We All Were The Children Of Wrath Even As Others

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Hi M____,

What “Mike says” is irrelevant. It is the scriptures which say that God’s wrath ‘abides upon all who do not believe’.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

There is no one alive who has always believed on Christ. There is no one alive who was not at one time “the children of wrath even as others”

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye 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.

Do the words “were… in time past… children of wrath, even as others” exclude anyone?
Let me demonstrate the fault in the line of reasoning which quotes Rom 5:9 as though it contradicts Rom 1:18 or Eph 2:2-3, or Col 3:6-7.
Let’s lay these verses out side by side:

Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye 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.
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Do the first two scriptures disprove the last three? What an absurd question? Where in the last three, do we read that we will not be saved from wrath? It is not there. Where in the first two, does it say that we have never experienced, and will never experience, God’s wrath? Again, it simply is not there.
The first two say we will be saved from wrath, and we are not appointed unto wrath. Nowhere do they say that our unrighteousnesses were not subject to God’s wrath “in times past”. Nowhere do they say that we were never children of wrath even as others who still are. The exact opposite it what is being taught throughout God’s Word, which teaches unequivocally, from Genesis to Revelation:

Ecc 9:2 All things [ including God’s wrath] come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [ the seven last plagues of God’s wrath in chapter 16], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

This 19th verse of Rev 22 says “God shall take away his part out of the book of life”.
Now if you and I take this verse and apply it as Rom 5:9 and 1Th 5:9 are being applied in this e- mail, then we would have to conclude that those who take say Rev 16, which describes the seven last plagues which symbolically “fill up the wrath of God” in our lives, and we say that chapter 16 is not to be kept by us, in spite of what we are told in Revelation.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

If we make these verses read ‘except the words of chapter 16’, therefore we will never under any circumstance ever have any part in the book of life, because Rev 22:19 says:

Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy [ the seven last plagues of God’s wrath in chapter 16], God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Likewise we could do the same with these words of Christ:

Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Here we have Christ telling Lazarus’s sister, Martha, that if anyone lives and believes on Him, that person “shall never die.”
Are any of the apostles still alive? Of course they are not. Will they “live for ever… and never die”? Yes, of course they all will.

Mat 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So how do the twelve apostles and all who ‘live and believe on Christ’ “never die”? They never die as believers by dying to this life and giving up their body of flesh, in the same manner that we are “not appointed to wrath” and “shall be saved from wrath”. We are “saved from wrath” simply because “the wrath of God [ has already] abode on us” and “we were in time past children of wrath even as others”.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye 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.

Show me where I have ever said we will not ever be saved from wrath, and I will admit I was wrong. Show me where the scriptures affirm that we have never been “the children of wrath even as others”, and I will happily admit that I am wrong. But of course that cannot be done, and Rev 16 is part of “the things written therein” and must be “kept” by all who have a part in the book of life.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; [ Including Rev 16]
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; [ Including Rev 16]

I hope this helps you understand that I have never taught that we will never come out from under the wrath of God, as this e- mail implies. All I have ever said is what is quoted in these verses in this e- mail.
I also hope that you will believe what the scriptures teach when they plainly state that ‘all things come alike to all’, and that if Ecc 9:2 does not include Rev 16, then that verse is a blatant lie and the wrath of God is not really “upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”, simply because it does not include the elect of God.
But of course the opposite is true, and there really is but “one event to all”, and that “one event” includes the words written in Rev 16.
Your brother who “tries the spirits… because many false prophets have gone forth into the world”. 1Jh 4:1
Mike

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