It's been very sobering to study the wrath of the Lamb this week (Rev 6:16). Here are seven thoughts (of course seven!) that occurred to me this week while preparing to preach Revelation 6:
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This is not so much the anger of the great king against rebels. This is much much worse. This is the anger of the Lamb who was slain to save rebels. This is the anger of the meek and humble Saviour who stretched out His arms to a disobedient and obstinate people. This is the anger of the One who longed to gather His children under His wings but they were not willing. This is the anger of the bloody sacrifice who poured out His life just to redeem and forgive such people. Those who will be sent to hell have not only rebelled against a mighty King, they have trodden on the slain Lamb. They have spurned their only Saviour, who wept and sweated and bled for them. They have hated and trampled on Christ crucified. And they will not stand on the great day of His wrath.
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The great day of His wrath comes after a long wait (Rev 6:17). He is indeed 'slow to anger'. (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3; cf Rom 3:25; 2 Pet 3:9) And both the anger and the slowness are good things. It would be terrible if the Father or the Son flew off into a rage without warning. But it would also be terrible if they never got angry - the evil of this world, and particularly the evil of rejecting Christ is damnable. So His wrath is a very good thing.
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We are meant to draw nearer to the wrathful Lamb, not flee further from Him. It is the unbelievers who run from the Lamb in His anger (v15-17), it's the believers who run to Him. (Cf Psalm 2:12). As we read of His wrath we are tempted to draw back, but instead we should press closer, ask, seek and knock even more. His anger should in fact make us draw nearer - if we do, we will find Him to be our Refuge.
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Anger is not the last word. Revelation 6 clears the way for Revelation 7. "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." (Hosea 6:1-2)
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It's vital to see that the Father is not the only One angry at sin! Sometimes we can imagine that the cross is an angry Father being placated by His Son who really isn't that bothered about sin. "Jesus loves you, don't mind the Father, He's cranky!" It's at this point that people suppose that true trinitarian theology is opposed to penal substitutionary atonement. But no the Father and Son are not divided in their attitudes to sin. The Son is Christ precisely because He loves righteousness and hates wickedness (Ps 45:7). Rev 6:17 speaks of ‘their' wrath - Jesus is just as angry at sin as the Father. And He suffers in Himself the fullness of His own divine anger at sin.
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Chapters like Revelation 6 show us just how intense Christ's sufferings were. Here is the magnitude of the wrath which Jesus faced on the cross. The Lamb faced His own divine anger at sin - an anger that shakes the creation to its very foundations. When we read of Jesus sweating blood in the garden of Gethsemane and overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, He is feeling in Himself the dread of all those who say to the mountains ‘Fall on us and hide us.' After studying Revelation 6 we should have a bigger picture not only of judgement day but also the cross.
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We are tempted to measure hell by our sins. Passages like this tell us to measure our sins by hell. (Spurgeon used to say this often). What do I mean? We tend to think of our sins as trifling matters and then we read about the terrible judgement of God and think it's over the top. That's backwards. We should read about the terrible judgement of God and then think - that's what my sin deserves. Don't measure hell by your sins, measure your sins by hell. And then rejoice that the Lamb intercepted His own wrath and hid you under His altar, the cross. (Rev 6:9)
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