeace is now on him.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Nice.
But there's good news, there'shope.
Yeah, if you're in Christ,god's wrath was poured out, but
not on you.
It was poured out on Jesus.
I know I deserve his wrath nowand into eternity.
I should expect nothing lessRight.
However, christ took thepunishment for me, and only that
is the reason I get to spendeternity with God in covenant

(04:13):
relationship Between us, andGod's wrath is the cross of
Christ.
We're protected from that.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah, and that's the beauty of it is, I think, about
the cross right.
It is where we see the wholewrath of God, but yet also, in
this way, we do see because ofthat, like the arms are the hug
that we are waiting to embracewith God, and so that's so great
.
Luther talked about this aswhat he called the great
exchange, and this is whereChrist takes our sin and the

(04:42):
wrath of God.
We will never experience thewords of Christ as Jesus
followers.
We'll never experience thewords of Christ from the cross
Eloi, eloi lama sabachthani.
My God, my God, why have youforsaken me?
That's the full wrath of Godbecause of us.
We'll never experience thatloneliness as Christ followers.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
That's crazy.
Romans 5, 9 says Since we havenow been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be savedfrom God's wrath through him?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, and that's why we have to cling right.
We cling to the cross throughwhat we call word and sacrament,
and that's where we receive therescue, day in, day out, over
and over, again and again.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
So we talk about God's wrath.
We've been saved from it.
But let's bring this to today.
Is God still wrathful today?

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Well, here's the question Is God still holy?
And he is, so he still is just.
But remember this God doesn'tdesire destruction.
Christ didn't come into theworld to condemn the world, but
rather to save the world throughhim, and so that's where we
have our repentance.
Peter writes about this in hissecond letter, 3.9.

(05:57):
It says the Lord is patientwith you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come torepentance.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Beautiful.
So here's one of the bigreasons why wrath is one of my
favorite theological topics.
Wrath isn't the end of thestory.
It's the alarm that points usto the cross.
It should call us to respondwith appreciation.
We appreciate the goodness ofGod, which we don't deserve.
We appreciate the patience ofGod because he doesn't owe us
that.
We appreciate the discipline ofGod, which he uses and does

(06:30):
that to conform us to the imageof his son.
He makes us more like Jesus, tothe image of his son.
He makes us more like Jesus.
So thank you, god, that eventhough I deserve wrath, you
poured that onto Jesus instead,which in fact won reconciliation
for me.
That's why I love talking aboutwrath, because that's not
actually the whole point of thestory.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yeah, god's wrath isn't eternal, but his mercy is.
Luther said that, and for us,as believers, the wrath is what
Jesus bore, so we never have to.
So here's our takeaway todayGod's wrath shows us the weight
of our sin Our sins are seriousbut also it magnifies his mercy.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
So don't run from the fire, run to the cross.
Yeah, that's where God's wrathwas poured out and his love
poured in.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh, I love that.
That's so good.
So next week join us on CoffeeBake Theology, where we're going
to explore justice Until then.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Take comfort in this Paul says in Romans 8.1,.
There is therefore now nocondemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
No condemnation, Only grace and that's worth raising
your mug to.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology.
Be sure to tune in next time.
Coffee Break Theology.
Be sure to tune in next timeand remember to check out our
other podcast series availableon every major podcast listening
service.