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Wrath of God – Interesting Thoughts [Emphasis of all references added]
Wrath can’t come until work finished in
Then I saw that Jesus would not leave the most holy place until every case was decided either for salvation or destruction, and that the wrath of God could not come until Jesus had finished His work in the most holy place, laid off His priestly attire, and clothed Himself with the garments of vengeance.” – Christian Experience and Teaching of Ellen G. White, p. 100. [The priest serves as a mediator during defense proceedings. This is called the Atonement process. He acts as an attorney on our behalf. At the same time, the sentencing phase moves forward on those whose cases have been decided. The seven Vials or Plagues represent the first phase of that judgment.]
“It was impossible for the plagues to be poured out while Jesus officiated in the sanctuary; but as His work there is finished, and His intercession closes, there is nothing to stay the wrath of God [judicial review of each case and the defense counsel’s intense work to continue probation is time limited], and it breaks with fury upon the shelterless head of the guilty sinner, who has slighted salvation and hated reproof. In that fearful time, after the close of Jesus' mediation, the saints were living in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. Every case was decided, every jewel numbered. Jesus tarried a moment in the outer apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, and the sins which had been confessed while He was in the most holy place were placed upon Satan, the originator of sin, who must suffer their punishment.” – Early Writings, pp. 280-281. [The Priest – Jesus – personally took those sins while the court was in session. When it is closed, they were transferred to the originator of sin. Jesus is cleansed as well as the court. The record books will be destroyed later. God will give all the saved a chance to review His justice once more.]
“The nations are now getting angry, but when our High Priest has finished His work in the sanctuary, He will stand up, put on the garments of vengeance, and then the seven last plagues will be poured out.” – Christian Experience and Teaching of Ellen G. White, p. 100. [Angry nations will find full murderous expression at this time of the Plagues or Vials. That part is called Armageddon. The winds of strife are fully let loose.]
“Men are prone to abuse the long-suffering of God, and to presume on His forbearance. But there is a point in human iniquity when it is time for God to interfere; and terrible are the issues. ‘The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked’ (Nahum 1:3). The long-suffering of God is wonderful, because He puts constraint on His own attributes; but punishment is nonetheless certain. Every century of profligacy has treasured up wrath against the day of wrath; and when the time comes, and the iniquity is full, then God will do His strange work. It will be found a terrible thing to have worn out the divine patience; for the wrath of God will fall so signally and strongly that it is presented as being unmixed with mercy; and the very earth will be desolated. [This is the decreation of the earth. The righteous will be recreated; the wicked and their habitation, decreated. Desolation – nothingness – is its descriptive end.] It is at the time of the national apostasy, when, acting on the policy of Satan, the rulers of the land will rank themselves on the side of the man of sin--it is then the measure of guilt is full; the national apostasy is the signal for national ruin.” – Selected Messages, bk 2, pp. 372-373.
Partial wrath had been occurring.
“Were all the sins, which have brought the wrath of God upon cities and nations, fully understood, their woes and calamities would be found to be the results of uncontrolled appetites and passions.” – Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 160-161 (1909).
“Fathers and mothers, watch unto prayer. Guard strictly against intemperance in every form. Teach your children the principles of true health reform. Teach them what things to avoid in order to preserve health. Already the wrath of God has begun to be visited upon the children of disobedience. What crimes, what sins, what iniquitous practices, are being revealed on every hand! As a people, we are to exercise great care in guarding our children against depraved associates.” – Counsels on Health, p. 134.
“Satan puts his interpretation upon events, and they think, as he would have them, that the calamities which fill the land are a result of Sundaybreaking. Thinking to appease the wrath of God these influential men make laws enforcing Sunday observance.—10MR 239 (1899).” – Last Day Events, p. 129. [God’s wrath is to be understood. In this phrase it serves as a warning. Attorney Jesus still pleads your case. But proceedings are about to close.]
“A rainbow is represented in Heaven round about the throne, also above the head of Christ, as a symbol of God's mercy encompassing the earth. When man, by his great wickedness, provokes the wrath of God, Christ, man's intercessor, pleads for him, and points to the rainbow in the cloud, as evidence of God's great mercy and compassion for erring man; also the rainbow above the throne and upon his head, emblematical of the glory and mercy from God resting there for the benefit of repentant man.” – Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, p. 78.
