I’d just like to quickly share a point of view that is important (I think) for understanding God’s wrath. This is a multipart point of view, so stick with me.
Words that are synonymous with WRATH are: judgment, punishment, vengeance, anger, fury, displeasure, exasperation, indignation, ire, irritation, passion, rage, resentment (not all are found in the Bible referring God).
Throughout the Bible, we see God exercising His right to be angry with people, and punishing various groups or individuals for various reasons. The Bible tells us that God is just (righteous), so when He acts violently toward people, there is always a good reason for it.
“Listen, O heavens, and I will speak!
Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (NLT)
Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
Let my teaching fall on you like rain;
let my speech settle like dew.
Let my words fall like rain on tender grass,
like gentle showers on young plants.
I will proclaim the name of the Lord;
how glorious is our God!
He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
how just and upright he is!
Before we little humans attempt to judge the Almighty, we must remember that it is we who sin; not Him. All of the awful things that happen on earth are a direct or indirect result of our own evil ways. God has remained blameless in all things evil on earth. When God judges people, it is not evil; it is His response to our evil.
But that is not what this post is about. I just wanted to put that out there to remind us why God enacts His acts of vengeance; He does them as punishment for our own evil hearts and deeds.
This post is about an aspect of God’s wrath that I have never personally heard anyone discuss. What I am going to share does not come from any books that I have read. I believe that God showed this to me one day while I was contemplating His wrath.
Two Kinds of Wrath
If we are paying attention to His Word — and we should be — we will notice that there are two kinds of wrath that He enacts: Temporary and Eternal.
TEMPORARY WRATH is usually a punishment that is meted out to people in order to get their attention (so that they realize how wrongly they have behaved). It’s punitive. It is a punishment that restores discipline and order. The purpose is to bring the recipients to repentance (examples of this are numerous in scripture).
Another type of temporary wrath (also called judgment) is when God acts in defense of one group against the onslaught of another group. This is purely protective and is a direct action against the unlawful violence of people against people (think of Pharaoh’s men at the bottom of the Gulf of Aqaba – Exodus 14:26).
ETERNAL WRATH is what people can expect to receive at the end of this earth’s existence, at the event called The Great Judgment. This is when Jesus will hold a kind of court and show people everything they have done in life as individuals that merits their eternal punishment. There will be no opportunity for repentance as a result of this judgment (wrath). Every person will stand trial on their own—it’s personal.
Three Kinds of Recipients
For the two categories of wrath (judgment) shown above, there are three types, or categories, of people who receive His wrath: INDIVIDUALS; GROUPS; or the ENTIRE WORLD.
When Noah’s flood came upon the earth, it came upon the ENTIRE WORLD (see Genesis 6). That was our last example of God exercising His right to bestow justice upon the entire world at once. Yes, eight people survived, so one might argue that it was not put upon everyone. But the plain truth is that it was indeed global (which is the point). Eight survivors out of the millions or billions of the rest of earth’s population hardly keeps it from being global or worldwide.
The next global wrath events to hit earth will come in a kind of salvo against the rebellious planet in the time after the 7-year tribulation. While each of these events is either local or wide-spread, not all of them will be truly global in-and-of themselves. But the overall effect will be global. The events will be of many various types and will result in much of humanity going the way of the dinosaur. But not everyone will perish from these events. There will be many survivors, the number of whom being unknown to us at this time.
GROUPS have been punished by God over the millennia. Not the least of which would be the Jews—God’s own people. Why did He punish His own? Because He calls them His children and any good father must punish his rebellious kids. Don’t forget, the reason for temporary wrath is to foster repentance.
Lastly, INDIVIDUALS have and will experience God’s vengeance. There are several examples of this found in scripture.
Putting It All Together
Here is why all of this matters. When God exercises His wrath against the whole world at once, or at groups of people, that kind of wrath is always temporary. When He exercises His wrath against individuals, it can either be temporary (for repentance) or eternal (where no repentance is allowed).
At the Final Judgment, all decisions are final—eternal. Every other judgment up until that time is temporary.
Why does this matter to us today? Good question, I’m glad I asked it for you.
As believers study the End Times, they inevitably run up against teachings on God’s wrath. Unfortunately, not all teaching on God’s wrath is accurate.
Problem #1: Many pastors, preachers, and teachers say that the Tribulation is a time of God’s wrath. This cannot be the case, and here’s why:
First, Jesus alluded to His wrath being AFTER the tribulation. This occurs in Matthew 24:29-31:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Emphasis added)
Mathew 24:29-31 (ESV)
When Jesus mentions the events about the sun, moon, stars, and heavenly powers (in Mt. 24:29), He is quoting a well used phrase from earlier prophets. See Isaiah 24:23, Amos 5:18, Zephaniah 1:4-16, and Zechariah 14:6-7. It is then reiterated in Acts 2:20. These are all discussing God’s judgment (wrath, vengeance) and something called “The Day of The Lord”, which is a very long epoch, starting with His wrath and reign, and ending with the Final Judgment already discussed. We could argue that the entire Day of The Lord (over a thousand years) is a time of His Judgment. It begins with His temporary wrath events pounded out upon the earth (globally), continues with His just decrees (as King of all Kings, Ruler of the Earth) and on into the Final Judgment. Therefore, what Jesus is saying is that His wrath (and reign of judgment) comes immediately following the Tribulation.
Also, in Revelation 12:12 we read that the Great Tribulation is a time of Satan’s wrath; not God’s.
Problem #2: Followers and proponents of the false idea called the Pretrib Rapture say that God’s children are not subject to His wrath, and they use that argument to try to justify their flimsy position.
Since God’s wrath follows the Tribulation, and He said so, that means that the Tribulation is NOT God’s wrath. Why is this significant? because the pretribbers say that we cannot be here during the Tribulation because God does not place His children under His wrath. Here’s where they get this idea:
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.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-10
What they are ignoring is that this verse is discussing God’s ETERNAL WRATH, meted out to individuals, not His TEMPORARY WRATH, which comes upon the entire world at that time. It’s right there in the verse, look at the juxtaposition between wrath and salvation. That puts the whole thing into the perspective of eternal wrath—since salvation is eternal (as is not receiving it). Therefore, their argument cannot hold water. Not only this, but God DOES punish and HAS punished His children. But that is always with the opportunity for repentance (temporary wrath). This quote from Paul is not talking about that kind of wrath. Clearly, the pretribbers are missing the point.
My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
Proverbs 3:11-12
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us of this:
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline,
Hebrews 12:5-6
and don’t give up when he corrects you.
For the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
Here’s what God said about His children and His time of wrath:
Go home, my people,
Isaiah 26:20-21
and lock your doors!
Hide yourselves for a little while
until the Lord’s anger has passed.
Look! The Lord is coming from heaven
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed.
They will be brought out for all to see.
If all of God’s children were taken up into heaven prior to the Tribulation and God’s wrath, why would He have said this through Isaiah? There are many, many more biblical proofs against the false idea of a pretribulational rapture, but this post isn’t really meant to be a strict rebuttal against that.
The purpose of this post has been to show that there are two kinds of wrath (temporary and eternal), dealt out to three categories of people (individuals, groups, and the whole world), and that it is important to understand what kind of wrath you are reading about as you study the Word of God. Otherwise, you might fall victim to false doctrine about this important topic.
I hope this has been helpful.
Gary
PS, You can read this and much more about the End Times in my book, End Times Made Easy, available on Amazon.
