”My Spirit shall not strive with man forever…”  (Gen. 6:3)

The letters in red were the heading of New York Times on Nov. 8  referring to the Sandy disaster that hit thousands of homes.  Was the newspaper saying too much?  No.  It said what the church dares not say.

America is under the wrath of God.  So is Denmark.  God is not more angry with America than He is with us.  “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and
that His justice cannot sleep forever.” (Jefferson). His words should be inscribed on our walls too.

Indeed, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”  (Psa. 7:11).  “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”  (Rom. 1:18).  And again:  “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  (Joh. 3:36).

Have we been too soft when it comes to “the wrath of God”?  I´m afraid we have.  I have.  But isn´t the gospel about God´s love?  Yes, if it wasn´t I wouldn´t be sitting here.  His love drew me from the very beginning in my teens.  But that doesn´t exempt us from preaching the just wrath of God.

Jonathan Edwards did that when he preached his sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” in 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut, the echo of which has hardly died away so many years after as his message made an indifferent congregation suddenly tremble before God.

O, we need to learn from the old puritans and get back to the Bible and run the risk of being ridiculed.  Strangely enough the ridicule doesn´t necessarily come from the world in the first place (indeed it does too), but first and foremost from confessing Christians.  “You are like one of the Old Testament preachers”, a local churchgoer defiantly said to me making a mock of me.

In a way I deserved that mock, for I have not been “Old Testament” enough.  I haven´t been around John the Baptist enough, nor the apostles, nor the Lord Himself.  I´ve been too soft.

May the disaster of “Sandy” and the heading of New York Times be a solemn, broad hint to all of us, nay to the preachers of the gospel not the least.

Nov. 13, 2012 – jn