Devotion #4: Saved from the Wrath of God

My wife and I often joke that she had no idea that I was interested in her when we first met. I was very interested in pursuing her and meanwhile she did not have the slightest clue that I was even in the room! Thankfully, when I asked her out, she said yes. There is a parallel to that story and the relationship that Christ has with you. Jesus loved you and had affection for you before you ever pursued a relationship with Him.  

In Romans 5:7-8, Paul says, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” As humans, we can understand sacrificing ourselves for a righteous cause or person, but sacrificing for something unrighteous does not make sense. These verses should be precious to us as Christians, that Jesus was willing to die for us while we were still sinners. Many of us, as Christians, can remember our lives before we were born again through the Spirit. Hopefully, we can look back at that time and appreciate how much we have changed through the work of the Holy Spirit. However, this text reminds us to look back to the times when we were walking in darkness, that even then, Christ had set His affection on us. Even though we hated God and loved our sins, He was still willing to go to the cross on our behalf.  

Not only did Jesus die for us, but He also saved us from the wrath of God. “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:9). When Jesus went to the cross, the real horror was not the crucifixion (although that was a horrible death); the real punishment was being forsaken by God. Matthew 27:46 says, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Jesus was forsaken by God for a time so that those who confess Him as Lord do not have to be. Jesus did not come to save us from ourselves or the devil; He came to save us from the wrath of God. There is no greater hope than Jesus.