Jesus, the Lamb of Wrath?

Jesus, the Lamb of Wrath?
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted

Revelation 6:15-17
“Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”


As many of you may already know if you’ve ever heard me teach or preach, or if you have been a reader of my work in this on-line ministry, I love to read, I read book after book. I’ll read anything I can find if I think it will give me a better understanding of my Lord or a deeper insight into the will and ways of God. One of the books I have is entitled “The Lamb of God” by Richard Allen Bodey. Mr. Boedy has put into book form the sermons of an English Pastor by the name of Rev. Clarence E. Macartney who pastored a church in England during the 30’s and 40’s. As I read this collection of sermons it stimulated my mind as to the power and wonder of how God in His infinite wisdom used the gentle lamb to be the symbol of His Son Jesus. And it is from this train of thought that I was inspired under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to write this sermon or teaching if you will. So I thank Mr. Boedy for his work of gathering for this harvest, I thank Rev. Macartney for his works of love to his Lord and I thank the Holy Spirit for leading me to this line of thought.

When I was first doing my studies and taking the various tests needed to obtain my license as a minister one of the questions I was asked while standing before a review panel of presbyters was, do I read magazines or other like materials in regards to my Christ like walk? And I had to answer “No”. And although my response brought forth a light chastisement I was chastised just the same for this answer. You see I had answered their question in all honesty, no I did not read magazines and other like materials at that time, that has changed quite a bit. Now I read several Christian publications seeking additional insight into the world and the events of the world. But had they asked or rephrased the question asking, “Do you read and if so what do I read”? I could have told them that I read the sermons of Charles Spurgen, volumes of them; I read the writings of Augustine and John Wesley, and Martin Luther. I read the books on Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem and Charles Hodge. I could have told them that I read anything and everything I can find on the history of religion and the time line of a thousand years before or after our Lord walked on the face of this earth. I could have told them that I’ve read Steven Runciman’s “The Kingdom of Jerusalem”, “The Kingdom of Acre”, “The First Crusade” or Jerome Carcopino’s “Daily Life in Ancient Rome”. But no one asked about that, no one asked about my additional reading of timeless classics and the wonderful library of history that is open to us. And it’s from all of these sources and many more that I draw inspiration for my teachings and sermons. And with that said we will open with a reading from the book of (Revelation 6:16).
“They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.”

Our pericope seems to be somewhat of an oxymoron don’t you think? When we think of Jesus, we get a mental picture of a gentle and loving face, filled with love and always showing compassion to everyone around him. Or maybe our minds flash to the image of Jesus surrounded by children eager to be held in his arms, again the kind and loving Jesus. And as you think of a lamb you can’t help but to think of a picture of a sweet and fuzzy little animal that couldn’t or wouldn’t hurt a fly much less be an agent of wrath. Maybe you’ve seen the stained glass windows of some churches that have the Lamb holding the banner of God beside him. Again there is nothing in the beautiful colored glass that would denote anything other than a gentle creature, soft, white and harmless.

So when we come to this passage in the book of Revelation and read of men crying out that it would be better for them were rocks or even a mountain to fall on them than for them to face the wrath of the Lamb we have a hard time forming a mental image of this Lamb. Our minds don’t compute a Lamb that could be in any way something to fear and especially to the point that we were to have a mountain fall on us rather than face this creature, this Lamb. The very thought of dread or fear in this magnitude of a Lamb shocks the senses beyond what we normally think about in regards to the Lamb of God. It goes against our senses and all we have been instructed with-in the framework of our Christian education. So who or what is this Lamb we see in this new light?

As we delve into the book of Revelation the imagery of the Lamb is often before us. We read of the Lamb of God, we read of the Lamb who is the bridegroom of the church. We read about the Lamb that was slain, allowing us to have God’s salvation. We read about the Lamb who is the light of heaven and whose song is heaven’s music. And each of these images of the Lamb rest easy in our hearts and peaceful to our minds. This lamb is the epitome of innocence, the most gentle of all animals. It causes us to ask; “how could a lamb be angry or even in the most remotest way be connected to wrath?” If you think about it there are many animals that are far more capable to display anger or what you could call wrath. For myself when I think of an angry or violent animal that has the physical prowess to instill the wrath or anger of God my first thought is of a big brown bear or a lion, something with huge claws, powerful jaws and huge ripping teeth. I think of a raging bull or worse yet a raging bull elephant. Something so powerful that it can even knock down trees. But the last animal I’d think of is a lamb, how could a lamb display this kind of anger? And yet here between the pages of this wonderful book of Revelation we find the gentle sacrificial Lamb and the wrath of the Lamb as well.

