Saturday, February 21, 2015

The Wrath of God Absorbed

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the wrath of God that Jesus absorbed in our place. 
 
All the wrath of God that I deserve in every breath fell upon Jesus and He loved me to death.
 
Jesus bore it all.  Even if we could enter Heaven by paying for just one of our millions of sins, we would be completely unable to do it.  The wrath of God against only one sin invented Hell.  The wrath of God against only one sin is more terrifying than anything that we can imagine in our finite minds. 
 
Think of a hurricane blasting the coast, or a huge tornado ripping through a city and destroying everything in its path, or a huge forest fire devouring tens of thousands of trees in minutes, or a huge volcano erupting molten rock, or an earthquake so powerful that it creates a 300 foot wave and sends it rushing towards land to kill 100,000 people, or the power of lightning as it thunders to the ground with a deafening blow to the earth, or even an atomic bomb wiping out entire cities, or even a nuclear bomb that we can only guess at the power and devastation that it is capable. 
 
All of these have the power of dust in comparison to the wrath of the Sovereign Creator.  The wrath of God against just one sin is greater than a billion nuclear bombs going off at the same time because that one sin was committed against the highest authority.  We could never bear this wrath.  We could never stand in the path of a billion nuclear bombs detonating on our head.  But Jesus could, and He did.
 
On the cross, because of the billions of sins we committed against God, Jesus bore this unimaginable wrath.  The full fury of the wrath of God that was directed toward us because of our sin, fell upon Christ.  He stood condemned in our place, as a shield, and absorbed every drop of this fury that is far greater than billions of nuclear bombs going off. 
 
He did not pay for His sin because He was sinless.  He did not pay for one sin, but for every sin ever committed by His people.  The flood of the billions of nuclear bombs came upon Jesus, and He drank it down to the dregs.  Every last drop was absorbed and He won. He put his head down and said, "It is finished." 
 
He gave us the victory and eternal life.  He satisfied divine justice.  He died, was buried, and He rose from the dead three days later because death could not hold Him.  He satisfied the wrath of His Father according to the will of His Father.  He ascended into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of His Father, who gave Him all authority.  He gives life to all who trust in Him.  He forgives sins. 
 
All those who do not trust in this Savior and His atoning work on the cross are already condemned.  They will face this fury, this wrath, by themselves the second they die. 
 
Oh what a glorious Savior we have.  Oh what a free gift is given to those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ.  It is illogical not to trust in Jesus and choose to face this wrath yourself.  Then again, sin is illogical.
 
 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen!

Anonymous said...

AMEN!!!

Anonymous said...

AMEN!!!