Behold our God – seated on the throne, come let us adore him.
”That Is what I dearly desire from you, all your admiration and adoration. I have made that the priority for each one of my dear children on a continual basis. From the beginning of the day as you have time to be aware of me and should carry on throughout the day. I welcome that, since that is why I have created. Created a world which would perfectly house My perfectly created humans, so that you can adore me and interact with me. My promise is that I am always there, before you, behind you and in you. I could not be closer, so just build your awareness of this presence so that you can fully appreciate me and enjoy me continually.”
Last time I proposed that salvation is the most important event anyone can ever experience. In the next 3 chapters Paul is going to explain why it is so important. Unless this fact grips us we will never really seek or appreciate this vital work of Jesus.
Paul launches into the root of the problem immediately in vs 18. “The wrath of God” He deals with three groups of people who would need to understand God’s wrath in different ways. Today we will read how the Gentile pagan is faced by God’s wrath. We read 1:18-32.
The NIV does not show it but there is a “for” before the wrath, linking it to what we read last week. In vs 18 he makes the statement that God’s wrath is against ALL godlessness and wickedness. It is equally focused on every aspect of what is outside His righteousness. It all starts in the mind where man suppresses the truth. What is the truth? Well the basic truth is that there is a God who is our Creator and everything that flows from that.
He has created us for a purpose vs 21: They neither glorified nor gave thanks to him. That is the reason God created us for in the first place. Yet what started in their foolish minds flowed to their hearts, where they loved the created things rather than the Creator Himself. That describes in a few words the exact position every “unsaved” person is in. Every reason for God’s wrath flows from that.
The rest of the chapter shows how sin has developed and become rampant in the world, giving a shocking insight into everything that is going wrong. Frightening is the repeated statement that God gave them over vss 24, 26, 28. This gives us an insight into God’s reaction to those who continually ignore Him. He withdraws even His common grace and allows sin to take its full course.
Note the last sentence: They not only continue to do these things but also approve of those who practice them, has frightening connotations. Even not practicing these sins but simply being OK with others doing them is equally bad.
Paul does not explain exactly what the nature and effect of God’s wrath is here, but he wants the reader to understand how everyone falls under it and is without excuse v 20. Interesting how he focuses on the mind here as we may remember Romans 12:2, how the practice of our Christian life starts with “us being transformed by the renewing of our minds”.
So what is your view of God’s wrath? How serious do you regard sin to be? These are the basic starting blocks for the Christian. We see around us every attempt to justify sin by many people including the ministers in many churches, as they seek not to offend their congregation. Denominations are building platforms to justify sexual sin. They are approving of those who do these things.
As Christian’s we have been set free from this wrath because Jesus took the wrath due to us on Himself. Recognising how amazing this is should drive us, like Paul to share this News with anyone God brings across your path. More on this next week. May God bless you all till then.