Is God Angry with Unbelievers?
07.26.09
Is God Angry with Unbelievers?
(All Bible verses quoted are from the New King James Version)
All people on the face of the earth that have not put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour are guilty of the only sin that Jesus could NOT die for at the cross: Unbelief in Jesus.
However contrary to popular belief, God is NOT angry with unbelievers for not accepting Him. At the cross 2000 years ago the sins of the whole world were forgiven (Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…), BUT we have to put our faith in this grace to receive it. God has already reconciled the entire world to Himself through Jesus, He has made provision for every single person on the planet to be saved: 2 Cor 5:19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. God has already punished the sins of everybody on Jesus, but people have to believe in Jesus to receive this forgiveness. Unbelief in Jesus is the only sin that Jesus could NOT die for, and therefore all who commit this sin cannot be forgiven.
Now God is not in the punishing business anymore, because He has already punished our sins in the body of Jesus. In these days, God is extending His goodness towards everybody on the planet (believers & unbelievers alike) because He wants them to see that He is good and that He loves them. It is the GOODNESS of God that leads people to repentance, not a fear of punishment. Rom 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? That is why atheists and sinners are not our enemies, but our friends, because if God loves them then how can we not? Our job is to show them the love of God, not judge them.
However by their continued unbelief they willingly reject this offer of peace from God, and in the process trample the blood of Jesus underneath their feet, and their hearts all the while becoming more and more hardened. Rom 2:5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
On that 1 single day of judgement (not years and years as some say, see Rom 2:5 above again) these unbelievers will be judged for NOT believing in Jesus. And they will have to face the dreadful consequence of spending an eternity separated from God, not receiving forgiveness for their sins and being tormented in hell, which is NOT God’s will for ANYBODY on the earth, because God loves ALL people! 1Tim 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 5 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Therefore since God loves unbelievers and wants all people to be saved, it is our mandate to extend this same love to our unbelieving neighbours, since we are God’s hands & feet in the earth. Most unbelievers have hearts that have grown very hard, not necessarily against God, but mostly against Christians who have misrepresented God as being a harsh God who allows sickness, violence, injustice & punishment to reign on the earth. And then on top of this, if an unbeliever wants to join the church, they now have to start obeying all types of laws as well and they had better make sure they change their lifestyle, else they will be kicked out by the church or God will punish them. Come on!!!! What kind of logical thinking person would want to sign up for that?
Let’s show them the kind of love that God showed us when we first came into Christ. Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. None of us deserved it in the first place, why then should we try to make others feel that they have to measure up to some perfect standard?
Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe
www.NewCovenantGrace.com
I find this message particularly intresting because last night heading from or to the shower, dont remember which, I was contemplating the only sin that cannot be forgiven, that which you have mentioned above, ‘unbelief in Jesus.’ I did not know at the time you had this message on your site, so I know Im led by the Holy Spirit to share what He told me last night concerning this. He (Holy Spirit) said to me, “The reason people cannot be forgiven for unbelief in Jesus when they die is because Jesus operated solely by faith in everything, it was Jesus faith through the very course of hanging on the cross, and He stayed in faith all the way through yielding up the Ghost, never even in His darkest hour on the cross did He fall into unbelief of any sort, His faith towards God and in what He was sent to do ‘kept Him’ on the cross! This is the meaning of Hebrews 5 that says “He (Jesus) though He was a Son, remained obedient ‘through’ (not ‘by,’ a poor translation) the things which He suffered!” Praise God everyone, Jesus has given us His very faith!
[...] “First off I tell people that I am not religious. That normally makes them listen, because how can you say you’re a Christian and you’re not religious? Second, I’d tell them that religion is actually a world system that has been implemented to control the masses, and that the misperception that Christianity is a “sin management” or “behaviour improvement” program is actually a lie. A relationship with God is all that matters. Lastly I’d tell them that God is not angry at them, I wrote a full article on this here.” [...]