See Me For Who "I Am" (part 5)

Today's Reading: Psalm 90:9-11

Psalm 90:9–11 (ESV) 9  For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
 10  The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
  yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
 11  Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?

Prayer: Lord please illuminate your Word and as I briefly reflect on what you are showing regarding your wrath I pray that you would give me insight and wisdom that would lead to an appropriate response to this wrath that you poured onto your Son in my place. Thank you for your grace that shields me Lord. I ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Comments: See Part 1 for the complete outline on the Psalm.

Verses 9-11

• You bear wrath on behalf of your creation (holiness and justice results in a hatred of sin that brings the execution of wrath- which is good because you do it)

Lord it seems you reference Israel specifically here as Moses probably writes in reflection of how they are wandering the desert for this 40 years waiting for the generation to pass that resisted in unbelief and was refused therefore the right to enter the promised land. Moses may be lamenting about this time of passing under your wrath. I also see Lord that our days pass under your wrath in that we only know death and a limit of days because of our sin from Adam. I live under this understanding that compared to you this life is a vapor and is burdened with the result of sin and there is a curse of your wrath in this place. We toil and work for survival and for freedom from our own selfishness and sin in this fallen world. The limitation of my years stresses this huge contrast to who you are and to what I now have in your Son…eternal life! How beautiful is the last words of verse 10 that we fly away…like the hymn celebrating our reunion and redemption as we fly away from this world unto your heavenly realm, thank you that we have such a promise that being absent from the body is to be present with the Lord when we have trusted in your Son!

But do I consider the power of your anger adequately and does this influence my life in any way? Should it? Should your wrath be considered "according to the fear of you"? It would seem clear by inference here that you are advising such. It must be a narrow road for those that will honestly reflect and consider your wrath and how it is that this reality should influence us. Now Moses did not know of your cross yet and grace was not something understood yet, although you clearly dealt by grace already as this was the basis of your entire tabernacle and substitutionary process of sacrifice. So would Moses say this same thing to me today? Would he suggest that I am to reflect on your wrath? Should I, as a believer saved by grace through faith in your Son consider your wrath? Don't you want me to look forward to heaven and to rejoice in your grace? 

Ah, but how can I truly see the greatness of the glory of your grace and appreciate the heaven that you prepare for me if I do not understand what would have been my fate ? And how do I understand the love you have for me if I do not understand the ferocity with which you punished the substitute who took my place? Would I not develop a reliance on you that was rooted in the ideas of a spoiled child who deserves the love they receive and such a misunderstanding of your grace that I would abuse it and heap pain upon my savior to whom is due all praise and glory? I cannot add one iota nor am I worthy or capable of easing the sacrifice you made Lord Jesus, but let me honor that sacrifice with my life. Let me live in gratitude and let me obey you as this is your request…this is the reality of how I will live if indeed I love you.

Let me tonight consider these questions and search your Word for such a fullness of this inquiry and an understanding of how you lead me in this area of considering the terribleness of your wrath and what it should cause in me…maybe joy, compassion, obedience, eternal security and confidence, hunger for you, scales removed and a reality that understands your kingdom here on earth in the land of the living...

From Berkhof Systematic Theology-

Sin is a very serious matter, and is taken seriously by God, though men often make light of it. It is not only a transgression of the law of God, but an attack on the great Lawgiver Himself, a revolt against God. It is an infringement on the inviolable righteousness of God, which is the very foundation of His throne (Ps. 97:2), and an affront to the spotless holiness of God, which requires of us that we be holy in all manner of living (1 Pet. 1:16). In view of this it is but natural that God should visit sin with punishment. In a word of fundamental significance He says: “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,” Ex. 20:5. The Bible abundantly testifies to the fact that God punishes sin both in this life and in the life to come.

