The Apex Center, one of Arvada, Colorado’s rec centers, has a fantastic indoor water park. It’s comprised of a lap pool, a community hot tub, and a huge children’s pool that’s filled with all kinds of colorful water-propelled Rube Goldberg-like mechanics.
One of those contraptions, which I enjoy watching when I sit in the hot tub next to it, is a giant bucket that’s balanced on a bar about ten feet above the pool. Above the bucket is a large water pipe filling it with water. Eventually, the bucket gets so full that it reaches its tipping point, flips over, and drenches the squealing kids below it.
Now that you have that image in your mind of a bucket of water filling up and suddenly tipping over, I want to change my tone. Because from here on I am not going to be writing about a bucket of water tipping over and drenching happy children in a water park, but the pouring out of God’s wrath in judgment on a nation, our nation.
When I witness the things that are happening in American culture today, my mind naturally turns to the subject of the wrath of God, a subject about which almost no pastors preach and no Christian artists sing. And yet the Bible is abundantly clear that God is not only a God of love, but also a God who judges sin and sinners and, yes, even nations, with his wrath.
I’m not writing about God’s wrath on individuals. If we are a believer in Jesus Christ as the one who bore God’s wrath for our sin, then we will never experience God’s eternal wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
Instead, I am writing about the wrath that I believe God is about to pour out on America. We are reaching a tipping point in America’s relationship with God, and I’m asking all pastors, indeed, all Christians, to sound the alarm. Here is why:
- We know God’s wrath is coming on America, we just don’t know exactly when. The ominous warning signs of a maladaptive, godless culture are everywhere: increasingly frequent unprovoked mass shootings, a broken political system, skyrocketing suicide rates, insane federal deficits and debt, sexual misconduct of all kinds, the dissolution of marriage and family life, mass incarceration, high levels of drug, alcohol, gambling and pornography addiction, massive corporate fraud, the complete and total rejection of Christian values and norms, and much more. The wheels are coming off of American culture and everyone knows it. God seems to have lifted his hand of favor off of America. Instead, we’re watching the bucket of God’s wrath fill up every day.
You shall not walk in the manners of the nation which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. Leviticus 20:23 (Emphasis mine)
- When God pours out his wrath on America, it will happen suddenly. Eventually, the bucket of God’s wrath will reach a tipping point. Precisely when that will happen, we don’t know. But while the warning signs of God’s coming wrath have been happening over years and even decades, the actual expression of God’s wrath will happen suddenly and without warning.
Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in a single hour such fabulous wealth has been destroyed. Revelation 18:16-17
- Once it happens, God’s wrath on America will be irreversible. God holds back his wrath as long as possible because once he pours it out, it cannot be stopped. There is no turning back. There is no chance for repentance.
I am planning disaster against this people from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity. Micah 2:3
- God’s wrath on America will be all-consuming. When a culture decides to treat God as worthless, eventually God will in turn treat it as worthless. He will show no mercy. He will have no compassion. The time will come when God will eradicate America as we know it.
Alas for that day! For the day of the Lord is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty. Joel 1:15
I close with this stark warning from Psalm 2:
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your Father…” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Psalm 2:1-7, 10-12
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
A Simple Ministry Concept with Profound Implications
Teams of four men serving widows, single moms, fatherless children and others with long-term pressing needs in their churches and communities.
