Glory for Wrath
Glory for Wrath
Romans 1:18-23
Henry of Huntingdon was one of the most prolific English historians. His work cataloged the history of the Kings of England through the middle of the twelfth century. In one of his works, he wrote of King Canute and his graceful and magnificent behavior toward his subjects,
With the greatest vigor [King Canute] commanded that his chair should be set on the shore, when the tide began to rise. And then he spoke to the rising sea saying “You are part of my dominion, and the ground that I am seated upon is mine, nor has anyone disobeyed my orders with impunity. Therefore, I order you not to rise onto my land, nor to wet the clothes or body of your Lord.” But the sea carried on rising as usual without any reverence for his person, and soaked his feet and legs. Then he, moving away said: “All the inhabitants of the world should know that the power of kings is vain and trivial, and that none is worthy of the name of king but He whose command the heaven, earth and sea obey by eternal laws.”
Hungtingdon noted that King Canute removed his royal crown that day never to place it atop his head again. He wanted his subjects to know that only one true King was worthy of wearing the crown. King Canute realized that although he was the most powerful human authority in his kingdom, his authority was nowhere close to the authority of the Creator of the heavens and earth.
The Holy Scriptures begin with the most profound, radical, authoritative sentence, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Unfortunately, we are so familiar with the opening verses of the Bible that they tend to lose their wonder and power, but those opening verses command authority. Creation must bow to the Creator. The creature must submit to his Maker. Yet, this simple, basic truth is ignored far too often, and ignoring one’s creaturely existence is the main reason our world is in chaos.
Recently, I was speaking with a friend about authority, and I said to him, “You want to be the main authority of your life.” He agreed. I pressed further and said, “You want to be the king of your life.” Again, although this time more reluctantly, he agreed. Then I said, “You want to be god of your life.” This time, he protested strongly. He could not, or at least did not want to, admit to that. Yet, I believe when you want to be the main authority in your life, the “king” who makes the rules and is the final decision maker, functionally you want to act as god of your life. But chaos ensues when the creature acts as the Creator or when the creature wants to, “be like God.” (Gen 3:6)
In Romans 1:18, the Apostle Paul shifts from his introduction and gets to the meat of his argument. He spends the next two chapters documenting the chaos of the human heart and how all people, Jew and Gentile, are sinners because they have rejected God’s authority and gone their own way. Paul will demonstrate that every person has fallen short of the glory of God because every person wants to be like God. Although Romans 1:18-32 is one thought (and more accurately Romans 1:18-3:20 is one thought), we are going to break down this section into three separate sermons to show that denying God as Creator reveals our pride and our foolishness.
The Wrath of God is Revealed in His Righteousness
Paul begins his letter with his desire to come preach the gospel in Rome. He is eager to preach the gospel to the wise and the foolish because he is not ashamed of the gospel and knows it is the power of God for all who believe. For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, for as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Romans 1:16-17 outline the theme of Paul’s letter while giving great encouragement to the reader. But, in order for the gospel to be fully and rightfully received as salvation, one must first understand what he or she is being saved from. Paul makes the main thrust of his argument that justification is only by faith.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1:18
It may appear that Romans 1:18 is a sharp contrast to Romans 1:16-17, but notice how Paul links them together with the first word, “for”. The righteousness of God is revealed in His salvation as well as in His wrath. The wrath of God is God’s personal anger against sin. God is holy and just, therefore, He cannot be indifferent towards sin.
Imagine a father playing and laughing with his toddler daughter at the playground. He is catching her as she comes down the slide. You watch him play with his child and view him as a good and caring father. Then a teenager comes by, pushes the daughter down to the ground and starts yelling at her. The little girl cries out for help. You watch the father do nothing. He stands idly by while the teenager pushes and yells at his little girl. Does your opinion of the father change? Of course it does. You no longer see him as a good father but rather as a neglectful one, because he has allowed evil to go unpunished.
