Did Jesus Ever Talk About Wrath?

                         Dateline: 6/20/98

                        RP: Good old J.C. didn't teach about the wrath of God at all -- he taught
                         about forgiveness and love. The wrathful, warlike God was confined to
                         the Old Testament and the sermons of Jonathan Edwards and friends...

                         I was never "born-again in Christ," but I agree that he was one fine guy
                         -- said a lot of stuff we should all live by...

                         RP, no offense, but you simply couldn't be further off the mark here.

                         It consistently amazes me when people say things such as "Jesus never taught
                         about the wrath of God at all" or statements related, when in fact about half of
                         all the words attributed to Him in the Gospels consist of teaching on things such
                         as God's wrath, judgment, punishment for sin, preaching against sin, rebukes of
                         His own disciples, the Pharisees and scribes, and other sinners, and parables
                         about all these subjects to boot.

                         Don't get me wrong -- Jesus did indeed talk a great deal about love and
                         forgiveness. But forgiveness is meaningless if sin is not understood -- after all,
                         you can't accept a pardon without admitting your guilt! -- and during the Sermon
                         on the Mount, Jesus made it clear that love is at its purest when it is directed
                         towards someone who is an enemy; meaning, by implication, that there are
                         many who are God's enemies.

                         I did a wordsearch with MacBible -- only took about five minutes -- to collect
                         the verses below. Besides the verses on wrath, Jesus also mentioned
                         wickedness 11 different times, spoke about judgment 43 different times, and
                         spoke out against sin 95 different times. He told parables about Hell -- Lazarus
                         the beggar and the rich man and the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, to
                         name two -- described judgment and eternal punishment in unflinching terms
                         ('where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die', f'rinstance), gave
                         His disciples a great deal of information about the end times and the terrible
                         apocalyptic judgments to come, and on and on and on. Here are just a few of
                         the many, many verses in which Jesus was not passing out "warm fuzzies," as it
                         were:

                              "As he taught, Jesus said, 'Watch out for the teachers of the law. They
                              like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,
                              and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of
                              honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make
                              lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely'" (Mark
                              12:38-40).

                              "'Then he [Jesus is speaking about Himself in the third person here] will
                              say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
                              eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and
                              you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to
                              drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and
                              you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after
                              me."

                              "'They also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or
                              a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?"

                              "'He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of
                              the least of these, you did not do for me." Then they will go away to
                              eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life'" (Mark 25:41-46).

                              "'But suppose the servant says to himself, "My master is taking a long
                              time in coming," and he then begins to beat the menservants and
                              maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that
                              servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour
                              he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with
                              the unbelievers. That servant who knows his master's will and does not
                              get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many
                              blows'" (Luke 12:45-47).

                              "'Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the
                              Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).

                              "'When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know
                              that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the
                              mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not
                              enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that
                              has been written. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant
                              women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and
                              wrath against this people. They will fall by the sword and will be taken
                              as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the
                              Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

                              "'There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will
                              be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men
                              will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for
                              the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of
                              Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory'" (Luke 21:20-27).

                              "'But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject
                              to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, "Raca," is
                              answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, "You fool!" will be
                              in danger of the fire of hell'" (Matt. 5:22).

                              "'If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust
                              off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it
                              will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment
                              than for that town'" (Matt. 10:14-15).

                              "Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles
                              had been performed, because they did not repent:

                              "'Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were
                              performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would
                              have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be
                              more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
                              And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go
                              down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been
                              performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you
                              that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for
                              you'" (Matt. 11:20-24).

                              "'The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what
                              it does is evil'" (John 7:7).

                              "'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of
                              heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
                              Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
                              your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many
                              miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from
                              me, you evildoers!"'" (Matt. 7:21-23).

                              "'You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For
                              out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks'" (Matt. 11:34).

                              "'The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and
                              the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell
                              you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every
                              careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be
                              acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned'" (Matt. 12:35-37).

                              "'And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the
                              blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a
                              word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks
                              against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age
                              to come'" (Matt. 12:31-32).

                              "'The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation
                              and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now
                              one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the
                              judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the
                              ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater
                              than Solomon is here'" (Matt. 12:41-42).

                              "'Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to
                              the Son and he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of
                              Man. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my
                              judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me'"
                              (John 5:22, 27, 30).

                              "'I have much to say in judgment of you'" (John 8:26).

                              "'Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind
                              will see and those who see will become blind'" (John 9:39).

                              "'For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father
                              will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father
                              will not forgive your sins'" (Matt. 6:14-15).

                              "'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'" (Matt. 13:41).

                              "'But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it
                              would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck
                              and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of
                              the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to
                              the man through whom they come!'" (Matt. 18:6-7).

                              "'Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
                              travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes
                              one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are'" (Matt.
                              23:15).

                              "'If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful
                              generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his
                              Father's glory with the holy angels'" (Mark. 8:38).

                              "Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, 'See, you are well
                              again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you'" (John 5:14).

                              "Jesus said, 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now
                              that you claim you can see, your guilt remains'" (John 9:41).

                              "'Then the master called the servant in. "You wicked servant," he said, "I
                              canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you
                              have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" In anger
                              his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should
                              pay back all he owed.

                              "'This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you
                              forgive your brother from your heart'" (Matt. 18:32-35).

                              "As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It
                              asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of
                              Jonah'" (Luke 11:29).

                         I'm not trying to make you look bad, RP, but it's there in black and white and it
                         couldn't be any more plain. Jesus taught a lot about God's wrath and about sin
                         and judgment.

                         Grace and peace,

                         GFH

       *
             QBaal  doesn't endorse completely  the GFH article.  But, thinks Greg has made
              the point that Jesus often talked in the prophetic-apocalyptic judgement mode.
              In that mode Jesus  was not  humorous, at all.  Of course, much of the Matthew
              material (gospel) is definitely vindictive with too much emphasis on eternal hell
              fire.   This, too, is definitely lacking in humor but is likely not the real Jesus
              of Nazareth speaking.