April 2023

Easter And The Wrath Of God

Easter is about sin. And redemption. And the wrath of God.

Our ticklish ears no longer desire to hear this Truth.  We prefer to ignore that there is such a thing as God’s wrath. The realization of it makes us uneasy, so we dismiss it. Others try to believe there is no such thing. They argue that God is loving and merciful, and therefore God’s anger is merely a bogeyman with which to frighten naughty children.  Some Christians (and others) confuse the God of the Old Testament and The God of the New Testament. They see them as two different Gods, the Old Testament God being one of wrath and judgment, and the New Testament God being love and forgiveness.  These composite denials lead to the Worldview of Pluralism, the moral relativistic theory that there are many paths to God. This lie from the pit of Hell completely denies the Providence of Easter – that Jesus lived, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day. God did not allow His only Son to suffer the anguish and horror of Crucifixion that there would be a middle way.

The Truth is that the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament.  He is immutable.  Along with His other attributes, the attributes of love and wrath are equal parts of His character.  It is true that God’s wrath is on display in the Old Testament. However, the greatest wrath ever poured out by God was not in the Old Testament. It was the sin of the world poured out on His son Jesus as He hung on a Roman cross. It was poured out so that our sin could be redeemed.  So that we would have a path back to the God of Creation

Sin exists and is abhorrent to God.  God does not negotiate sin.  Never has.  Never will. Sin calls down the wrath of God. Coming face to face with this Truth is essential for our salvation. Only if we understand and accept the Truth of sin can we have eternal life in the Kingdom of God.  If we do not, we will have eternal life in that other place.  And make no mistake, Hell is a real place.

Some get the Truth of the cross on its face. Others of us don’t get it right away. We gather information. Then it must settle within our hearts. Only when we have fully digested what we’ve learned, does the Truth sink in.

On the road to Emmaus Jesus does not reveal Himself to the men while they are on the road. He waits until they have arrived at their destination and are preparing to enjoy a meal before He allows the men’s eyes to be opened.  The men do not seem extraordinarily surprised when they finally realize it had been Jesus that whole time; “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32)  It took a little time for their hearts and their heads to catch up with each other, but they finally did, and they knew the truth instantly and completely.

We can never truly move on from the magnificence of Easter without fully understanding the display of God’s love andwrath at the cross.  And the miracle of the third day.

Easter2023, 33/42

The Road To Emmaus

Passion Play, Act 10, Scene 2

But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. And, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Luke 24:21

On that same day two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them;  but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered Him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”

He asked them, “What things?”

They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be condemned to death and crucified Him. And we had hoped that He would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened.  Some women from our group were at His tomb early this morning and came back with an amazing report that His body was missing, and that they had seen some angels there who told them Jesus is alive!. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see Him.”

Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said. Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, He walked ahead as if He were going on. But they urged Him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking to us on the road, while He was opening the scriptures to us?”

That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has indeed risen, and He has appeared to Simon Peter.” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how He had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.  Luke 24:13-35  [Adapted]

Easter2023, 32/42

Look For The Second Right Answer

But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Luke 24:21

Look for the second right answer.  Everything that the disciples said was correct, but the conclusions they drew were wrong:

What have I been hoping or trusting God would do? Is today “the third day” and He has still not done what I expected? Whenever we insist that God should give us an answer to prayer we are off track. The purpose of prayer is that we get ahold of God, not of the answer.

We look for visions from heaven and for earth-shaking events to see God’s power. Yet we never realize that all the time God is at work in our everyday events and in the people around us. If we will only obey, and do the task that He has placed closest to us, we will see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes to us when we learn that it is in the everyday things of life that we realize the magnificent deity of Jesus Christ.  Oswald Chambers

Easter2023, 31/42