REVELATION MESSAGE 14
The Great Day of Wrath – Revelation 6

“The great day of their wrath.”

• Why is God so harsh in his judgment? Why does he have to bring, in the words of Isaiah, “a cruel day with wrath and fierce anger … to destroy sinners”? Other prophets call our attention to wailing, weeping, terror, pain, anguish, mourning, doom and darkness in anticipation of this great day of wrath. Isn’t that overkill? Hasn’t the hellfire and brimstone thing outlived its shelf life? Why does God insist on going to such extremes?
• Because sin is bad, really bad. And sin has to be dealt with fully and completely for any of us to have any hope whatsoever.
• We may think we know how bad sin is, and we obviously have some idea, but how much do we truly understand of a battle that stretches out over eons and from heaven to earth. Do we truly grasp the chasm that now exists between God and man?
• Think about it. The scope, the extent, of the conflict. God’s creation … angelic first and then human, choosing a different path and rebelling against him, becoming the enemies of God.
• You have heard the expression—“God only knows.” What could be more true when it comes to sin and the effect it has had on this planet. But there are some people who think they “have a handle” on sin. They deem themselves wise enough to make their own rules. They live by self-constructed moral codes, laws and standards. In fact, many in our world believe that they understand the sin issue so well that they have redefined sin. This new and improved version of sin is taught and promoted in our universities and many seminaries and even churches.
• These people not only believe that they understand evil better than God and his prophets, but they scoff at the outdated and culturally irrelevant doctrines of Scripture. To them, God’s holy word is passé with the exception of selected texts that they regard as acceptable or satisfactory according to their standards.
• So what happens then when you redefine evil? You next redefine the gospel. The biggest threat today to the sound teaching of the gospel is not in the wild, in the world, not the gay/lesbian groups, not liberal politicians, but right in the church, more specifically people in our churches, in leadership, in the pulpit and in the pew, who do not believe what God says about the sinfulness of humans before a holy God.