Marsha's Musings: Quiet Time~The Wrath of God

My Quiet Time

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 ESV)

This passage flies in the face of so many things! 

There are those who seem to think they know when The Lord will return.  Many of them have already had egg on their faces in the news for failing in their predictions. They seem to laugh it off and excuse themselves by saying they just had a miscalculation or something.  But the Bible says The Lord will return like a thief in the night.  How many people know when the thief will rob their house and plan for it?

Then you have poeple who pressure others into "making a decision for Christ" or "praying the sinners prayer" or walking an aisle to pray with a counselor.  Later they walk away from the church and never return.  Why?  Because they never really were saved.  But the preacher assured them that they had peace with God when maybe they were only going through the motions to due to peer pressure.  They have been assured that they have peace and security with God when they really have none and God's wrath and destruction will suddenly come upon them!

We are to stay alert and watch so that we are ready when The Lord returns.

It says that God has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ.  What is salvation?  Is it making a decision for Christ so that we can be saved from our sins?  Is it accepting Jesus into our life so that we can have purpose in our life?  Is it choosing Jesus so we can have a better life?  

It is none of these things and yet I have heard all of them preached from pulpits of churches I have attended at one time or another.  Each explanation of salvation leaves out the whole reason for why we need to be saved.  We need to be saved from God's wrath against sinners!  We are sinners and God's wrath is kindled against us.  We need to come to Jesus to be saved from God's wrath.  He took all of God's wrath on Himself when he took our sins upon Himself in our place.  Our only hope of savation from the wrath of God lies in Jesus Christ.

It's because of the wrath of God that it is so dangerous for preachers to preach peace and security to people if they would just repeat the sinners prayer after them.  It's not a magical formula.  God must be at work in a person's heart before they will be saved.  God's wrath is the sudden destrustion that will come upon them if their "decision" was a spurious one.

We are to encourage each other knowing that as God's children, saved from His wrath, we will one day live with Him!