Overview
In chapters 15 and 16 we read about God's wrath. This isn't pleasant reading, and if we've thought of God only in terms of His love, these chapters can be disconcerting and even repellent. But we've got to understand something — Jesus didn't come to earth merely to give us a good example, nor was His death at Calvary some sort of morality play. He didn't come to make us better people. He came to make us new.
Why? Because God the Father is wholly pure, holy, and just. Sin offends Him — so much so that He has decreed that "the wages of sin is death". All mankind have sinned, and all deserve death in His eyes — His justice demands it. But He is also love. He is not willing that any should perish; He loves the sinner and hates his sin. So what does He do?
God becomes one of us. His Son, Jesus, is born in Bethlehem, is raised in Nazareth, and for three years teaches all who will hear about the Kingdom of Heaven. He tells us what God is like, and He tells us to repent of sin. He takes the penalty of our sin upon Himself and dies on the cross. Three days later He rises from the grave and issues in a whole new order of life that transcends death and enters the eternal. He becomes the "first fruits" of "them who shall also rise".
He does all this to satisfy His justice so that man can have a second chance. But if we don't accept His offer, we'll suffer His anger. And "it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). Revelation makes that very clear.
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