What Does God Pour Out?

What Does God Pour Out?

God has every right to exercise his judgment and his power, but he also has the right to be very patient with those who are the objects of his judgment and are fit only for destruction. He also has the right to pour out the riches of his glory upon those he prepared to be the objects of his mercy.

Romans 9:22-23

God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Romans 5:5, NIV

The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 1:14, NIV

Some sinks have one spout that produces hot and cold water mixed. Other sinks have two spouts—one for hot and one for cold, and you have to decide which one you’re going to put your hands under.

In a similar way, there are two streams flowing from the heart of God—mercy and wrath—and you are standing under one of them. Both streams flow from God’s perfection. God is perfect in love, and he is equally perfect in judgment. Since he is holy, he cannot tolerate evil—in fact, he hates it. “You love justice and hate evil” (Hebrews 1:9).

The wrath of God is not irrational rage from an out-of-control deity. It is the righteous, pure, and perfectly appropriate expression of God’s justice toward evil. The greatest demonstration of God’s wrath was when his own Son, Jesus, took our sin upon himself on the cross and God poured out his full fury of judgment on sin. That same wrath will be poured out on all those who choose a life away from God. But for those who choose to find protection in Jesus, there is no need to fear the wrath of God. God poured out his wrath on his Son, and as we hide ourselves in him, we experience the stream of mercy from God instead of the stream of his wrath. “For God chose to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What does our society tend to think about the idea of a wrathful God? Why do you think we are uncomfortable with God’s wrath?

What does each verse above say about what God wants to pour out on us instead of wrath? Which of these things have you experienced?

Is there any comfort in knowing that God will pour out his wrath on evil someday?