Delivered from the Wrath of God
Dearly beloved of God, the Church epistles, the books of Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians all speak of the hope of our calling in Christ.
Part of our hope in Christ is that we will be delivered from the wrath of God that is coming upon the unjust in the Lord’s Day. Three times in the Church Epistles we are told that the Church has been delivered from the wrath to come.
I Thessalonians 1:10
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
The Lord Jesus Christ delivered us from the wrath to come. The wrath of God will be part of the Day of the Lord, and that period of time will follow this administration of the grace of God, and the mystery concerning Christ.
The wrath of God will be against the unjust [See Romans 1:18 and 2:5]. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We were all the children of wrath before we confessed Jesus as Lord and believed that God raised him from the dead, but we are now justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. [Romans 3:21-26], and we will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ [II Thessalonians 2: 14].
Being justified by believing in him we have peace with God, we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and we will delivered from the wrath to come. All of this is by the Jesus Christ’s accomplishments, not by ours. We received all of this by the grace of God toward us in Christ.
Romans 5:8-11
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath [saved, or delivered from the wrath of God] through Him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved [saved, or delivered from the wrath of God] by His life.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement [katallage: reconciliation; the reconciliation to God mentioned in the previous verse].
I Thessalonians 5:8-11
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith [believing] and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath [the wrath of God, which will take place in the day of the Lord], but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as you do.
Having believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the Lord returns to gather us up to meet him in the air.
God called us in Christ to His kingdom and glory, not to participate in the coming wrath that will come upon the unjust in the Lord’s Day. We have been saved, and we will acquire the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rejoice, and live with great anticipation of that day, dearly beloved of God. God our Father has given us good hope through grace.