July 18

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven. - Romans 1:18.

LET us consider the revelation of this wrath. It is made known in various ways. First, It is revealed to our faith. And this is done by the sacred Scriptures; faith sees it plainly enough in this book; there “hell is naked before it, and destruction has no covering;” there faith beholds the outer darkness, where there is “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Those who believe this volume must admit the misery, and those who deny the misery must get rid of the volume, that is, get rid of the truth of it; before they can feel satisfaction, they must believe that this book is “a cunningly devised fable.” And who can believe that a scheme so harmonious in its parts, so sublime in its discoveries, so wise in its contrivances, so holy in its nature; breathing such a pure morality; so benevolent in its tendency, so conducive to the welfare of man individually and socially considered-a scheme preserved by Providence, established by miracles, in defence of which the best of men have died, and the wisest of men have lived-who, we repeat, can believe that all this is the offspring of a weak or wicked mind?

Secondly, It is revealed to the conscience. Thus it is revealed in those uneasinesses and apprehensions which attend the commission of sin. It is hard, if not impossible, for an individual to deliver himself from these. And why so? We are generally referred to the apprehension of human detection and human punishment; but what are we to do when we find these apprehensions where no human detection is expected, where no human punishment is reckoned upon? Whence is it that any unusual appearance or awful occurrence gives to the mind a kind of fearful perturbation? When Joseph’s brethren were in the prison, they said one to another. We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.” What was there here to remind them of Joseph? O there was enough.

Inhumanity deserves and demands punishment, and conscience knows it. And when Belshazzar was at his feast and saw the fingers inscribing some characters on the ceiling, his face and his heart were filled with terror, the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. Why? Since he does not understand the writing, how does he know but that it is an eulogium upon his character, or an announcement of the raising of the siege by Cyrus, or that it is a prediction of the extension of his reign? There was something within him foreboded of evil, and the interpreter, therefore, only came in to confirm the exposition of his own feelings.

It is commonly supposed that Herod was a Sadducee; and if so, he denied the existence of Spirits, and the resurrection of the dead; and yet, when he heard of the fame of Jesus, he said, “It is John the Baptist: he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works are done by him.” His conscience was too strong for his creed.

Thirdly, It is revealed to our senses. This is conclusive; all nature abounds everywhere with tokens of God’s displeasure against sin. Proofs of the Deluge, for instance, are everywhere to be found. What diseases, famines, hurricanes, and earthquakes sometimes desolate our earth; sufferings of every kind have been inflicted upon individuals, upon families, and upon nations. These result by the appointment of him who has established a connection between sin and misery. And to a reflective mind there is enough to be seen to produce the conviction that there is such a tendency in sin to produce misery; and that, were the obstruction that now hinders the tendency in various particulars to be removed, it would work out and issue in all the dreadful things the Scriptures have made known.

Thus the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, to our faith, to our conscience, and to our senses. And we observe that while the existence of this wrath shows the holiness and justice of God, the revelation of it displays his mercy and, his grace. He would not take sinners by surprise; he would not strike before he spoke. He has revealed his wrath-why? To inflict it? No, but that we may escape it: revealed it in order to make sin terrible, that sin may produce flight, and that flight may induce us to enter the refuge of hope set before us in the gospel.