Eternal Love or Eternal Wrath?

"But the steadfast love of the LORD
Is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children,
To those who keep His covenant
And remember to do His commandments"
(Psalm 103:17-18)

In contrast to the fleeting nature of man, God's love is eternal. His righteousness will be given from generation to generation.

But notice the conditions. We like to read that God's love and righteousness are eternal. God will never stop loving. God will never stop being righteous.

But both of those have conditions.

God's love is eternal "on those who fear Him."

His righteousness is given "to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments."

God is love. But God is also just. Perfect love and perfect justice. And we wouldn't want it any other way.

God's justice compels Him to punish sin, which is anything contrary to His nature. Because of the sin in our nature and our lives, we are completely separated from the holy God. From birth, we are under His wrath, because He has to punish sin. (John 3:36).

But God, who is also perfect in His love, desires to have a relationship with His creation. So He made a way for His wrath to be justly satisfied.

His Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross as a sacrifice. He took the wrath of God upon Himself so that the righteousness could be credited to our account (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God didn't have to do that. He didn't have to pay the ultimate sacrifice. He could have left us under His wrath and sent us all to eternal punishment in Hell. But He loved us and wants us to be with Him forever.

So, to benefit from God's eternal love, we have to "fear Him." Respect Him for who He is and take His word for what it says. He really does hate sin and will punish it. He really does love you and wants you to be with Him.

The only way to remove the wrath and replace it with eternal love is through believing what God says is true. Trusting, accepting, fearing, obeying, believing - they are all related words that show the evidence of doing what God wants you to do.

Are you under God's eternal wrath? Or under His eternal love?

From Wrath to Life

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).

One of the most powerful verses in the Bible, this verse clearly explains what it means to get eternal life.

Let's start at the end of the verse: "...but the wrath of God remains on him."

That statement explains our condition. The wrath of God is already upon us. We are born as enemies of God. God is already angry at us. He has already judged us. And if we do nothing about it, we will stay in that position forever.

No one wants to stay there. We don't even like it when our friends are angry with us for a little while. We certainly don't want the creator of the universe to be angry with us for all of eternity.

So how do we change that?

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life..." To move from wrath to life, we have to believe in the Son. What does that mean?

The Son is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So what do we have to believe about the Son of God to move from wrath to life?

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

Believing in Jesus has to do with God giving His Son for us. God sent His Son to the world to die for us. We are under the wrath of God, but God doesn't want us to stay there. To make it possible for God to look upon us, a sacrifice had to be made. A perfect, holy sacrifice. The only perfect, holy sacrifice that was sufficient was His only Son, Jesus.

Believing that Jesus died for our sins, paying the penalty in complete, satisfying the wrath of God completely, is what it means to believe in the Son.

Does merely saying, "I believe that Jesus died for my sins" remove the wrath of God from us?

Look at the middle phrase of John 3:36: "... whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life..." If you don't obey, you will not see life. Or to put it positively, if you do obey, you will see life.

Obedience to Christ is not the way to heaven, but the evidence that you believe. If you've been following these posts, you'll see that recurring theme throughout the Bible.

If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, you're going to do what He says to get eternal life. Then you will follow that up by doing what He says is best for you. You'll study the Bible and determine what God wants you to do and do it. Not as a way to earn eternal life, but out of obedience and thankfulness.

Trust and obey.