The Imminent Wrath of God

I admit that I don't think about Hell as often as I should. Today's Grace Gem, taken from Thomas Vincent's "The Only Deliverer from the Wrath to Come!," was a sobering reminder:

The punishment of loss -- will consist of the loss of the crown, glory, and happiness of heaven, where the righteous shall be admitted to the immediate vision and full fruition of God the chief good, which will fill them with soul-ravishing, inconceivable, and eternal joy. But from this, all the wicked will be eternally shut out, and wholly denied any share in the least of that happiness which, when they come to understand the worth and excellency of it -- will above all things be most vexing to them

The punishment of sense -- will consist in the horrible pains and tortures which shall in extreme measure be inflicted upon every part of the bodies of all the wicked, by the most dreadful and unquenchable fire into which they shall be thrown; and the horrible anguish which, through the immediate impressions of God's wrath, shall be inflicted upon every faculty of their souls in hell, where they shall have no ease or release forever" Matthew 25:41, "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" Revelation 14:10-11, "They shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night."

I don't believe that I should be fixated on Hell, for, like Paul, I "press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). It does, however, do me well to ponder the imminent wrath from which I was saved. It should cause me to be evermore thankful that the Father would extend salvation to a depraved wretch like me and spur me on to see others saved as well.