December 29, a horrible destiny.

Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come, 1 Thessalonians 1, 10, do you remember the

time you were lost as a child or slipping over a precipice or about to drown, then suddenly

you were rescued. You held on for dear life. You trembled for what you almost lost. You

were happy. Oh, so happy and thankful. And you trembled with joy. That's the way I

feel at the end of the year about my rescue from God's wrath. All day Christmas, we had

a fire in the fireplace. Sometimes the coals were so hot that when I stoked it, my hand

hurt. I pulled back and shuddered at the horrendous thought of the wrath of God against

sin in hell. Oh, how unspeakably horrible that will be. Christmas afternoon, I visited

a woman who had been burned over 87% of her body. She has been in the hospital since August.

My heart broke for her. How wonderful it was to hold out hope to her from God's word for

a new body in the age to come. But I came away not only thinking about her pain in this

life, but also about the everlasting pain I have been saved from through Jesus. Test my

experience with me. Is this trembling joy a fitting way to end the year? Paul was glad that

Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come, 1st Thessalonians 1 10. He warned that for those who

do not obey the truth, there will be wrath and fury, Romans 2 8. And because of sexual immorality,

and covetousness, the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience Ephesians 5, 6.

Here at the end of the year, I am finishing my trek through the Bible and reading the last book

Revelation. It is a glorious prophecy of the triumph of God and the everlasting joy of all who

take the water of life without price. Revelation 22 17. No more tears, no more pain, no more

depression, no more sorrow, no more death, no more sin. Revelation 21 4. But all of the horror of

not repenting and not holding fast to the testimony of Jesus. The description of the wrath of God

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