Welcome to Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad. God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. Today's topic, the wrath of the Lamb. This past Sunday, I was privileged to hear my pastor preach on the subject of the wrath of God in general terms. Specifically, the inspiration was drawn from this seen in the Book of Revelation, where the phrase is found, the wrath of the Lamb. It's found in the seals, the six seals of the Book of Revelation, found in chapter six. I want to read them to you, the fifth seal and the sixth seal. The fifth seal sets the stage for the response of the sixth seal. Here's what John writes. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice, Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood? So they were each given a white robe and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were going to be killed just as they had been. So here we have a picture of the martyrdom of Christians through the centuries, beginning at the first century when John wrote the revelation. The sixth seal is then opened. Then I saw him open the sixth seal. Now the him is the lamb. A violent earthquake occurred. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair. The entire moon became like blood. The stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree dropped its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. Now you can find similar language like that in the prophets, such as in Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 53 and other passages. So this is apocalyptic language, describing a climatic event just before the Lord appears. He continues, and the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand? I have a question. The text says, fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come. So this is reference to God, God the Father. and to Jesus Christ, the incarnate one, who is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And here, he is the Lamb of God who has been spurned, and he is now coming to execute vengeance and judgment in the name of the Almighty God, the Father. This is the teaching of Holy Scripture. You don't hear a lot of sermons on the wrath of God these days. is sort of a missing note in the pulpit for many decades now. Whereas in older days, in the 1700s, it was a common subject. The people needed to be prepared for two things. They needed to be prepared for death, and they needed to be prepared for the judgment that would follow. Now, it's not talking just about the judgment that occurs when you die. but he's talking about the judgment of the last day when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to the earth. But you heard the words, didn't you? From verse 16. Fall on us, hide us from the face of him who's seated on the throne. and from the wrath of the Lamb. Who is this calling out? Well, it's the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountain. It's the general population who is not believed. Now, where do I get that? Well, let's turn in the book of Revelation, not the book of Revelation, I'm sorry, in 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verses 79. Now, I said it's Revelation the first because Revelation 19 in verse 15 is the actual fulfillment of the coming of Christ in judgment. We read there, from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. But now, 2 Thessalonians chapter one, verse seven and nine. The Apostle Paul is writing to the believers in Thessalonica, and they have been undergoing persecution from unbelieving people and unbelieving authorities. And that persecution has resulted in their being afflicted. And he prays that God would grant to you, he says, who are afflicted as well as to us, speaking about himself and other messengers of the gospels in the first century, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Notice there's two reasons why these people will suffer the judgment. First is they do not know God. They do not recognize God. Romans chapter one speaks about the fact that God is the creator and all men have the witness of creation, that God exists, that he is almighty and powerful, that he's the creator of all things. All people have that witness, natural revelation. But then we have the revelation that has come in history in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It's borne witness to in the written gospels and in the New Testament. Those who do not know God, he is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as a result, they do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not talking about works they have to do. It's talking about the obedience of faith. In other words, the gospel message, the good news of Christ comes with the summons that men are to believe the message. They're to believe in the Christ. They're to believe in him who was appointed to be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and fail to believe in him. results ultimately in the judgment of God. You see, those who do not know God and acknowledge Him, who do not know Him in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to bear the sins of the world in His own body on the tree. They will be those who will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. You know, the greatest horror about hell is not that which we think in our minds. We have the image given to us of eternal flames, of fire, but you see, we're using the human language of that which is horrible to describe that which is indescribable. Whatever the judgment is that is to come, it is indescribable. It's far worse than anything we can picture. But here's the heart of it, to be away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of Ishmael. There are those who do not want God in their lives. They