Unlike this father, God cannot be indifferent towards evil. If He is good and holy, then He must hate evil and punish it. If God does not punish evil, how can He be good? Paul argues that God is righteous when He inflicts His wrath on human beings. His judgments are perfect and right. In I Thessalonians 1:10, Paul writes about God’s future wrath as Christians wait for Jesus, “who delivers us from the wrath to come.” God also promises a future wrath at the end of history for all who reject Jesus Christ as Lord. But Paul is not referring to that future wrath here because he says, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven”. He uses the word “is”, implying a present-day reality, and he will show that the moral degradation of society is actually a sign of God’s wrath and judgment on the world.
In verse 18, Paul writes, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”. Some scholars take these words and give them two broad meanings. They argue that “ungodliness” refers to wrong religious beliefs and that “unrighteousness” refers to a faulty morality. This would be similar to the Ten Commandments, in which the first tablet commands proper worship while the second tablet commands proper living. It is hard to be certain of Paul's exact reason for using these words, but as we will see in his argument, failed belief leads to failed morality. Beliefs and morality are always connected.
People do not want to believe the wrath of God is against them. In fact, I believe that most Americans act as if the wrath of God is only for those who have done terrible things, like Hitler or Osama Bin Laden. Yet, I also believe that, deep down, we all know we deserve justice for our sin. If we sin against others, we want to be forgiven. If others sin against us, we want justice. Something in us cries out for justice. If we are honest, we know the truth; we just don't always want to live it.
Paul says men, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” We hold down or dismiss or ignore truth because we don’t want to follow it. Take, for example, someone who is pre-diabetic. They know they need to exercise and avoid sweets, but when asked if they want dessert, they suppress the truth of their condition, ignore the reality of what they should do, and choose to do what they want to do. We tend to dismiss or ignore truths we do not want to follow. Our society has dismissed, or ignored, the truth about God being our Creator so that they do not have to follow Him.
For Creation reveals God’s Attributes
Paul continues to prove his case that all human beings are guilty before God and cannot be justified by their actions. God is righteous; man is unrighteous. Man needs righteousness if he wants to receive God’s presence and live. Paul writes,
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are
without excuse. Romans 1:19–20
Just as King Canute realized he couldn’t stop the tide, every single person has seen God’s creative power and knows that he or she is not the Creator. Paul is not saying that every person knows God personally but that every person knows about God from creation.
First, God has made it plain. Anyone who looks at the beauty of creation, its complexity or its order, would be hard-pressed not to see a Divine Designer. The universe was not made by random chance. Many want to believe our world came into existence by a random explosion, as if a hurricane went through the junkyard by random chance and somehow built a fully functioning Boeing 747. It does not make logical sense. What does make sense is that our world has order and structure because it has a Designer. The more we study the human body and all its complexities and order, the harder it is to believe that there was not someone behind the design. God is not hiding.
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard. Psalm 19:1–3
Notice how the Psalmist rejoices in creation in Psalm 104,
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD my God, you are very great!
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
covering yourself with light as with a garment,
stretching out the heavens like a tent. Psalm 104:1–2
He set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be moved.
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains. Psalm 104:5–6
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills;
they give drink to every beast of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
The trees of the LORD are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has her home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they steal away
and lie down in their dens.
Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great. Psalm 104:10–25
God is not hiding. He has made it plain. His eternal power and divine nature have been evident since the creation of the world. Anyone who studies creation will see God’s handiwork.
Second, everyone is without excuse. All people know that they are not God. They know they are creatures. They know God is God, and they are not. We all know it. Whether on an island in the China Sea, in the rural Australian outback, or in the mountains of the Himalayas, everyone knows there is a God because God has made it plain in creation. He has given sufficient evidence; some just choose to ignore it.
While the prideful choose to suppress the truth, they dishonor God
Like our first parents, Adam and Eve, we choose to suppress the truth about our creaturely reality and try to be like God. Paul could write this sentence about every human being,
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21
The root sin is failing to acknowledge who God is. When we do not honor God as our Creator and King, when we fail to thank Him for our lives and breath and existence, we sin. We do not glorify God. This is the problem of our world, and when we do not glorify and honor God, our thinking becomes empty and meaningless. Our hearts become darkened to righteousness, and they start longing for sin.
