18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven…

A Hurricane

The key to the sentence are the words “is being“. Another way of saying it might be to say the wrath of God is in the process of being revealed. It is not fully revealed… yet. If the wrath of God were a character in a play, this would be describing the character as he slowly makes his way onto the stage. However, I think a more accurate picture would be the outer bands of a hurricane making its way onshore.

Long before the eye of a storm reaches land, the world around you begins to change. The wind picks up in sharp, unpredictable gusts. The sky darkens. The barometric pressure drops, and you can feel the atmosphere itself turning heavy. You’re not yet inside the full violence of the storm, but you’re getting a clear taste of what’s coming. The edges of the hurricane announce the seriousness of what is on the horizon. They are a warning—and an opportunity to respond—long before the storm makes landfall.

My family and I experienced the full wrath of Hurricane Hugo, a Category 4 storm. I remember the storm bands as the storm approached, the seagulls heading inland away from the storm. I remember the wind increasing hour by hour. Even though these things told me the storm was approaching, they in no way prepared me for the wrath of that storm when it hit. I was totally unprepared for the power and destruction that Hugo unleashed. Prior to the storm making landfall, the wrath of that storm was being revealed – but not totally unleashed. When Hugo did make landfall, we were totally at its mercy. There was nothing to do but be engulfed by the fury of that hurricane. Pure helplessness. Pure terror.

This is what Paul means here. God’s wrath is not yet unleashed in its full and final form. That day will come, and Paul will deal with it later in Romans 2. Paul is getting ready to list things that represent these “outer bands” – the prelude to the ultimate expression of God’s wrath.  

There are some parallels we can draw between Romans 1:18… and a hurricane.

Here are the links for audio and video versions of this episode:

Audio (Spotify):

The Wrath of God is Being Revealed

Video (YouTube):

The Wrath of God is Being Revealed

In the Word with All Y’all –

Paige