As a preacher of the word of God I have an obligation to present to you, the reader of this teaching, to you the congregation and church of Jesus Christ this presentation of the Wrath of the Lamb. The Lord hasn’t given me license to pick and choose what I present to you or how it’s presented. I enter into prayer asking Him what He has in mind for me and then I wait until I feel the moving of the Spirit. Once I know the Spirit has come upon me I start writing and it just flows, page after page it flows as if the Holy Spirit Himself were moving my hand as I write under His anointing. You would not believe the pages of notes I have in rough draft form let alone the finished typed pages that the Lord has given me. As I said I haven’t been given license or free will to present the message to you that I deem you need but it’s what He deems you need to hear from this electronic pulpit. The very words used in the title of this ministry demand that all of Scripture be preached to you. “All the Gospel … All the time”. I pray I will always write by God’s calling, as directed by Him and through the power and the unction of the Holy Ghost.

The fact remains that God sees all that we do; this cannot be denied or disputed. The fact remains that all men and women will stand before the judgment seat of Christ; this cannot be denied or disputed. The fact remains that all mankind at some point sins and falls short of the glory of God; this cannot be denied or disputed. And sadly I have to say that the fact remains that not all men or women will repent of their sins, thusly I hate to say but must that not all men or women will accept Christ Jesus as their means of salvation. The fact remains that not all men and women will believe that this salvation comes through the name of Jesus and by no other name can they be saved, and all of this friend cannot be denied or disputed. If any of these facts were to be denied or disputed and found to be untrue in any way shape or form then all that I say, all that I believe in, all that I do, and all that I dedicate my life to would be a lie and of no value. And worse yet, if any of these facts were denied or disputed and found to be untrue in any way shape or form the very Scriptures we hold so dear to our hearts would be a lie and be of no value as well.

But praise be to God this is not a lie, every word of Scripture is true, every paragraph, every sentence, every phrase and every word are true and the very word of the living God. Starting with Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21, every word is the truth. Starting with that very first “And in the beginning”, straight through to that very last “Amen” God used to close his work of art and beauty, His work of comfort and consolation, His work of joyful hope and salvation. Every single word is pure truth. And that my friend cannot be denied or disputed! Amen?

In the book of Hebrews we are told, “It’s a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. And if God is a righteous, just and eternal God He has to give righteous, just and eternal rewards as well. For some this includes righteous, just and eternal judgment and wrath as well I’m sad to say.

Friend the church of Jesus Christ has fallen into the habit of giving its hearers the “Feel Good Sermon” only. You know what I’m talking about don’t you? The people want to hear a warm and fuzzy sounding sermon, something that will make them feel good and warm and fuzzy inside. They want to hear things that make them think nice thoughts, about how nice God is and what a nice place we are all going to, that big banana split in the sky where everything is always chocolate coated and sweet to the taste. The people of today want all “Make me happy” sermons. We don’t want to think about anything else and we surely don’t want to hear about the “Wrath of the Lamb” or judgment or heaven forbid make any mention of “sin” or the consequences thereof that follow a sinful nature. We don’t want to hear any of that because it might steal our warm and fuzzy feeling and remind us of what judgment really is. But my friend sin is real, sin is alive and well today and sin is in the world, in the people of the world and in the church too. And for the sinful persons there will be eternal judgment, there will be lost souls and that dear saints cannot be denied or disputed. If it could the entire Bible would be a lie.

The apostle Paul knew this when he wrote to his dear friend Timothy whom he was preparing for a life of ministry as a pastor. In (2nd Timothy 4:1-5) Paul writes: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

With this said … what brought us today to this particular Scripture? This reading of Revelation 6:16. The 6th seal had been opened with only one seal remaining on God’s record of history and destiny. There was a great earthquake, the sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood. The stars of heaven fell to earth, the heavens opened and mountains and islands were moved out of place. This is the prelude to the final judgment of God and His day of wrath so long held off because of God’s grace and mercy. In holding back His wrath for so long God was affording all men and women the opportunity to repent of their sins and their sinful ways and be cleansed by the blood of Christ, poured out as an offering of atonement at the cross. All people great and small, rich and poor, kings and crooks regardless of who they are, if they are a slave to sin they will be hiding in caves and rocks crying out to the mountains … “fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?” God’s great truth will be revealed. The much dreaded final judgment upon the evil of the world and upon evil men and women. This final judgment will fall upon all those who did not repent of their sinfulness.

