Romans 5:10 says we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The anger was taken away by the death, the wrath was taken away by the death, peace with God was offered through the death. After the death you are offered the grace of God which saves us through His life, which is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Two very important things happened and they happened at very specific times. If Jesus had not risen from the dead I believe God would still be at peace with you because that peace came through the death of His Son. However, if He had not risen we would not have His saving grace. When Jesus died, God’s anger was poured out and God’s wrath ended completely. He is not angry anymore because Jesus said He suffered the anger and the wrath and the judgment and the punishment for the sins of the entire world. Not just for believers, but for the whole world.

Then what does a believer get that is different than a non believer? A believer steps into and has access to the favor of God that is undeserved, unmerited and this is of course called grace. If you look at verse 11 of Romans 5 it tells you that you now can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ because we have now received the atonement (reconciliation). A non believer is still reconciled to God and God is at peace with him the same as a believer is because it happened at the death of Jesus at the cross. Non believers continue walking in their own ways and do not experience salvation of their souls which is the mind, will and emotions.

We have to understand that the death of Jesus accomplished one thing and His resurrection accomplished another thing. Look at verse 9 again and you see that His blood (death) is what saves you from God’s wrath. Are we to look to the future for God’s wrath to be poured out? No, it is clear that His wrath was poured out upon His Son at the cross because His blood saves us from wrath. Is Jesus going to pour out His blood again so we can be saved from the wrath the church says is imminent? Of course not because then Jesus would have to die again and the Bible is quite clear He died once for all. This is an event that will not be repeated because God was satisfied that all had been accomplished as far as His wrath; anger, judgment etc were concerned.

So what is the message for unbelievers that we are to proclaim? We are to tell them that God is no longer angry with them and His judgments are past. We are to tell them they can now be saved by His life and walk in the joy and favor of God. (Remember that the term saved always refers to the soul which is your mind, will and emotions and has nothing to do with redemption) We are to tell them that God loves them with an unconditional love and He sees them as holy and pure and perfect in His sight. When they see this Truth then they can see the awesome grace of God at work in their lives. There is no more condemnation and guilt to live with. There is no longer anything to measure up to. The measure that God used for all of this was Jesus and when it was accomplished He said “it is finished”. It’s all about Him and none about us at all.