It is futile to try to understand the world apart from God. Every day, people try to do this, but they never get anywhere because it is an empty and fruitless pursuit, which leads to empty thinking and, ultimately, empty living. It’s like me trying over and over again to dunk a basketball. I can keep trying, but I’ll never reach the rim, and it’s insanity to think I ever could.
Being satisfied with a corruptible, foolish glory
Unfortunately, then, we see extreme sadness. People make foolish, terrible choices and exchange the eternal, immortal, never-ending glory of God, the Creator, for the fading, corrupt, short-lived, miniscule glory of things in creation. They settle for the gift rather than the Giver.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1:22–23
In today’s world, we don’t generally see people bowing down before golden images or statues. Instead, we see them craving short-lived sexual pleasure, temporary drug-induced highs, bank accounts that can’t be taken beyond the grave, or achievements that won’t be remembered past their children. People are fools when they exchange the corruptible for the incorruptible, the temporary for the eternal, the mortal for immortal. I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’ famous quote in The Weight of Glory,
It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
It is foolish to be satisfied with anything less than God. This is our world’s main problem: we are idolaters. We worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. We worship and serve ourselves rather than submitting ourselves to God.
If you are not a follower of Jesus, do you consider yourself to be an idolater? That’s not a word we often hear in today’s culture, but it means that we reject God’s authority and rule in our lives and live for something or someone else. It means we have exchanged God’s glory and the reason we exist for something far less satisfying. And, because of this, God is revealing His wrath against the world. He allows us to live for lesser things and experience their turmoil and destruction. He allows our sinful life choices to reveal their own awful reality. What have your choices led to? Maybe you’ve had some fun and experienced some temporary happiness but, quite possibly, you’ve also felt guilt, shame, regret, loneliness, emptiness, sadness, and pain. Could there be something more?
Christian, we know the truth. We know God is our Creator. He is our King and Judge. We know He is right to judge the world in His wrath because He is righteous, and He knows best. We know this, yet when we fall back into following our flesh, we suppress what we know to be true. Do not be satisfied with the things of this world. Remember John’s words,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15–17
Every day we have a choice: live for God’s glory that lasts forever or live for this world’s lesser glories, which will pass away. It is a simple choice. We cannot claim to be wise and then become fools. We must be wise and walk in the way of the wise.
Requiring the Power of God to Save in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
The wrath of God is coming. Every single person will face it because every single person has fallen short of the glory of God. We have all been fools. I like how Paul says it in Titus 3,
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. Titus 3:3
This is the truth of our world because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against our unrighteousness. We were once foolish, but God has made a way. Paul continues in Titus 3,
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4–7
We were foolish but, in the wisdom of God, Christ died for us. We were idolaters of creation, but the Creator came to be with us. We exchanged the glory of the immortal God for lesser things but, when we repent of our sins and trust in Him, God will exchange His perfect righteousness for our unrighteousness.
Jesus lived a perfect life and died on the cross to pay the debt of anyone who would come to Him. Jesus took God’s wrath on the cross so we could be forgiven. He was dead and buried, but God raised Him from the dead, and because Jesus lived for God’s glory, you and I can too. When we believe, God gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live for His glory. He not only saves us from the penalty of sin, but He saves us from the power of sin in this life and the presence of sin in the life to come.
If you have never trusted in Christ as your Lord and Savior, do it today. Examine creation and realize that you are a creature who has fallen short of the glory of God and needs a Savior. Jesus offers His life for you today. Repent and believe.
If you are a follower of Christ, I urge you to press on, weary saint. The road may seem long, but it is worth it. We get glimpses of His glory on the way until that day when our faith becomes sight, and we experience full glory in His presence.
God is revealing His wrath against the world. We see it in the destruction happening in the Middle East as terrorists devalue human life.. We see it in the destruction of young people as they choose to believe the lie of the world’s sexuality. God has made His glory plain in creation, and He has made His salvation plain in Christ. The world is broken, but it will be restored in Christ. The world bows to all sorts of idols now but, one day, every knee will bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.