WHEN ADAM ANGERED GOD, he was cast out of his presence and received the penalty of death, and all human beings through the lineage of Adam fell under the anger of the Father. The entire world of man came under the anger of God.

This continued until the coming of the divine mediator and reconciler Jesus Christ Son of God. He did in fact reconcile man with God, and so the Son was greatly loved by the Father. Just as Adam passed on God’s anger to every man, so the Son of God passed on reconciliation and love to all the world, and on this basis he came in the love of God, “God so loved the world.”¹

The Son undertook the work of the great reconciliation by giving his body on the cross in atonement for the sins of the world and reconciliation with God.²

Based upon the love of God for Christ the beloved Son, to every one who receives the Son as Lord and Christ and believes in the crucifixion and resurrection God gives eternal life, which is the full and eternal life of God.

The reality of the matter is that the one who does not believe in the Son will by necessity not see life. Therefore he remains a son of Adam, under wrath and banished from the love of God and remains under wrath until he believes in Christ.

For the one who refuses Christ and does not believe in Him, life is very difficult because the anger of God builds up against him. Satan, to the one rejected by God, becomes his father, takes him in his embrace, lays his traps against him, and takes him into his possession all his days. For those under the wrath of God, life is misery and suffering, driven by the merciless enemy. There really is no choice between believing in Christ and not believing in Him because there is absolutely no comparison. To refuse Christ and faith in Him is the worst tragedy a human being can face, because he remains under the wrath of God and so falls into the claws of Satan who slays him.

We must make man aware that he does not initially notice it when he first falls under the control of Satan in his life with him, because he hides his traps and he hides the calamitous future of the one who falls under his possession. It may in fact seem the opposite because he showers him in the beginning with wealth and position and people’s praise and an optimistic outlook and the luck of success every step along the way until he has completely ensnared him and there is no return. Then the signs of fraud and deceit in which he has fallen appear and Satan himself begins to show his teeth because there is no turning back for the one he has controlled. Then comes the regret and weeping and sorrow over a life spent in vanity, far from God, the truth and the Gospel. The only thing that exceeds the regret is the bitter sorrow over a life given to sin.

But with God there is no despair and he does not only accept regret and sorrow over the past, because no matter what his sins may be the sinner has a spacious place with God, in his heart and in his love.

July 22, 2005

¹ John 3:16.

² See Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:19.  

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