To more fully grasp the taking away I had to gain a better understanding of the judgment and wrath of God. I had understood that I was saved from the wrath to come but I came to see that I am also saved by wrath; God’s wrath against all unrighteousness. The wrath of God is expressed as the removal of that which displeases God. That which is not the manifestation of His Spirit and nature, that which in fact denies them. I had not understood it as well as I could.

I had mainly seen God’s work as adding and multiplying but I also had to understand it as subtraction, knowing that He would remove all that stood in the way of His manifestation in us as aspiring sons.

From Enoch He took away seeing death. In Noah’s day God took away all that were not in the Ark, representing for us that which is not established in Christ. From Abraham and Sarah He took away barrenness. From Jacob He took away reproach. Through Moses God took away the bondage of His people.

Through Samson He took away the blaspheming His name. Through David He took away the sin and Kingdom of Saul. Through Persia and Babylon God removed the corruption of Israel and Judah from His sight. I could see that God’s wrath was consistent with His Love, His Power, His Knowledge, His Will and all His attributes that manifest in my behalf.

Jesus gave us such an example in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. It’s about the motivating forces operating in your life. Wrath is the eventual removal of that which displeases God and all that is not in the interest of His plan. If the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men I will see His wrath work for me - For His wrath shall destroy the last enemy, which is death. We can be assured that the enemies of our soul shall be destroyed. We can feel His life increasing – we can experience death being taken away.

In the day that I received salvation the Lord removed the forces that were arrayed against Him in me - and He determined in that day what should remain for a season. His wrath was revealed from heaven against the ungodliness that held me – though I saw it as mercy. It appears that God will not completely remove what He finds offensive until He has that which will remain.

“Now if any man build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1Corinthians 3:12-15 God has given us eternal life – that which remains so that He may and will destroy that which is not consistent with His Will. When that which is according to His will is in place He will remove the hay, wood and stubble.

Hebrews 10:9-10 “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

His cross destroys the power of sin. “Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Romans 6:3-6 It means that whatever I consider my identity to be- it cannot be reconciled or resolved without Jesus Christ – I am free. The transformation that we are seeking cannot come by any means of internal negotiation – one must find the meaning of life in Christ. We must permit the taking away of the impact of our experience though we can still see the truth of our life.

Our life as we knew it is taken away at the Cross. We want the full benefit as regards transformation. “For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2Corinthians 5:17

We should be able to move in the absence of that which has been destroyed by the wrath of God – which is the body of sin. “We are crucified with Christ: nevertheless we live; yet not us, but Christ lives in us: and the life which we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us. Galatians 2:20-21 He has taken away the first.

*For more information on this topic simply E-mail Michael Brod at: michaelbrod@ hotmail.com