“Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10, NKJV)
I was leading a Bible study and touched on the well-known passage of John 3:16. I explained that the love of God showcased in that verse could not be properly understood apart from the perishing it forewarned. The love of God in Christ dawns against the bleak darkness of His wrath. It is a love that offers escape from condemnation for all who believe.
One gentleman remarked that people typically cite John 3:16 but neglect John 3:17. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). His point was that God does not condemn but is a God of salvation.
I agreed that people often do pull up short in John’s teaching. Had Jesus come to condemn, who could have been saved? Who could have escaped the judgment of God? Had there been no cross whereon the wrath of God was poured out, what hope could there be?
I went on to venture a step further in the passage: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
Salvation is in the Son. Salvation from what? From the wrath to come. John makes that clear when he writes: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). Wrath does not come upon anyone but rather remains on a person because he or she has not turned to God’s one and only provision for life, as was illustrated in the days of Moses (see John 3:14-15 as the passage’s Old Testament preview of God’s provision for escape from perishing).
It is this salvation from condemnation that Paul holds out to the Thessalonians. They had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. While idols are a vain hope for deliverance, God is not. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is in the Lord.
As believers, the church of Thessalonica was waiting for the Son of God from heaven. Jesus had endured the cross, suffered the wrath of God in sinners’ stead, been raised in vindication, and ascended in glory to the Father’s right hand. From there He would come to judge the living and the dead.
While Paul speaks of this hope and longing in terms of “you,” referring to the repentance and faith of the Thessalonians, he includes himself (“us”) among those who have been delivered from the wrath to come. Deliverance from eternal death and dread describes everyone who has sought refuge in the living God.
Paul will expand and apply this hope later in his letter when he contrasts brothers with others, those with hope and those without (4:13), where he will again highlight wrath for those outside of Christ (5:9), but hope for those united to Him.
What does the Christian’s hope have to do with the wrath of God?
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
