13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron ; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Rev. 19:13-15 - bold added)
In chapter 19 of this book God is about the business of summing up all of human history. The wrath of the Lamb (an oxymoron in natural terms) is being unleashed upon all who are in rebellion to His authority and who are in rebellion to everything that He requires of human kind. Psalm 2 is about to be realized in its entirety. What is of interest to me here is the use of the NASB terminology “the fierce wrath of God”.
There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as “wrath” in the English. The one being orge; the other being thumos. The former is by far the more used of the two words. However, John, the author of the book of the Revelation, has chosen to fixate upon the later of the two to reveal to us the seeming mind-set and even the very viscera of God at this time of history. In this one chapter (19) the author has alluded to this aspect of God’s wrath more than all of the references to it in the rest of the New Testament. If one can imagine that John is the very amanuenses of God Himself then one becomes somewhat sobered by the thought that God is speaking to us in our day concerning what is about to be. What should be our response to such a scenario?
W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Zondervan, 1982 – I, pp.55-6) sums up the use of the two words thus:
Thumos, wrath is to be distinguished from orge, in this respect, that thumos indicates a more agitated condition of the feelings, an outburst of wrath from inward indignation, while orge suggests a more settled or abiding condition of mind, frequently with a view to taking revenge. Orge is less sudden in its rise than thumos,but more lasting in nature Thumos expresses more the inward feelings, orge the more active emotion.
Am I being tedious here? Why is this important other than as an academic nicety? Well, I suppose that to whatever degree one believes that all of these events have already occurred in history, or that the book of Revelation is mostly symbolic and that the events contained within the book will not be literally realized, then, to that degree this evaluation is not all that meaningful. However, to whatever degree one supposes that these events are yet future and will indeed be literally fulfilled, then to that degree, the scenario becomes quite sobering, do you not agree? What became even more striking to me as I contemplated the usage of these words was the fact that both words were found together in verse 15. Both thumos and orge were used in the sentence; the first being used as an adjective of the second. He Who sits upon the white horse is about to wage war (v. 11). The fury of His wrath will be contained no longer! We need to be far more serious in our Christian walk. The day may be soon upon us. Jesus is not coming to reason with godless man; He is coming to divide!
When did you last hear this taught or preached?
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2 comments:
There is no doubt that we see Christ Him here in a new role ! He is no longer dressed in His priestly attire . There is NO GRACE HERE ! He is coming to CONQUER , not to persuade . Has not the division already occurred ? We are told in Jn.3:18 that " He who does not belirve is CONDEMNED ALREADY ! It is fruitless to debate what's symbolic and what is literal . The important question is , do we believe what He says ? If we are armed with the " sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith " we need not fear . In fact we should REJOICE ! That's what He told His disciples to do .
Agreed, John. However, to whatever degree one dwells and nourishes upon the symbolic only, to that degree one is less prepared to remain faithfull when "that day" approaches, thus one would be wise to be more sobered by the spiritual conditions that seem to approaching.
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