do not want to give God the acknowledgement that he deserves. They do not want to believe on his son because they do not want their lives transformed and changed. They want to go on in the enjoyment of their sins, away from God, accountable to no one but themselves. But they are, we are all accountable to God. We will all face the judgment in the last day. And those who will be spared eternal destruction are those whose sins have already been punished in the person of His Son, that is the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. who in his own body bore the punishment due to all of those who would ever believe on him. God has known them from all eternity. And in the course of time, they've been born under the condemnation of Adam, under the wrath of God, without God, without the knowledge of God. But Christ, who has known them from all eternity, took upon his own body on the tree all of their sins, all of their guilt, all the punishment that is due to them. He laid down his life for them. In the course of time, they will believe. They will hear the message. They will repent. They will turn their lives around, their mind around, from not acknowledging God to acknowledging, from not believing in Jesus to believing in Jesus. from not following Him to following Him. This is all of the grace of God through faith by the mighty power and working of the Holy Spirit of God. Because the punishment has been born in the body of the Son, they will not suffer eternal destruction. Are you among those? How do you know? Well, you know because you believe. When the message comes, you hear, you believe. You're summoned by God to believe and embrace his son. And in so doing, the punishment that's due you has already been born in history, the person of his son. And every Lord's Day, or whenever Christians gather around the Lord's table, this is part of the truth, that they are reentering again, as it were, by faith. That is, Christ took the bread and said, this is my body. He took the cup, he said, this is my blood. He's speaking about his sacrifice for the sins of his people. And he's saying, eat of me, drink of me, for in me you have eternal life. Psalm 2 bears testimony to all of this. Psalm 2 is one that's repeated in the New Testament, that is referred to in the New Testament, and it ends with some very poignant words. Yahweh is speaking and He is testifying of Jesus, the Son, and how the nations of the world rage against Him and the kings of the earth set themselves against Him. And the Psalm warns them, now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son. lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Those who do not believe in God, those who do not embrace the Son in faith, they are the ones who will be the subject of the wrath of Almighty God. But blessed are those who take refuge in him. Do you hear the glory of the gospel? The God who will judge you in the last day is the God who has executed his wrath in the body of he who was appointed to be our mediator, our prophet, priest, and king, Jesus Christ, the God man. If you believe in him, if you trust in him, if you flee to him, if you take refuge in him, then you are safe from the burning wrath of God that is to come. But if you do not believe, and beware, he shall come and you shall perish in the way. There's a great hymn we sang on Sunday. It rehearses some of this truth to us. I want to share it with you. It's great God, what do I see and hear? The end of things created. Behold the judge of all appear on clouds of glory seated. There's a reference to Daniel chapter seven, And when our Lord Jesus Christ testified before the high priest, when he was on trial before him, he said, I am that one. Behold, the judge of all appear on clouds of glory seated, the trumpet sounds, the graves restore, the dead which they contained before, prepare my soul to meet him. continues. The dead in Christ shall first arise at that last trumpet sounding, called up to meet him in the skies with joy their Lord surrounding. No gloomy fears their souls dismay. His presence rings eternal day for those prepared to meet him. That's those who've taken refuge in him. You see, the fire of eternal punishment has already been burned and consumed in the body of the son who rose from the dead because he had no sin of his own. He lives victorious over sin and over the grave and over death. And those who take refuge in him, they are the ones who are prepared to meet him. But sinners, verse three, but sinners filled with guilty fears shall see his wrath prevailing. For they shall rise and find their tears are wholly unavailing. The day of grace is past and gone. They trembling stand before the throne, all unprepared to meet him. Sometimes we awaken too late. Sometimes we delay coming to faith, coming to Christ, repenting and embracing him. We delay until the day of grace is past. Time for preparation is gone, the Lamb has come. Great God, what do I see and hear? The end of things created. Behold, the Judge of all appear on clouds of glory seated. Lo, at His cross I view the day when heaven and earth shall pass away, and thus prepare to meet Him. There's only one place to flee from the wrath to come. That place is at the foot of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He was the righteous one. And because he's the righteous one, when he had been punished for all of our sins, he rose victorious from the grave. He ever lives, the almighty Lord, the glorious Lamb, our great High Priest, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. If you embrace him by faith, you're safe from the wrath to come. but your life will reflect that even now as you wait the coming of the Lord. This has been Wayne Conrad with Bible Insights.