The good news of God’s judgment
Bruce Milne writes
‘Properly understood…God’s judgment is good news as well as bad. The negative certainly arises for those who have committed evil and refused to repent. But there is a glorious positive here as well, for God’s judgment means nothing less than the establishing of his just and joyous reign, the putting right of all that has gone wrong, and the liberation of all things from the usurping reign of evil. It is this perspective that enables the psalmist to celebrate God’s judgments: ‘Let the heavens re- joice, let the earth be glad…let the fields be jubilant…the trees… will sing for joy…before the LORD, for he comes…to judge the earth…and the peoples in his truth’ (Ps. 96:11–13). And at the per- sonal level for all the crushed and oppressed, the abused and ex- ploited, the cheated and the victimized, God’s coming judg- ments mean nothing less than a glorious vindication and un- dreamed-of recompense, wholeness and peace (Gal. 6:7–9; Rom. 12:17–19; Rev. 21:1–4).’