As shocking as this may sound to some of us, this is not a new doctrine that suddenly popped out of the Bible from a previously hidden location that men were unable to find until now. It is a truth revealed in Scripture, woven through Scripture like a fine gold thread laced through the tapestry of God. And this truth of God’s judgment isn’t restricted to just the Bible … for many false religions throughout the world have talked of God’s judgment in one form or another. The big difference between these false religions and Christianity is simply that they have missed the whole message. They leave out the atoning blood of Jesus; they leave out the grace and mercy of God found through his Son the Lord Jesus. For some reason most of the world acknowledges that there is a God, that there will be a final judgment and they even joke about it. How many of us have heard or even joked about it ourselves by saying that when they die they want to go to hell just to be with their friends! I don’t know about you but in my simple mindset I think I’d rather find different friends to hang around with. Amen? I’d rather have different friends and we all go on to glory together at the foot of the throne. Amen?

Today there is much emphasis made in the media with regards to not only the separation of church and state but in seeking the complete removal of religion all together. And if you really look at it, it’s not just any religious belief they want to remove, it’s Christianity they are after and they ignore or even endorse the other false religions. They wrap their arms around Islam or Buddhism and say this one is okay but the church of Jesus Christ and His words they want to eliminate from existence. And it’s sad to say but there are many who make light of this as well.

We cry out to our courts and ask for justice. We look at the court system and the scales of justice, that symbol of the blindfolded woman with her scales in her up held hand. We look to the world governments and the United Nations and seek justice not realizing that justice found in the world, justice found in the court system or the world courts is not really true justice. And this true justice I talk about will not come until after the Wrath of the Lamb has come upon the world.

It’s not that God is angry with man or is angry in the same fashion, as man gets angry. It’s not that God is angry, as we understand anger. God is well beyond anything that we could ever understand. In (Isaiah 55:8-9) we read; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God isn’t looking to seek revenge like man does. God isn’t looking to seek revenge in the same manner as man understands revenge, he will never be looking to “get even “ with mankind, it’s not with-in the nature of God to be like that. But God has defined what sin is and in his pure perfection, in His pure Holiness, if God is to be true and God is to be just there must come God’s wrath at some point in the near future. And then the martyred saints of all history will see what perfect justice is after God’s perfect judgment has been dispensed.

I realize that this may be a hard pill to swallow after hearing so many sermons for so many years while gracefully dancing around the gray elephant in the middle of the room we know as sin. You know what the gray elephant is don’t you? In the counseling realm they use that analogy when there is a problem that is right in front of us and we chose to ignore it. . When there is a big problem that is very obvious it’s like a big gray elephant sitting in the middle of the room and everyone walks around him but they never acknowledge his presence. And so this big gray elephant of sin may be hard to acknowledge but if there is salvation found only through Jesus Christ, and the Bible tells us this very fact in many places. Then there must also be the opposite as well, that there will be no salvation for those who don’t acknowledge Jesus as Lord and repent of their sins. It’s kind of like that law that says for every action there’s a reaction. Were this not fact, why offer salvation at all? If this were not fact why would God have inspired John to pen “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeith in him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”. It only stands to reason then that if Jesus came into this world to save us… there must be something he came to save us from. Amen?

Each of us must recognize and acknowledge that Jesus suffered and agonized over his fate in the garden of Gethsemane, Each of us must recognize and acknowledge that Jesus was nailed to the cross. Each of us must recognize and acknowledge that his blood was shed, for the remission of sins. Each of us must recognize and acknowledge that he carried the sins of the world upon himself while he was sin free and the perfect sacrifice. That he died and was buried. And praise God, that he rose from that grave to break the bondage of sin over us forever. And this cannot be denied or disputed. Amen.

