21. Saved from Wrath
Romans 5:9 Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
His blood justifies us: we are justified by grace through faith because of the death of Christ on the Cross. This justification leads to the promise: we shall be saved from wrath. We justly deserve the wrath of God upon us on account of our sin and guilt. We also justly deserve salvation from wrath on account of the Blood.
It is necessary for us to believe two things about this wonderful promise: 1) we must believe that wrath is real and that the threat of the wrath of God upon is a true reality; 2) we must believe that the wrath of God is appeased by the Blood and that the deserved wrath upon us has been placed on the Son of God, thereby saving us from wrath.
Wrath is a Biblical word for Anger. God is rightly, justly and eternally angry with us because of our sin. Anger can sometimes be defined as the emotion that results from a frustration of reaching a goal, or an interruption from what we want to do. One reason God is angry at our sin is that it frustrates God’s goal, which is loving us and doing good things for us. Sin comes between God and us and it prevents God from doing good things to us. God loves us so much that He gets mad when sin frustrates His love from being poured out upon us.
Justification by Blood saves God from pouring out His wrath upon us, pouring it out on Jesus instead, and thus the Blood frees God to love us freely and bless us abundantly. When we believe in Christ God’s Love is poured out, not His Wrath. Justification promises that we shall be saved.