Scary Topic, the Coming Wrath, pt I

1 Thessalonians 1:10
“and to await His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead — Jesus our deliverer from the coming wrath.”

The “coming wrath” is a topic of great discomfort. We all sense it. In an even deeper sense, we know that we are unworthy. We feel a sense of shame at a conscious and subconscious level. This is true at a human level.
We also feel a sense of unworthiness with God. That’s why many avoid Him. They feel He disapproves. They think if they turn their focus to God, He’s going to hand over a list of changes that they don’t want to make or unable to make.
Unfortunately many misunderstand The Lord. While He does want to make us worthy, He doesn’t look upon us with disapproval. It’s a look of love. He wants to rescue us.
The devil is partially responsible for this misunderstanding. He spreads a disinformation campaign about God. He portrays Him as stern and unhappy with us. The devil also whispers these lies. We adopt them as our own thoughts and internalize them.
We need to see God as the Prodigal’s Father. He stands on the porch looking down the road in hope. His love yearns for the return of every son and daughter.
God also works on drawing everyone to Himself (John 12:32). He spreads blessing everywhere which are to cheer our hearts, but also are to point us to Him.
To properly speak of the coming wrath, we need to see what it’s not. The Lord isn’t up in heaven looking down angry at us. His anger is at sin and destruction that’s caused. We’ll discuss that next time.
Lord, thanks that You love us and want to bless us. Help us to draw near to you and You draw us to Yourself.