The Wrath of the Lamb and the Terror of the Lord

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THE WRATH OF THE LAMB
AND THE
TERROR OF THE LORD

In 1979 the Lord called me to prepare His people to meet Him. I have only one theme. I am not trying to be dramatic nor am I trying to be interesting. I am trying to obey the Lord. It is a great joy to serve the Lord Jesus in this way and yet it is very difficult to speak of these things. How can one human being, who is subject to the common temptations and faults of all mankind, speak to another fellow creature about the state of their soul? And so, God occasionally does special things to help:

One night as I was sleeping I was awakened by a voice in my bedroom which said, "The wrath of the Lamb and the terror of the Lord." I was jolted wide awake and looked around the room. There was no one there, of course, and my wife was sound asleep so I went back to sleep. About 30 minutes later I was awakened by a very loud voice in the room which said, "THE WRATH OF THE LAMB AND THE TERROR OF THE LORD!" This time I was wide awake with my heart pounding. I was really scared but amazingly I fell back to sleep almost instantly. About 30 minutes later I was awakened the third time by a voice in the room - very gently this time - which said, "The wrath of the Lamb and the terror of the Lord." I knew it was the Holy Spirit directing me to inquire and search out what this meant.

Both of these phrases are found in the Scriptures. The first is from Revelation 6:16. At the end of human history as we know it, the evil men say "...to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!'" Quite a different day is coming from the one that we know now. The ungodly will recognize and confess and declare that the disasters which will be upon the earth are coming from the Lamb. When we talk about Jesus as the Lamb we are talking about His redemptive work; His work on the cross in saving mankind. What, then, is the wrath of the Lamb?

John 3:18 says that he who believes in Jesus is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already BECAUSE he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Then John says that this is the condemnation: Jesus came into the world to save us, but people don't want his salvation. You see, God never faults us for being what we are: sinners; but he does fault us for refusing His remedy. Therefore those who reject the redemptive work of Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, will suffer the indescribable wrath of God - NOT for being a sinner, but for rejecting the Lamb's blood shed for them.

But for the child of God things are completely different: Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The word WRATH drops from the vocabulary of the believer! You cannot talk about the wrath of God in connection with the Christian.

Those who are saved by the blood of the Lamb do not suffer the wrath of the Lamb - whatever else they may suffer.

We, as children of God purchased by the blood of the Lamb, may suffer the wrath of Satan, the wrath of men, the wrath of nature but we will never participate in the wrath of the Lamb. Glory to God for His mercy!

Now it may seem that I am going to contradict what I just said, but that is not the case. However, this is a little difficult to follow. That is the reason the voice was repeated three times to me. The other phrase was the terror of the Lord. Christ the Lamb speaks of His saving work. Christ the Lord speaks of His ruling work. Paul said "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ...knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord we persuade men..." (2 Cor 5:10, 11). We persuade men to do what? To prepare for that day. Christian friend, are you ready to appear before the judgment seat of Christ? It is going to be a terror-filled day for the person who is not ready.

(Nah - nah - nah, you're thinking wrath again! That means your mind has not been renewed to the truth of the Scripture and you still operate with a sin-consciousness. You have not been grounded in grace. Read the first section again and then continue.)

Paul tells us that "...each of us shall give account of himself to God" (Rom 14:12). Christian friend, you and I have an appointment! We DO NOT want to appear before the Lord in that day with unconfessed or unforsaken sin in our lives. Live every day in the shadow of the Judgment Seat of Christ; not trying to make our own righteousness but constantly clothing ourselves in His righteousness. How? "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I Jn 1:9). "If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged" (I Cor 11:31).

We are not talking about wrath. We are talking about the Master of the house rising up at the appointed hour and shutting the door to the wedding feast and the unprepared virgins (yes, they were all virgins) having to wait outside during the One Thousand Year Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Hear my bitterness and agony! My heart is breaking for my brothers and sisters: 1,000 years of tears! You will think you have died and gone to hell; the terror will be so great. That day can be a day of confidence. It can be a day of rejoicing. It will be a day of shame for many. Only our willful disobedience can rob us of the glorious entrance into His kingdom that Christ has purchased for every one of us. My dear Christian friend, don't appear before your loving Lord and Master unprepared.