First Presbyterian Church of Baton Rouge

Refreshment is such a wonderful word. We love things that are refreshing. It’s life coming back to life. The Greek word connects to both pulse and breath. So, to be refreshed by God means we have a spiritual pulse again. Our heart beats with the joy of being loved. We breathe a sigh of relief that we are forgiven. Our heart leaps to learn how much we are cherished.

God’s wrath is warranted and just in its execution. The first angel takes up his bowl, walks over to the earth, and pours it out.  The second angel follows, goes over the waters, pours out God’s wrath and the sequence is repeated through the third, fourth… There is a cadence to the unleashing. God’s wrath is poured out over time, it is not a tyrannical unleashing and explosion of rage. God will not be mocked, he will execute judgment in an appropriate proportion, and he will pour out his wrath as a function of his holiness and love. God alone is fit to determine what sentencing is just and how punishment should be delivered.  His wrath is just, and the battle is warranted.

O that birth forever blessed, when the Virgin, full of grace,By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bore the Savior of our race,And the babe, the world’s Redeemer, first revealed his sacred face.

Please enjoy this poem by Christina Rossetti. None other Lamb, none other name,None other hope in heaven or earth or sea,None other hiding place from guilt or shame,None besides thee!My faith burns low, my hope burns low;Only my heart’s desire cries out in meBy the deep thunder of its want and woe,Cries out to thee.Lord, thou art Life, though I be dead;Love’s fire thou art, however cold I be;Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head,Nor home, but thee.Christina Rossetti, 1870.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.