From Grudem's Systematic Theology-

Wrath. It may surprise us to find how frequently the Bible talks about the wrath of God. Yet if God loves all that is right and good, and all that conforms to his moral character, then it should not be surprising that he would hate everything that is opposed to his moral character. God’s wrath directed against sin is therefore closely related to God’s holiness and justice. God’s wrath may be defined as follows: God’s wrath means that he intensely hates all sin.
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to biblical doctrine (205–206). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

Genesis 6:17 (ESV)¹⁷ For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 

1 Chronicles 21:14–16 (ESV)¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 

Exodus 32:26–28 (ESV)²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. ²⁷ And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ” ²⁸ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

Lord you give many examples of your wrath being poured out in a temporal sense in the old testament and it could seem as if you were a God of wrath that turned into a new testament God of love. The great flood is the highest example of your hatred of sin and the pouring out of your temporal wrath on earth. However, none of the instances of your wrath represented in the old testament are the fullness of your wrath since you are infinite and eternal and therefore an injustice toward you, as revealed in scripture, requires an infinite and eternal payment. The truth is that the new testament speaks of terrible wrath to come…

John 3:36 (ESV)³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. 

Romans 2:8 (ESV)⁸ but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 

Revelation 6:16–17 (ESV)¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” 

Revelation 19:15 (ESV)¹⁵ 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.

From Grudem's Systematic Theology-

It is appropriate to discuss the doctrine of hell in connection with the doctrine of final judgment. We may define hell as follows: Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked. Scripture teaches in several passages that there is such a place. At the end of the parable of the talents, the master says, “Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth” (Matt. 25:30). This is one among several indications that there will be consciousness of punishment after the final judgment. Similarly, at the judgment the king will say to some, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), and Jesus says that those thus condemned “will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46). In this text, the parallel between “eternal life” and “eternal punishment” indicates that both states will be without end. 

Jesus refers to hell as “the unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and says that hell is a place “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). The story of the rich man and Lazarus also indicates a horrible consciousness of punishment:
The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.” (Luke 16:22–24)
He then begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house, “for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:28).
When we turn to Revelation, the descriptions of this eternal punishment are also very explicit:
If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name. (Rev. 14:9–11) 

This passage very clearly affirms the idea of eternal conscious punishment of unbelievers.
Grudem, W. A. (2004). Systematic theology: An introduction to biblical doctrine (1148–1149). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House.

So Lord, the reality is that the new testament presents far worse manifestation of your wrath in an eternal unending sense now graduating from a temporal earthly display. The ferocity seen in the flood, seen in the 70,000 Israelites slayed by one mighty angel, seen in the Levites slaughtering 3,000 idol worshiping Israelites at Sinai is intensified in the lake of fire and the second death that is revealed in the new testament. So too is the intensity of your love and grace displayed perfectly at the Cross and this is, of course, the solution to this terrible would-be fate.  

Lord the level to which you hate sin and how you will punish the unrepentant sinner forever and ever evidences the degree of your love for us in that you poured this very wrath that was stored up for us, in the case of your church (the believers), on your Son with the same ferocity and intensity. Your own Son bore what was due to me and would have taken me eternity to never even finish paying for. Somehow your perfect Son was able to atone for this unpayable debt I had to you and I was therefore redeemed and given new life in Him! 

Let this understanding of your wrath move me to the following ends:

• Gratitude for your grace and the demerited favor you have chosen to show me
• May I therefore respond in loving obedience and surrender to your Lordship
• Hunger for holiness and a transformed life by the power of your Spirit
• May I therefore take joy in spiritual disciplines that draw me near to you
• Longing to see my family honor you and seek you first
• May I therefore sacrifice myself in service to my wife and lead my family with humility and love
• Compassion for the lost 
• May I therefore take seriously the great commission to make disciples and may I be a fisher of men 

Please show me Lord what these ends look like in practical ways so that they are not just lofty thoughts but reality in my life. I ask these things to the glory of your name, amen.

Discussion on Wrath from Piper's Desiring God website...

Soli Deo Gloria!