Heb 10:30-31 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Isaiah 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Psalms 50:22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!
Psalms 76:7 But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?
Hebrews 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Luke 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Psalms 90:11 Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
I will recompense — Recompense is the actual exercise of vengeance, and vengeance is the actual execution of judgment on sinners, according to their desert, without mitigation by mercy. He however oftentimes exercises great patience and forbearance even then, when vengeance might justly be expected. And this commonly adds to the security of wicked men, who take occasion from it to despise all the threatenings of the divine judgments which they have deserved; concluding from it, that either vengeance doth not belong to God, or that it shall be executed when and where they are not concerned. And the Lord will judge his people — If they rebel against him; and that far more rigorously than he will judge the heathen. It is a fearful thing — A thing above all others the most to be dreaded; to fall into the hands — To be exposed to the avenging justice; of the living God — Who, living for ever, can for ever punish, in what degree he pleases, the wretched creatures who have made themselves the objects of his final displeasure. (Benson)
“To fall into the hands of the Living God is, therefore, to have resisted His love, refused His salvation, despised the warnings of His Spirit, and to have persisted thus past the point where God can consistently show further grace.” (Newell)
I recently heard a sermon where the Pastor spoke of the “old way – fire and brimstone – preaching” and how it was a tactic or shallow means by which to be converted. His thought was that it is better to come to Him because of His love than out of fear. I can see his point but fear the lack of understanding of the vileness of sin and the sinfulness of it in light of the Holiness of God.
Do you want to understand the vileness of sin – Look at the judgment carried out upon Jesus Christ, beaten, whipped, mocked, scourged, and nailed to a cross. This is the penalty of sin (my sin, your sin) that Jesus bore in our place. This and eternal torment in Hell is our just reward for our sins. There is nothing we can or could do to make restitution for our sins. Nothing. We stand guilty and convicted before God. However, In His grace, mercy, and love He sent His Son to redeem us by bearing our sins, becoming our savior and eternal hope of salvation and everlasting life.
How can I fully appreciate the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ and the great work of salvation if I do not understand the fullness of what I deserve? I deserve God’s judgment, wrath, and eternity in Hell. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”. I must know what I deserve to appreciate the gift of salvation. To often I think the Gospel is presented as a gift (present) that may be opened and it is our choice to open it. Though this is true, the cost of the gift offered and why it was offered (my sin, judgment, eternal torment, hell, God’s wrath), is only presented as (God’s grace, mercy, and love) without thought of the sinfulness of sin and what awaits a person without Christ. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
We can not and should not preach the Love of God apart from the wrath of God. Any preaching of the gospel must have both to understand either.