I am continuing my response to Pastor Bob DeWaay.
DeWaay unfoundedly asserts that the prewrath position teaches that:
“only the sixth seal is wrath, and nothing else is really the wrath of God.”
By this he means that prewrath teaches that God has not expressed his wrath in other forms throughout Church history. This, of course, is an absurd strawman. I would like to challenge DeWaay to produce documentation for this assertion.
He cites Romans 1:18
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”
Every prewrath interpreter that I know understands that Romans 1:18 is an expression of God’s wrath in Paul’s present time and ongoing. So how is this relevant to affirming that God’s eschatological wrath (associated with his Second Coming) begins at the seventh seal (not the sixth seal, by the way)? We are not told.
He also cites the judgment of God on Israel in AD 70, suggesting that prewrathers do not believe that this was God’s judgment. Again, I am just left shaking my head, and ask where is he is getting this stuff.
There are many expressions of God’s wrath throughout history. Just to name a few during the Church Age and beyond:
1. Judgment on the Cross upon his Son (which, by the way, I have written a section in my forthcoming book showing how there was a Day of the Lord judgment on the cross).
Judgment on the Unbelieving:
2. The Judgment on Israel in A.D. 70 (and the ongoing judgment on Israel through the “partial hardening”)
3. Homosexuality and other Forms of Unrighteousness (Romans 1:18ff.)
4. Reprobation (Romans 9:22)
Judgment on the Believing:
5. Chastening (1 Cor. 11:31-32; Heb 12:5-11)
6. Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10)
Eschatological Judgments:
7. Judgment on the Nation of Israel (Ezek. 20:37-38; Zech 13:8-9)
8. Judgment on the Nations (Matt. 25:31-46; Isa. 34:1-2; Joel 3:11-16)
9. Judgment on Fallen Angels (Jude 6)
10. Judgment of the Great White Throne (Rev 20:11-15)
11. Eternal Perdition (Matt 10:28)
