Talk

The Righteousness and Wrath of God

Louie Giglio

June, 2, 2024

Have you ever been confronted with the reality of God’s wrath, which scared you away from desiring to know Him intimately? As Louie Giglio digs deep into Revelation 6-8, we see how grace and wrath coexist.

Key Takeaway

Wrath is the brightness and purity of righteousness, justly obliterating all wrong.

Last week, we came to the end of chapter five of the book of Revelation.

It's an eternal and exclusive song. Not just for this moment or this song—but forever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)

The thing that gets consumed? All other praise. It's all silenced by this song—to Him who sits on the throne and the lamb.

Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless king
through all eternity.

In heaven, our playlists are going to get shorter. Some of the music isn't going to make it through the all-consuming fire. The anthem of heaven drowns out everything else.

Am I good with the exclusivity and the eternity of the praise of the One who sits on the throne and to the lamb?

Is that my life? My heart? My ambition?

We turn the page from the glorious worship anthem to Revelation 6-8 to see that the seals are broken.

In this moment, observed in Revelation, the prayers of the saints usher in God's judgment on all wickedness.

This is where people stop reading. We love the Holy, Holy, Holy, and we love Worthy is the Lamb, but now we see God's wrath.

The reckoning and the reward—the seals are broken. God's plan is unfolding, and there is going to be a reckoning for every person who turned their back on Him and a reward for every person who was faithful to Him.

It's both grace and wrath. If wrath unsettles you, it begs the question, do you have wrath?

If you've had horrible things happen to you, you know what it's like to want to avenge what has been done to you. You take it up to the holiness of God—a God who has completely sacrificed His very best for all of humanity—and had it shoved back in his face.

How do you get right with God? Because God gives us righteousness through faith. We don't earn or achieve it; we receive it as a gift.

Romans 1:16-17—we can have the free gift of righteousness because of our faith.

But the cross is not neutral—it's consequential for those who believe in it and for those who reject it. It is everyone's consequence.

Romans 1:18-20—we can open our eyes and minds to the complexity of everything around us and understand that there is a Creator.

Romans 1:21-23—they did not understand the first command that God wrote on the stone (Exodus 20:3-5)

Dominoes are already falling. But there is one last domino that Revelation is referring to where we can be sure of a few things:

Jesus is Lord.

For believers, heaven will be realized.

Satan will be bound

The unrighteousness gets its due.

The Gospel has consequences.

There is a heavy emphasis on the Lamb and His crucifixion—highlighting His worthiness because He was slain.

The sequence of seals: Crucifixion—crown of thorns, kill one another, famine (I thirst), death/hades, martyrs (lamb), dark sky (black with stars out), earthquake, mountains (Hosea), God’s judgment hurled down on Him.

In Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, He set in motion the end of the age. The crucifixion landed squarely on the innocent Son of God, and the Lamb is setting in motion the consequence of the cross.

We need to learn to embrace wrath in its proximity to grace.

Wrath is what happens when the Holy collides with the unholy. Wrath is the brightness and purity of righteousness, justly obliterating all wrong.

We should want to spend forever where there is no wrong. This place is coming because of the wrath of God, which is being poured out on all unrighteousness. So, the message today is to repent and turn to Jesus.

How do we make sense of all of this?

Theologians, scholars, preachers, and teachers are all over the place about what will happen. But we can all lift up the main point: Matthew 24:14.

Matthew 24:36 says that no one will know when, but we do know what—it's going to be really bad, and then Jesus is going to come, and the last domino is going to fall, and Jesus is going to be Lord, and all unrighteousness will be punished.

We do not know when, but we know that Jesus is going to come.

So, we look to Matthew 24:42—keep watch—and Matthew 24:46—be found doing. When God comes, you want to be found doing what He gave us to do. And we want to keep watching.

When God's wrath is poured out, we want to cling to Jesus, who is Lord.

“

"Wrath is what happens when the Holy collides with the unholy."

”

Louie Giglio

Discussion Questions

If God were to return today, would you be happy to witness Him receive all the praise? Why or why not?
How far have you read through the book of Revelation?
What makes the book of Revelation daunting to you?
When you hear the word "wrath" what comes to mind?
How have you sought justice for the unrighteousness that has happened in your life?
Does the wrath of God become more understandable when you look at your own desire to right wrongs in this world?
How do you wrestle with the tension of grace and wrath?
Read Matthew 24:36. Have you ever gotten stuck trying to figure out when the end of the world is happening? How did reading this verse change/not change your desire to know when?
Have you really sat in the reality that Jesus is coming? How does knowing this change how you live now?
If Jesus were to come right now, would He find you doing what He has given you to do?

Scripture References

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise and honor and glory and power,

for ever and ever!”

The Seals

1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

144,000 Sealed

1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3“Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed,

from the tribe of Reuben 12,000,

from the tribe of Gad 12,000,

6from the tribe of Asher 12,000,

from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000,

from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000,

7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000,

from the tribe of Levi 12,000,

from the tribe of Issachar 12,000,

8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000,

from the tribe of Joseph 12,000,

from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

The Great Multitude in White Robes

9After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb.”

11All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12saying:

“Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!”

13Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

14I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God

and serve him day and night in his temple;

and he who sits on the throne

will shelter them with his presence.

16‘Never again will they hunger;

never again will they thirst.

The sun will not beat down on them,’

nor any scorching heat.

17For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will be their shepherd;

‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’

‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

3Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. 5Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

The Trumpets

6Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

7The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

8The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, 9a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— 11the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

12The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

13As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

17For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

3“You shall have no other gods before me.

4You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the

Lord

your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

26As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

27A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.

28Jesus turned and said to them,

“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.

For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

Then

“ ‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”

and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’

For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

1Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2

“Do you see all these things?”

he asked.

“Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4Jesus answered:

“Watch out that no one deceives you.

For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of birth pains.

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,

and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’

spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—

then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house.

Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.

How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!

Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

See, I have told you ahead of time.

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

“Immediately after the distress of those days

“ ‘the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light;

the stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth

will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.

And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.

Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it

is near, right at the door.

Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,

but only the Father.

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;

and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?

It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.

Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’

and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

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 hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.