The Wrath to Come — E.A. Johnston

The Neglected Doctrine of God’s Coming Wrath

There's a doctrine no longer taught in our modern churches today, friends, because it's a upsetting subject, and more importantly, it casts a perception upon God that is no longer taught as well. And that doctrine is the wrath of God to come.

A few pastors want to preach about a wrathful God today. We have replaced this concept of a wrathful God with a more gentle version of the Supreme Being, a God of love. But wiser men years ago knew their Bibles, and they knew their God, and the Puritans preached long and hard on the coming wrath of God.

Historical Preaching on Divine Judgment

And subsequently, when America was settled, the New England ministers preached powerfully about a wrathful God who will take vengeance on all of the wicked. The most famous of these sermons was Jonathan Edwards' handling of sinners in the hands of an angry God, which was preached in the town of Enfield, Connecticut, in July of 1741, whereby an eyewitness recorded, Ye minister had to desist from preaching, for he was no longer heard from all the shrieks and cries throughout the house.

Well, I visited that landmark in Enfield, Connecticut, where Edwards preached in the meeting house that night. There's a field there with an engraved boulder marking and commemorating that event. I have slowly paced that plot of ground, contemplating how preachers in former times were better preachers than us today, for they knew how to use the Word of God as a double-edged claymore to hew their hearers down with conviction of sin, and then use a scripture like a hammer to break up all false foundations of self-righteousness.

And preachers like Jonathan Edwards and men like Gilbert Tannen and George Whitefield would make the strict law of God ring in the ears of their hearers to awaken them to their lost condition, and then point them to a blood-stained Christ who was the only remedy for sin.

The Sermon Text and Four Aspects of Wrath

The wrath of God was always foundational in the text of these men's sermons, as Christ and the glory of God was central in their sermons. Well, that's my introduction today, friends, and the title of my message today is The Wrath of God to Come.

My text is found in 1 Thessalonians 1 10, which reads, And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. And we find a similar vein of thought over Matthew's gospel, as we see the heart of John the Baptist's message.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. I want to draw some applications out of our text today, friends, as we study the subject of a wrathful God who hates sin.

For Psalm 711 declares, God is angry with the wicked every day. I want to look at several aspects today, friends, as I speak on the source of this wrath, the place of this wrath, the objects of this wrath, and lastly, the remedy for this wrath.

Well, let's look at these one by one, and we'll start with the first of these, the source. God, as an offended sovereign, is the source. In Malachi, we read about the wrath of God. For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.

And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. So the source of the coming wrath is Almighty God, coming as a dread sovereign to take vengeance upon all guilty lawbreakers who deserve punishment for sin, for sin is the transgression of the law.

We see this theme of the coming wrath of God clearly in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

But most pastors today won't mention that, because they won't preach disturbing messages. Why upset the good deacons if you don't have to? So we see the source of this wrath. Now let's examine the place of this wrath.

Hell as the Place of Divine Wrath

Hell. Jesus spoke often on hell and its torments. He said hell was a region of outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. He said hell never ends, for it's a place where the worm doth not.

And the Bible speaks of hell as a region of burning fire that's intolerable to its inhabitants, Isaiah declares. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites, who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings.

So if God is the source, and hell is the place, then who are the objects of this coming wrath? The objects are the damned, those who die outside the blood of Christ, who die in their sins. For God is a God of justice, and he is a God who must punish sin.

The Damned as Objects of Wrath

Sin is the transgression of the law, and the sentencing of the law must be carried out upon all guilty lawbreakers. The wicked are the objects of this outpoured wrath for sin. A description of their plight is found in Isaiah 57 verses 20 and 21.

But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. So the source of the coming wrath is Almighty God. The place is hell, the objects the damned.

Jesus Christ as the Only Remedy

And lastly, the only remedy from this coming wrath is Jesus, as seen in our text today from 1 Thessalonians. Even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. That's not me saying it, friends, but the Word of God.

And if we preachers are going to be true to the souls of men, then we must not fear men, but preach the full counsel of God that warns men to flee from the wrath to come. Let us pray.