Each of us has to recognize and acknowledge that Jesus did this to redeem us from the fate of sin, the fate of eternal punishment for the soul and separation from God. And if the fate of punishment and separation from God were not so there would be no reason for Jesus to have suffered as he did. Even the religions that do not want to acknowledge Jesus as God acknowledge that he was here on earth, that he was crucified and died on the cross. Why would anyone do this if it were not for the sake of God’s love and their wanting to save us from a fate far worse than just simple death and then there was nothing else.

So what are we to do? How are we to avoid the wrath of the Lamb? How are we to avoid this dreaded judgment that would cause men and women to call out and ask for mountains to be dropped on them rather than face the final outcome of the unsaved? We need to look at the words of Jesus. We need to look at the teachings of Jesus. Did you know that 12 of the 30 parables of Jesus Christ leave people not only condemned and punished here on earth but that the same fate awaits them in the next life as well? The same Jesus that said of Judas “it would have been better for him were he never born” also said “Come unto me and I will give you rest”. This same Jesus gave us in the Beatitudes, nine examples of how we can be blessed and gain the kingdom of heaven. This same Jesus told us that if we acknowledge him here on this earth he would acknowledge us in heaven before his Father. This same Jesus has told us that he has gone on ahead to prepare a place for us in heaven. And in using the same logic I used before, this same Jesus has said all these things and subsequently then he must intend for us to be there to enjoy this place in heaven that he’s prepared. If he gave us the nine examples of how to gain heaven, if he has gone to prepare a place for us in this heaven, then he surely must intend for us to be there to enjoy this blessing with him.

If we want to avoid the wrath of the Lamb we need to know the Scriptures. We need to follow the words of Jesus. We need to live a true Christian walk, not only in front of other Christians, but also in front of the entire world. We need to live as Jesus lived, love as Jesus loved, do as Jesus did and maintain this attitude until Jesus Christ returns to gather up us his church or we go on to glory through death in advance of His return. Living a Christian life is not all that hard but we first have to know what that life consists of. Sound teachings from the pulpit will help but it takes more than a once a week message to keep that spirit alive inside us. Reading the Bible will help but it takes more than a few minutes of reading each day or every once in a while to keep that spirit alive inside us. It’s an every day walk in the Bible; it’s an every day talking the Bible. It’s an every day experience that really works like the snowball effect on a steep hill to keep that spirit alive inside us. Once we’ve got ourselves moving the farther we go the easier it gets until it’s our normal fare. Until it becomes a part of our every thought and action, until it becomes as common and easy as breathing. Once we get to living and walking and talking the Bible, the words of our leader. The words of our Jesus, once we get in the habit of praying things through before acting, asking the Spirit’s guidance, and learning to be patient enough to wait and to hear Gods voice when He speaks to our spirit, then we are on the right path to avoid the wrath of the Lamb. When we get all of our ducks in a row so to speak the rest will just fall into place and the only lamb we will see is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And my friend this cannot be denied or disputed.

This is why we come to church. This is why we have fellowship and share communion with each other. This is why we gather on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night and hear the word of God and share what God has been telling us with each other. This is why we have life and love and it’s the very core of our existence. If you are still not comfortable in returning to church just yet, that’s okay, God understands. But make a point to at least have fellowship with someone; it doesn’t have to be inside the walls of a church. Allow the Spirit to minister to your spirit and in due time the Spirit will tell you when its time to return to active worship in a church setting. Patience is a virtue, be patient and allow the Holy Spirit to heal your heart. I hope and pray that these little messages help you in remaining close to God. I pray that they are a blessing to you and that you will tell a friend if you know of someone in a like situation as yourself. As I just said, God understands and he loves you and that friend, is one more thing that cannot be dined or disputed.

And so now in closing I would like each of you reading this to think upon the words you’ve read today. Reflect upon what this message may have said to your heart or spirit. Don’t just read this and forget it, but ponder it in your heart like Mary, the mother of Jesus did. Let it sink in and take root. Allow God to minister to you through this and see if maybe this wasn’t a simple message just for you, a little reminder of where God wants us to be and how he desires us to conduct ourselves when we go our into the world. And maybe it’s a message that we might want to share with a friend or loved one. Remember that we may be the only Jesus they see this week and we might be the one that brings to them the difference in standing before the Lamb in wrath or the Lamb in all his glorious love.
Grace & peace