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- The turning away of wrath by an offering.
- The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person.
- The removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.
This word took center stage this past Sunday. In many ways it takes center stage every Sunday at Dwight. The cross is visible in our church and reminds us, we sing songs about God wiping away our sin debt and we read Scripture that deals with the need for God to have His anger against sin satisfied. It’s not very often, however that we use the word specifically and I doubt very seriously that it’s come up in conversation very often over dinner or at a party.
Though the word itself may seem intimidating, the idea of it is so beautiful and overwhelming that it draws the reader and worshiper to his knees. We are forever indebted to Jesus for taking our punishment on the cross. It will take all of eternity for the song to be fully sung of His praise for the selfless love He showed us when He became sin, though He Himself never sinned.
That God would be so holy he could not overlook sin is beyond our understanding. We cannot connect the image of God with wrath against sin very easily, so we often ignore that side of God. It’s much easier to sing of God’s love, beauty and mercy than it is to consider that God hates sin. Why would God be so harsh toward His creation? How could God allow Jesus to pay for vile crimes He never committed?
The answer is love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17. R.C. Sproul, in The Truth of the Cross wrote, “ultimately, Jesus died to save us from the wrath of God.” Thank you Jesus for your love!
In Christ,
Jay
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