Hi Mike,
Is there a difference between tribulation and wrath?  It seems they are the same.

Thanks,
M____

Hi M____,

Good to hear from you again.

The answer is: certainly not every trial we endure is because of God’s wrath against our ungodliness and unrighteousness and sins, but all tribulations and all our trials are for the purpose of helping us to overcome our sinful nature. Whether we are suffering as a result of our own sins, or if we suffer at the hands of our brothers, both are used by God to burn out all the “wood, hay, and stubble” in our lives.

Don’t allow any false prophet convince you that there is such a thing as flesh which is not sinful and that sin is only in your heart and your soul but not in your flesh. That is the voice of a double-tongued serpent. This, on the other hand, is the voice of the true Shepherd:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him [you and me], If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:40  But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
Joh 8:41  Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.
Joh 8:42  Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Joh 8:43  Why do ye not understand my speech? [ even] because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

So when Christ called Peter “Satan” that was much more than a rhetorical statement. It was a true statement that was born out when Peter spit on Christ’s teaching to “love thine enemies” when Peter cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Just hours later Peter was cursing the air blue as he denied his Lord. At that moment his Lord also had to deny Peter before His Father, but God had mercy on Peter and led him to repentance.

Mar 8:33  But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.

Christ spoke to Peter, but He looked on all of His disciples who He knew would all forsake Him in just a few days.

Mar 14:50  And they all forsook him, and fled.

I have written dozens of letters on 1 Corinthians 1:1 – 3:4 which demonstrate and affirm Christ’s words in John 8. Just like the entire nation of Israel, who were all baptized in the Red Sea, we still rebel against our heavenly father “ten times.” The fact that Israel rebelled ten times means that they, and therefore we, think we are righteous as we do so. Ten is the number of perfection of the flesh. Read the study notes on the number ten which starts here.

Num 14:22  Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

All of us are still carnal when we first come to Christ. We all serve our Father the devil as we rebel against our Father in heaven, even as we “believe on Him.” Ephesians 2:2-3 is not speaking of people who do not know Christ. It is rather speaking of Christ’s own apostles who forsake him so as to save themselves from the hatred of the rest of His disciples who are calling for His crucifixion, and that is a statement that applies to us all at our own appointed time:

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye [carnal babes in Christ] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

We are “all… by nature children of wrath, even as others” who will not repent while in these sinful vessels of clay and will experience God’s wrath in the lake of fire. Here is what God’s Word has to say about our flesh:

Psa 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

So flesh is “shapen in iniquity and is sinful… by nature.”

I hope that answers your question about God’s wrath. If not I feel sure you will have any other questions on this subject answered by the letters listed below: If you cannot find an answer in these letters then please let me know.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Can We Experience God’s Wrath and at The Same Time Not Be Under Condemnation?
The Wrath of God
Do God’s Elect Ever Experience His Wrath?
Wrath – What Is The Difference Between Orge And Thumos?
God’s Wrath Is “Against All Unrighteousness… of The Jew [Elect] First
Who Is Not Appointed to Wrath?