“They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)
Fires that used to sweep the Great Plains of North America were among the most terrifying of all events. Few realize that the native grasses of such plains states as Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas would grow six to seven feet tall – virtual forests of grass. Through the hot dry summers the grasses would dry out. By the following spring the Great Plains had stored up vast amounts of dry tinder that the smallest spark would ignite. A single lightning strike from an isolated thunderstorm could turn the plains into a sea of flames – a fire storm that no man or animal could possibly outrun.
How then could the Plains Indians hope to escape? They used a simple, but ingenious method. They set their own fires – controlled fires – over large sections of low ground. Then they would move their families, their possessions and themselves onto this “scorched earth.” And there – where the fire had already fallen – they would be safe from the fury of the coming flames. The great fires of the plains could not harm them.
And how can we escape the coming fury of the flames of God’s coming wrath? We cannot outrun or hope to hide from the wrath to come. But what we can do is to flee to the scorched earth of the Cross – the place where the fire of God has already fallen upon the Son, Jesus Christ. The Scripture says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who bore the full fury of God’s fiery wrath. He is the propitiation, i.e. the sacrifice that fully satisfies God’s holy justice (John 1:29, 35; Romans 3:25-26; 1 John 2:1-2). Those who believe in Him, who flee to Him, the Scripture says, “do not come into judgment, but pass from death to life” (John 5:24).
In Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, Paul speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus to take us to be with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and of the “Day of the Lord’s wrath” (2 Thessalonians 5-10; 2:1-12) at which time Christ will judge the world. But those who believe in Jesus need not fear any future judgments. For those who have fled to Jesus judgment has already taken place at the cross. Henceforth, believers will live in the eternal sunshine of God’s unconditional and unfailing love.
REFLECTION
- Many Christians live with a sense of guilt and shame for their past sins. What does the Bible say to them? (John 3:18; Romans 8:1,31-34; 1 Thessalonians 5:9)
- What does 1 John 1:7-10 say about any future sins we commit? Doesn’t the power of Jesus’ cross reach all the way back to the sin of Adam and extend forward beyond every sin that will yet be committed (See Hebrews 9:26-10:14)?
- Though Satan, the accuser of our brothers and sisters, brings accusations against us, let’s cling to Jesus whose blood keeps on cleansing us from sin (1 John 1:7).
