Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. - Revelation 19:15
The next time you hear someone minimizing the attributes of Jesus Christ by erroneously limiting Him to love and mercy alone, you might want to point them to the title verse of this post.
True, our Lord and Savior is indeed a God who loves us immeasurably and by His grace grants us sinners his mercy. Our entire salvation is built upon God’s love and mercy. However, that salvation is granted only to those who obey His words - “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” - 1 John 2:3-6. Yes, love plays a great role in our salvation. Yet, for those who do not keep His commandments there is wrath - “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” - Matthew 7:21.
Many “professing Christians” are all about “the love.” Not many prefer to consider the winepress of fierceness. And yet it is all there in black and white, repeated plainly and boldly throughout the Holy Bible - “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” - Matthew 3:12. “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” - Revelation 2:23. Kind of empties that “all love and no wrath theory,” doesn’t it?
No, the composition of the 66 books known as the Bible, still make up one story - the story of God’s love and compassion for His creation and the covenant of grace that He, out of that infinite love, offers to us. As the Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts and the blood of Christ Jesus covers our sins we are forgiven by God’s mercy. But we must accept our salvation on God’s terms, not our own. We don’t define our Savior nor do we choose Him: He chooses us! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love . . .” - Ephesians 1:3-4.
So you see: God is love, the ultimate love, but His love does not come without a cost -
“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it.” - Luke 14:28. The cost. Counting the cost; and that includes carrying our own crosses so that we can walk just as he walked in obedience. Try to keep this item in mind: all of the verses I have used to illustrate God’s wrath come from the New Testament. Many folks claim that the New Testament and its emphasis on love replaces the Old Testament and its stories of genocide, fire, and brimstone. Well, based on the verses above and scores more, that simply isn’t a tenable position for a true believer to take and try to defend.
God indeed has expectations of us. He has even given us His commands. Perfection He does not expect but “direction” He does! That is why, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” - John 14:6. The implication is undeniable: we are to walk in the way, the truth, and the life. We must all stop this nonsense of believing in a God who is nothing but love, for that is a God of our own invention. The one true God has described Himself; He has spoken to us clearly and decisively . . . in both Old and New Testaments - the Bible; His word in its entirety!
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