Why hasn't God been pouring out His wrath even on wicked people?
Because the present era is the age of grace, not judgment. For nearly 2,000 years God has withheld His wrath, dealing in grace even with the ungodly and those steeped in wickedness. Catastrophes and disasters may get attention, but they are not His wrath. Even the flood was mercy and cleansing, not wrath.
Les explains that verse 18 presents the flip side of salvation: God is also a God of wrath. Yet for nearly 2,000 years, God has not been pouring out wrath whatsoever. We are living in the age of grace, and even to the ungodly world, even to those steeped in wickedness, God is still dealing in grace, not in judgment or wrath. Events like catastrophes, earthquakes, and disasters may occur to get man’s attention, but they are not the wrath of God. Even the flood, awful as it was, was not God’s wrath; God was brokenhearted because what He had begun had fallen apart and turned in rejection. It was an act of mercy to unborn generations, because violence was so rampant, and it was a cleansing of the slate and starting over, almost instantaneous destruction.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
More Questions
Is God's wrath still going to be poured out in the future?
God's wrath is still coming and is getting closer every day; one of these days God will pour out His wrath.