February 11. The Wrath to Come
"Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Luke 3:7
There are a good many people who want to flee from God's wrath — but are not willing to give up that which draws God's wrath down upon them. When a godless man becomes sick, and it seems as though he may die, immediately he begins to look about for some way of flight from the wrath which he feels hangs over him. He sends for a minister or for some Christian man. He has his long neglected Bible brought from his parlor table and laid beside his bed. He will find refuge from his peril, if he can. He wants to have the Bible read to him; perhaps there is some virtue in that which will shield him. He wants the minister to pray for him; for he has heard that a good man's prayers will save a soul. He wants to be baptized and to receive the Lord's Supper; he hopes that these holy ordinances may somehow shelter him from the wrath.
Yet all the while, he has not really thought of trying to unload the burden of sin which is crushing him. He is carrying his sins, unconfessed and unforgiven. He has no true sense of sinfulness, no realization of God's holiness, or of his own debt to him; he is simply terrified, and is trying to flee from the impending wrath.
If he gets well again, he will most likely return to his old life and live on in sin as before, proving the insincerity and worthlessness of his repentance. If he were asked, "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" his answer could not be "Love for Christ," or "A sense of my guilt" — but "Fear of the terrors of death and Hell!"
It was a very proper question, therefore, which John asked the multitudes who came to him desiring to be baptized. The only flight that saves — is away from sin, and to Christ. No man is saved who carries his sins with him in his flight. The door of the refuge is wide enough to admit the worst penitent sinner — but not wide enough to admit any cherished sin.
