Top 7 Bible Verses About God’s Punishment

Top 7 Bible Verses About God’s Punishment June 28, 2016

Here are seven Bible verses about the wrath of God or God’s ultimate punishment of the unrepentant wicked.

Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Matthew chapter 25 is one of the most sobering of all chapters in the Bible because it states the fate of everyone who refused to believe in Jesus Christ in their lifetimes and that means that they have the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36b). It doesn’t matter whether they believe it or not because what a person believes cannot change what is true and all who reject Jesus will be rejected by God on Judgment Day and that is truth.

Romans 2:3 “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?”

In a scathing rebuke of the unrepentant wicked, the Apostle Paul paints a vivid picture of the fate that they will face someday (or after death, e.g. Heb 9:27) but he’s also speaking to you if you’ve never trusted in Christ, and he says to them and to you that it’s “because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom 2:5). That’s when “He will render to each one according to his works” (Rom 2:6) for those who “do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Rom 2:8).

Proverbs 11:21 “Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.”

We see the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor. We see systemic political corruption in most everyone in D.C. and we think, “How can they get away with that?” The fact is they won’t. We have God’s word on it. He will not let anyone go unpunished if they don’t repent, however, the righteous have had God’s wrath already placed on Christ on their behalf so that they won’t have to face it. That will allow believers to go unpunished because our punishment was placed on Christ.

And-do-not-fear-those (1)

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We know that hell is real, no matter what the false Bible teachers tell us. Sadly, they’ve watered down the gospel so much they put out the fires of hell in their teachings, but unless they repent, they will find out all too well that hell is real. They, along with all unbelievers, should repent today because their body might be destroyed but the soul never can be. Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul or fear God’s ultimate judgment that will surely come someday to all who refuse to believe (Rev 21:8).

Romans 13:4 “For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

Romans chapter 13 is all about following the law of man. God sees breaking man’s laws as breaking His own laws because “he is God’s servant for your good” so Paul’s warning is “if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Rom 13:4).

Hebrews 10:28-31 “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

It’s going to be stark terror for unbelievers to face God’s wrath someday and only then will they finally believe in God, but it will be far too late to do anything about it. Whoever spurns the Son of God spurns God the Father and God won’t fail to place His vengeance on those who reject Jesus Christ. Whoever rejects belief in Christ will someday be rejected by God because they have rejected the only way that they must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Matthew 25:46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25 has a lot about the judgment of God but it also shows those who are His own. The church does the ministry of Christ by feeding the poor, visiting the sick, welcoming strangers, and going to those in prison (Matt 25:35-36), however “he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt 25:41) because they did nothing for Christ; only for themselves (Matt 25:42-43).

Conclusion

Matthew, the author of the gospel by the same name, wrote more about God’s punishment of the wicked in the New Testament on those who refuse to believe in Christ than any other author in the New Testament. He included a very serious warning from John the Baptist, who said God’s “winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matt 3:12). The Apostle John wrote of the Judgment Seat of Christ and wrote that he “saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done” (Rev 20:12) and in reference to the second death (Rev 20:14) he adds, “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.


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