“The blood, marking the door-posts of their houses, was the symbol of the blood of Christ which was to be efficacious for the believing sinner, in cleansing him from sin, and sheltering him from the wrath of God which was to come upon the impenitent and unbelieving world, as the wrath of God fell upon the Egyptians. But none could be benefited by this special provision made by God for the salvation of man unless they should perform the work the Lord left them to do. They had a part to act themselves, and by their acts to manifest their faith in the provision made for their salvation.” – Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, p. 36.
“I was shown that a terrible condition of things exists in our world. The angel of mercy is folding her wings, ready to depart.... The law of God is made void. We see and hear of confusion and perplexity, want and famine, earthquakes and floods; terrible outrages will be committed by men; passion, not reason, bears sway. The wrath of God is upon the inhabitants of the world, who are fast becoming as corrupt as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. Already fire and flood are destroying thousands of lives and the property that has been selfishly accumulated by the oppression of the poor. The Lord is soon to cut short His work and put an end to sin. Oh, that the scenes which have come before me of the iniquities practiced in these last days, might make a deep impression on the minds of God's professing people.” – Maranatha, p. 137.
Wrath Before Plagues:
“All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure of his guilt; but in the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with mercy.” – The Great Controversy, p. 628.
“There is an unerring register kept of all sins committed. All man's impiety, all his disobedience to Heaven's commands, are written in the books of heaven with unerring accuracy. The figures of guilt rapidly accumulate, yet the judgments of God are tempered with mercy, until the figures have reached their appointed limit. God bears long with the transgression of human beings, and continues through His appointed agencies to present the gospel message, until the set time has come. God bears with divine patience with the perversity of the wicked; but He declares that He will visit their transgressions with a rod. He will at last permit the destructive agencies of Satan to bear sway to destroy (MS 17, 1906).” – The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1171.
“The Lord will not suddenly cast off all transgressors, or destroy entire nations; but He will punish cities and places where men have given themselves up to the possession of Satanic agencies. Strictly will the cities of the nations be dealt with, and yet they will not be visited in the extreme of God's indignation, because some souls will yet break away from the delusions of the enemy, and will repent and be converted, while the mass will be treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.—Evangelism, p. 27. (1906)” – Country Living, p. 8.
“Some of these have been blessed with the light of truth, and yet they are rapidly drifting away from faith, trust, and confidence in God, and do not recognize his blessings; and, unless arrested in their mad course, they will be found in the dark, restless, turbulent waters of skepticism and infidelity. This will be the result of honoring themselves and of not making God first and best in everything. Some of these will be suddenly arrested by the chastisements of God, and they will be led through a series of affliction until they shall inquire for the old paths, zealously repent, and return to their first love. Through sorrow they may be led to place their feet in the way that is cast up for the ransomed of the Lord to walk in. They will no longer seek for a place where money and selfish interests are the only objects to be attained. All worldly success without God is dry and barren waste. They will value the working of the Spirit of God upon the heart more highly than they value gold and the praise of mortals. Their minds will become free from the influence of selfishness and skepticism, for there will be an amazing change in heart and character, in thought and feeling. The aspirations will be stirred toward that which is divine, and the effort of the life be to practice that which is holy.” – The Signs of the Times, January 17, 1895.
God’s Wrath in Seven Last Plagues
“Satan was trying his every art to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, until the covering was drawn over God's people, and they left without a shelter from the burning wrath of God, in the seven last plagues. God has begun to draw this covering over His people, and it will soon be drawn over all who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for His people; and Satan will be permitted to work also.” – Early Writings, p. 44.
“I was then made capable of enduring the awful sight of the seven last plagues, the wrath of God. I saw that His anger was dreadful and terrible, and if He should stretch forth His hand, or lift it in anger, the inhabitants of the world would be as though they had never been, or would suffer from incurable sores and withering plagues that would come upon them, and they would find no deliverance, but be destroyed by them. Terror seized me, and I fell upon my face before the angel and begged of him to cause the sight to be removed, to hide it from me, for it was too dreadful. Then I realized, as never before, the importance of searching the Word of God carefully, to know how to escape the plagues which that Word declares shall come on all the ungodly who shall worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in their foreheads or in their hands. It was a great wonder for me that any could transgress the law of God and tread down His holy Sabbath, when such awful threatenings and denunciations were against them.” – Early Writings, pp. 64-65.
