GraceLife Thoughts: Love and Wrath (Part 12)

Grace Thoughts

GraceLife Thoughts: Love and Wrath (Part 12)

Three months ago (12 weeks) I began this series of studies about the ‘love and wrath’ of God. Many people, including some Christians, cannot see how the ‘God of love’ in the New Testament could also be the ‘God of wrath’ we read about in the Old Testament. That thinking led to one of the most contentious theological battles of the early Church. Unfortunately, we’re having a similar battle again.

Many Christians love to love. So do many non-Christians. What makes Christianity different than other religious and non-religious worldviews is that God loves despite His wrath. We looked into ‘how’ He does that in previous parts of this series. Our final question is ‘why.’

Why God Loves the Ungodly

The Bible describes people as ‘ungodly.’ King David wrote many Psalms, but one that most Christians have probably heard before is this one –

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2

David went on to write –

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm 1:6

Notice the word ‘perish.’ It’s the same word Jesus used in the world’s most popular Bible verse –

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Why would God send His ‘only begotten Son’ to give His life for ‘ungodly’ people? God made a decision in Eternity that this would be so. Jesus would die for the ‘ungodly.’ The Apostle Paul wrote about it to the Romans –

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. Romans 5:6-7

Keep in mind that the Apostle Peter wrote this about the ‘ungodly’ –

But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 2 Peter 3:7

Judgment Day is coming for the ‘ungodly.’ David said it. Jesus said it. Paul said it. Peter said it. The ‘ungodly’ will be punished. They will perish .. unless .. they ‘believe’ in Jesus. Ungodly people who ‘believe’ in Jesus will ‘not perish but have everlasting life.’ God sent Jesus from Heaven to earth to ‘save’ people. Why? Because God loves the world.

I think some of the ‘why’ is connected to things that happened before God created humans. I say that because John also wrote –

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

Everything you see going on around you is not just ‘physical.’ Much of it is ‘spiritual.’ It’s what we might call a ‘mystery.’ God let the Apostle Paul know about many of His ‘mysteries,’ so let’s see what we can learn from Paul’s writings –

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7

To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Ephesians 3:8-12

Notice some key statements that coincide with what John wrote about why Jesus was ‘manifested’ –

that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ
to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places

God is going to show ‘the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.’ Who is God’s audience for this ‘show’ of the exceeding riches of His grace?

The ‘mystery’ that God revealed to Paul was ‘hidden in God’ from ‘the beginning of the ages.’ Why would God hide something like that from everyone until thousands of years after creating ‘all things through Jesus Christ?’

We find the answer in the third point – ‘to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.’ Paul used the phrase ‘principalities and powers’ five times in his writings –

Romans 8:38
Ephesians 3:10
Ephesians 6:12
Colossians 1:16
Colossians 2:15

In each context, we find that Paul referred to the supernatural powers that oppose God. The Church – those who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ – will ‘show’ those ‘principalities and powers’ that God is greater than all of the powers in the universe.

We – you and me – are far more than just people living our lives on a planet waiting for the end of this life to end. We are part of something far greater in scope. We are an integral part of God’s ‘Eternal Plan’ concerning the supernatural ‘principalities and powers’ that have opposed Him through the ages.

Is there any doubt that we were all once counted among the ‘ungodly?’ No. So, why will the ‘born-again’ receive ‘everlasting life’ while those who do not believe in Jesus ‘perish?’ Because that is God’s plan – a plan He explained in the simplest and most exquisite way possible –

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

No wonder that John 3:16 is the world’s most popular Bible verse.

[Podcast version of this study coming soon.]

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Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts