My youth kids will sometimes ask me, "What is the wrath of God?" Well I try to answer by saying that it is God's anger poured out onto sin. And that is something we can try to grasp, and we can say how it was poured out on Jesus on the cross, but how do we really feel what it means?
This quote really made me think about the seriousness of those who have not believed in Christ for salvation.
D.A. Carson on the wrath of God:
“To speak faithfully of the wrath of God, very often what we most urgently need are tears. A few years ago on a radio talk show with a large audience in Chicago, the host asked several guests to discuss whether anyone could be saved apart from Jesus. Three pooh-poohed the idea in graphic terms. The fourth was a Jewish-Christian believer on the faculty of Moody Bible Institute. His ethnic background was known by everyone there, so when it was his turn to speak, the host baited him by asking him if he thought his fellow Jews could be saved apart from Christ. This Christian brother began to weep, and then to sob quietly, uncontrollably. After a minute or two, the host said that he had never heard a more compelling reason to become a Christian. So we teach the wrath of God, for faithfulness to Scripture demands it; and we follow Jesus and learn to weep over the city.”
(From: D. A. Carson, “The Wrath of God,” in Engaging the Doctrine of God, ed. Bruce McCormack, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 63.)
Do I really understand the magnitude of the wrath of God?
"And when he [Jesus] drew near and saw the city [Jerusalem], he wept over it," - Luke 19:41