Christ Experienced God’s Wrath
“Man has not been made a sin-bearer, and he will never know the horror of the curse of sin which the Saviour bore. No sorrow can bear any comparison with the sorrow of Him upon whom the wrath of God fell with overwhelming force. Human nature can endure but a limited amount of test and trial. The finite can only endure the finite measure, and human nature succumbs; but the nature of Christ had a greater capacity for suffering.... The agony which Christ endured, broadens, deepens, and gives a more extended conception of the character of sin, and the character of the retribution which God will bring upon those who continue in sin. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ to the repenting, believing sinner.” – Amazing Grace, p. 168.
(Hebrews 5:8, 9; Isaiah 53:10). Sundering of the Divine Powers.—The Captain of our salvation was perfected through suffering. His soul was made an offering for sin. It was necessary for the awful darkness to gather about His soul because of the withdrawal of the Father's love and favor; for He was standing in the sinner's place, and this darkness every sinner must experience. The righteous One must suffer the condemnation and wrath of God, not in vindictiveness; for the heart of God yearned with greatest sorrow when His Son, the guiltless, was suffering the penalty of sin. This sundering of the divine powers will never again occur throughout the eternal ages (MS 93, 1899).” – The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 924.
Warnings Before Wrath
“The Lord, in his great mercy, does not bring judgments upon the earth without giving warning to its inhabitants by the mouth of his servants. Says the prophet Amos, ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.’ [Amos 3:7.] When the iniquity of the antediluvians moved him to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, he first made known to them his purpose, that they might have opportunity to turn from their evil ways. For a hundred and twenty years was sounded in their ears the warning to repent, lest the wrath of God be manifested in their destruction. But the message seemed to them an idle tale, and they believed it not. From unbelief they proceeded to scorn and contempt, ridiculing the warning as highly improbable, and unworthy of their notice. Emboldened in their wickedness, they mocked the messenger of God, made light of his entreaties, and even accused him of presumption. How dare one man stand up against all the great men of the earth? If Noah's message were true, why did not all the world see it and believe it? One man's assertion against the wisdom of thousands! They would not credit the warning, nor would they seek shelter in the ark.” – Spirit of Prophecy, pp. 208-209.
“But not one is made to suffer the wrath of God until the truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience, and has been rejected. There are many who have never had an opportunity to hear the special truths for this time. The obligation of the fourth commandment has never been set before them in its true light. He who reads every heart, and tries every motive, will leave none who desire a knowledge of the truth, to be deceived as to the issues of the controversy. The decree is not to be urged upon the people blindly. Every one is to have sufficient light to make his decision intelligently.” – The Great Controversy, p. 605.
“Time will last a little longer until the inhabitants of the earth have filled up the cup of their iniquity, and then the wrath of God, which has so long slumbered, will awake, and this land of light will drink the cup of His unmingled wrath.—1T 363 (1863).” – Last Day Events, p 41.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8-9 – RSV).
Wrath Seen in Sacred History
“We are not ignorant of the fall of Sodom because of the corruption of its inhabitants. The prophet has here [Ezekiel
The people will be eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage, until the wrath of God shall be poured out without mixture of mercy. The world will be rocked to sleep in the cradle of carnal security.... The multitudes are striving to forget God, and they eagerly accept fables, that they may pursue the path of self-indulgence undisturbed (RH Oct. 26, 1886). {5BC 1122.4} [implication that wrath could come with mercy]
Righteous saints buffer God’s wrath.
“‘Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.’ The people could see the white salt, glistening in the pathway, where it had been cast out because it had lost its savor and was therefore useless. Jesus used salt as an illustration of the Christian's life and teachings upon the world. Were it not for the few righteous who inhabit the earth, the wrath of God would not be delayed a moment from punishing the wicked. But the prayers and good works of the people of God preserve the world; they are the savor of life. But if Christians are only so in name, if they have not virtuous characters and godly lives, they are like the salt that has lost its savor. Their influence upon the world is bad; they are worse than unbelievers.” – Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 2, p. 214. Franklin S. Fowler Jr., M.D. Prophecy Research Initiative © 2008
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