The Lord ... is filled with wrath... the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum 1:6
Sin is not a minor mistake. It provokes God's wrath and earns eternal horror in hell. That's not a popular idea these days, but God's Word, the Bible, teaches it. In fact, Jesus himself said more about hell than anyone. "The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:41-42). Jesus will tell sinners, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). "Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:48).
When the Lord comes to judge the world, unsaved sinners "will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty" (Isaiah 2:19). They will call to the mountains and the rocks, "'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'" (Revelation 6:16)
If we settle down in sin and refuse God's truth in Jesus, "no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God... It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:26-31).
PRAYER--Holy God, your wrath terrifies us. Oh, the horror of eternal torment and banishment from you! Shatter our casual attitude toward sin and drive us to repent while there is time. Amen.
