Grace and Wrath

Was it God’s grace or His wrath that brought you to Him? The likely answer for most people is that it was God’s grace. However, God’s wrath also provokes people to surrender to Him.


There was a time when God raised up many prophets to warn Israel and the surrounding nations of His wrath and the justice to come if people did not repent and turn to Him. It was God’s grace that He even sent a warning. In fact God went to great extremes to warn people and was exceedingly patient with the nations. However, the book of the prophet Jeremiah details the time when God put his foot down and declared his patience to have run its course. Listen to this passage in Jeremiah 25:30-31.

Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: "'The Lord will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,” declares the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth."

God’s grace is an incredible and awesome attribute of His person. But so is His wrath. While no one likes to think about God’s wrath, it is an attribute that it talked a lot about in the Bible. Those who have not surrendered to Christ and repented of their sin will face this wrath. Those who are in Christ – for them there is not condemnation, However God’s wrath should provoke a healthy fear in us of the Lord God Almighty.

I used to be a wrath junkie. I really stressed that aspect of God because no else was. While I still will preach God’s wrath and warn people of it, I have found a balance because God is both full of grace and full of wrath. I pray that God’s glory will be manifest – whether by His grace or through His wrath. May many fall upon His grace and may there be few who fall to His wrath.

We do have to note here that those who fall to God’s wrath will be the wicked, that is those who - rejected God’s warning and did not cling to Jesus Christ as their righteousness. Likewise be warned all who are self righteous, who believe that by being obedient you have earned status with God or a place in heaven. Only the righteousness of Christ is adequate to give us any status with God.