The Wrath and Love of God

The Wrath and the Love of God

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Psalms 2
:1 Why are the nations in an uproar, And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed:
3 "Let us tear their fetters apart, And cast away their cords from us!"
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury:
6 "But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain."
7 "I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee.
8'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.
9'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.' "
10 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.
11 Worship the LORD with reverence, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! NASB

Romans 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
32 and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
NASB

Jude 4-16
4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, " The Lord rebuke you!"
10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;
13 wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, " Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
16 These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. NASU

Good Morning! Depressing to know we have people like this in this age, isn’t it? And to me it is shocking that our society has gone from one that would not even publicly air immorality and indecency –which was the case at least in the 40s and some of the 50s–to a country where the grossest of sins is glorified and magnified in the entertainment world as well as in the news.. On top of that the divorce rate back in the 20s’, 30s’, 40s’ and 50s’ was nothing like it is today. And not only does the entertainment world love to produce programs where the so called heros are basically bums which have no moral character, but the people in office also seem to have no character, and too many have no love for God either, much less any appreciation for the will of the people. As a matter of fact, there are lots in office that have an agenda and that agenda does not include giving the people of this country any say in what they as elected officials do. Our whole society has been permeated with immorality and immorality has been glorified as being perfectly fine. Dishonesty is being touted as a necessary evil–pragmatism is the order of the day. Truth is widely ignored. Again, that just blows my mind. Judeo-Christian standards are being flushed down the toilette–Constitutional laws are being ignored, even on the highest levels. We are truly in the time of Psalms 2:1-3.

The disciples were also–for remember they lived under the thumb of Rome even though Israel was one of the few nations in their time where the religion of the people was given a bit more leeway than in other countries under Rome. As you remember, when Peter and John testified of Jesus after Peter healed the cripple in front of the temple, they got arrested for their testimony, but thanks to God and the prayers of the church, did get released. And do you know what was quoted in the prayer meeting when Peter and John joined the rest of the disciples? It was Psalms 2:1-2.

They were also in the kind of times we are in, for the Judeo-Christian standards of the centuries to follow were not yet established, and the whole pagan world, the whole unbelieving, non-believing world was what they were surrounded with. Well, it seems to me that the times of the Gentiles are coming to a close. However, unlike some scholars of the prophetic word, I do not believe that that ended with the establishment of Jerusalem as capitol of Israel in 1967. I believe the times of the Gentiles has more to do with what countries are the lead countries of the world. My personal belief is that the times of the Gentiles will end with Jesus coming to destroy the Anti-Christ and his prophet, and setting up of the Millennial Reign. The reason I am thinking this is because of a question that was asked Jesus before His ascension.

Acts 1:6
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" NASU

I believe that it will be at the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel in the Millennial Reign that the disciples were thinking of and that Jesus was referring to when He said that the Gentiles would be trampling Jerusalem until the time of the Gentiles were over.

Now getting back to my subject about the ungodliness of this country –why has this come about? England and Spain and quite a few European countries have already returned to paganism. But why here? I have to lay it at the feet of the people who “are supposed” to run this country. The Christians, the Church, has failed to convert people to Jesus Christ. For it is in Jesus Christ that a person has true and righteous moral values, has a love for the truth and honesty, has a character of integrity in all areas of his life, and remembers that this world is not where we belong in the first place, but

Philippians 3:20
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; NASU

Philippians 1:9-11
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. NASU

What it boils down to is Christians in this country, and in many of the other countries too, have failed to bring their countrymen into the fold of salvation. And America is unique because the government got set up to be one that was of the people, by the people, and for the people. In other words it was the people of the country who were to be in charge and using a representative form of government, keeping this country from becoming a totalitarian regime as was the case of England under the king. The founders established that there was not to be a single entity running the government. They established the three departments of government where none of them had all the power. This was to protect us from a totalitarian regime.

Well, this is being dismantled. And because people have not been following Jesus Christ, they have not been carrying out their responsibilities in the political arena either. Instead we see more and more ungodly people pushing their political ambitions, instead of Christians keeping a watch on American freedoms based on scripture. The descriptions Paul and Jude give of the people of this world are descriptions of the people of this country now. And God’s wrath is going to be poured out. I believe we have already in this country seen judgment taking place, and God is using the political arena as one of his tools of judgment. What is the solution? Especially if God is judging this country already?

Jeremiah 18:8
8 If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. KJV
How about applying this verse to the U.S.

Jeremiah 36:3
3 " Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin." NASU

and this one.

Ezekiel 18:23
23 " Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, " rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? NASU

Revelation 2:21
21' I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. NASU

God is calling the church to repentance. God is calling this country to repentance. To repent of their loving this world instead of loving Him. And how many people have been praying for their representatives and senators, the President and his staff, the justice department and Supreme Court justices? Remember what Paul said to Timothy?

1 Timothy 2:1-4
2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. NASU

Why pray for the folks in office? Verse 2 answers that. “That we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Verse 4 gives a second answer, God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

Have you been praying for these people? Have you been praying for this country? Have you been evangelizing your family, friends, neighbors, etc? Have you been leading a life of top integrity by which people see Jesus in you? Have you loved your neighbor as yourself? Have you loved God with ALL your heart? Are you taking responsibility for the operations and running of this country by being involved in the political process, as imperfect as it is? And do you have the attitude of Paul where he says,

Philippians 3:10
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; NASU

Is that your goal? If it is, you can be sure that you are going to be bearing fruit, something Jesus said had to be done. And remember, it can’t be done unless you are abiding in the Vine, Jesus Christ. And as you abide, He will grow the fruit, cause it to spring forth.

Folks, we are living in evil times as has been true for the human race for as long as this world has been in existence, and there are people that are lost out there. God does not desire to bring wrath and judgment on people, but His very Holiness and Just nature require it. God desires people to be saved.

1 Timothy 2:4
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. NASU

2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. NASU

Jude 20-23
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. NASU

God’s heart cry is not to judge this nation or any for that matter, but that they repent of their wicked ways and come to Him and live. But if people won’t listen, if a nation refuses to repent, then they can expect God’s wrath to fall.

I look at this country and I think to myself that perhaps I understand what Jeremiah and Ezekiel referred to when they spoke of the burden of the Word of the Lord. I suspect that is referring to the words they had to speak over nations and peoples that were words of judgment.

Do you have a prayer burden for this country? You should, considering what is going on? Start praying not only for this country to straighten out so that God won’t have to bring His wrath in full measure on it, but be praying most of all for souls to be saved, the souls you know who aren’t–pray for their salvation. And lastly, pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Psalms 122:6
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : "May they prosper who love you. NASU

May the Word of God penetrate your souls far more than in the past and move you to action. Love, the Good News Lady