"Flee from the Wrath to Come!" by C.H. Spurgeon

(Delivered by C. H. Spurgeon, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, on October 23rd, 1881. No. 2704)

"Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Matthew 3:7

"Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Hebrews 6:18

We will first consider the question of John the Baptist: "When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, You brood of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" I have no doubt that the Pharisees and Sadducees were very much surprised to hear John addressing them in that way; for men who wish to win disciples, ordinarily adoptmilder language than that, and choose more attractive themes, for they fear that they will drive their hearers from them if they are too personal, and speak too sharply. There is not much danger of that nowadays, for the current notion abroad now is that gospel ministers can sew with silk without using a sharp needle; and that, instead of piercing men with the sword of the Spirit, they should show them only the hilt of it; let them see the bright diamonds on the scabbard — but never let them feel the sharpness of the two-edged blade. They should always comfort, and console, and cheer — but never allude to the terror of the Lord.

That appears to be the common interpretation of our commission; but John the Baptist was of quite another mind. A Pharisee came to him — a very religious man, one who observed all the details of external worship, and were very careful even about trifles, a firm believer in the resurrection, and in angels and spirits, and in all that was written in the Book of the law, and also in all the traditions of his fathers, a man who was overdone with external religiousness, a Ritualist of the first order — who felt that, if there was a righteous man in the world, he certainly was that one. He must have been greatly taken aback, when John talked to him about the wrath of God, and plainly told him that that wrath was as much for him as for other people. Those phylacteries and the broad borders of his garment, of which he was so proud, would not screen him from the anger of God against injustice and transgression; but, just like any common sinner, he would need to "flee from the wrath to come!"