During a personal study, I discovered that in the entire history of mankind, there's only three occasions where God did an open display of His mighty power and fierce anger toward sin, than at any other point. And the amazing thing is that these incidents all took place before the law was given.
Below are the incidents:
The first one took place during the time of Noah where God outrightly expressed His anger toward man. In His anger He said, “I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth and the birds of the air, because I am sorry I have made them.”
(Genesis 6:7 NCV). I believe you knew about the great flood that followed.
The second one was during the days of Abraham. The People of Sodom and Gomorrah provoked God's anger by their horrible lifestyle of homosexuality. Despite being aware of their filthy lifestyle, it appears as though God wasn't too convinced that He had to come down by Himself to see things for Himself so to speak. He said to Abraham, “I have heard many complaints against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are very evil. I will go down and see if they are as bad as I have heard. If not, I will know.”
(Genesis 18:20-21 NCV). While at Sodom, the people did not even allow Him to go round and see things for Himself as He willed. They did Him a favor by coming over to where He was hosted. Guess what they said, "Where are the two men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sexual relations with them.”
(Genesis 19:5 NCV). Did I read that right? They without any bit of fear came to have sex with God Himself. Hmmm. This surely was enough to convince God. And here is what He said, "We are about to destroy this city. The Lord has heard of all the evil that is here, so he has sent us to destroy it.”
(Genesis 19:5, 13 NCV). I believe you know what happened next. No one escaped God's anger that day except Lot and his two daughters.
The third one took place during the time of Moses. After over 400 years of slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, the Lord came down for a rescue mission through Moses and Aaron. But the mortal king thought his powers are to good enough to resist God by refusing to let the Israelites go. The arrogant king Pharoah had the boldness to say, " Who is this Lord whom I’m supposed to obey by letting Israel go? I don’t know this Lord , and I certainly won’t let Israel go."
(Exodus 5:2 CEB). To prove his arrogance and lack of fear, he ordered that the burden of the Israelites be multiplied.
But the Almighty One could only laugh at Pharoah then said to Moses, "Now you will see what I’ll do to Pharaoh. In fact, he’ll be so eager to let them go that he’ll drive them out of his land by force."" Exodus 6:1 CEB." Once again, I believe you also knew what God did to the Egyptians. It indeed was a terrible experience.
All these things happened before the law was given. The people could have protested, saying, "If you had given us the law so that we know that these things are evil, we would not have committed them." But then, although there was no law at that time, there were Noah, Abraham who interceded, Lot who went about sounding the warnings, and Moses who repeatedly went to Pharoah to demand that he let the Israelites go according to God's instruction. If the people had listened, they would have been spared. But they refused!
The fact that God showed His anger at a time when no law was given, is something we should think deeply about. I strongly believe that He did what He did to prove to us how much He hates sin. That even when law does not exist, His anger toward sin remains the same.
But the big question now is, if God could punish sin so terribly at a time when no law was given, how much more do you think He will punish sin not only after the law was given, but also His dear Son, who tasted death for our sake? The Scripture says, "The message spoken by angels proved to be true, and all who disobeyed or rejected it were punished as they deserved. So if we refuse this great way of being saved, how can we hope to escape?" (Hebrews 2:2-3 CEV)
We used to be told that when a person is warned once, twice, and the third time, the next reaction won't be good. But then, could it be that God openly demonstrated His fierce anger these three terrible times as a warning that failure to repent will bring upon us eternity in hell? Surely eternity in hell will be far worse than the greatest punishment ever recorded in human history. The word eternity itself should make you shiver.
"It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'' (Hebrews 10:31 NCV). And this is true. In another place this wise and final advice was given, "Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone." (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Will you take this advice? It's not too late. But if you refuse, Jesus said, "I can assure you that on the judgment day it will be worse for (you) than for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah." (Matthew 10:15 ERV). What this means should make you think deeply.
Friends, please take the wise advice of King Solomon as quoted in Ecclesiastes 12:13.
God loves you! He never needed to visit Sodom and Gomorrah to confirm how evil they were. But His love for them brought Him down. And before taking action he shared His plan with Abraham who interceded for the two cities. He would have spared them if they had humbled themselves. That's how merciful God can be. He can show you mercy if only you are willing to start an effective relationship with Him.
Jesus can clean you up, and dress you up. He can cloth you with righteousness and make you heavenly ready. Will you accept Him? Will you reject sin? It's not too late! But this could be your last opportunity. Will you take it? If yes, then say the following prayer:
"Lord Jesus, thank you for sparing my life all this while even though I deserved condemnation for my many sins. It is now clear that you kept me so you could save me today. I thank you for your patience, and sacrifice for my sins. I accept you today wholly, and renounce sin completely. Wash me with your blood, and cloth me with righteousness. Sustain me by your mercy, and keep me away from the path of destruction. Thank you for the new life you have given me and for my many sins you have forgiven. I pledge to walk in this new found life, and in total obedience to your word. Amen."
If you did made this prayer, we rejoice with you on your new found life. We encourage you to always stay in touch with us through our Facebook page and the contact form available on this site, for spiritual assistance on your walk with God, or any questions you might require answers to. God bless you.