Does God judge the earth? What does that judgment look like? Is it a fleeting-but-still-terrible thing? Or long-running-but-not-so-bad (the proverbial drinking beer with friends in hell)? Thomas Schreiner has tackled these and other questions in his new short book The Justice & Goodness of God: A Biblical Case for the Final Judgement.
In just over a hundred pages, Schreiner walks us through what the Bible has to say about the final judgment and how it squares with God’s good character. This is of course something people have always needed to hear–it is a perpetual criticism of Christianity. But it does seem to be a message our current generation especially needs hammered home: God is both good and just, and those two attributes are compatible with each other and with the idea of an eternal conscious punishment for those who refuse to repent of their sins and embrace the Gospel.
Schreiner walks through each part of the New Testament as well as providing short systematic summaries of the doctrine. And as we would expect, the center of the argument is the reality of the judgment of God on the cross:
“The love of God etched against the background of the justice of God stands forth with brilliance and splendor. God is not a passive and avuncular person who winks at sin and transgression, declaring that evil doesn’t really matter and that all is well. Instead, wickedness is dealt with fully and finally at the cross, and forgiveness is extended to all who repent and believe… We look at the cross and see the suffering of the Savior, and we realize what we deserved, recognizing that the love of God is a costly love.” (122-123)
This is a topic we need to read about presented in a readable book that should be on your shelf as a handy reference and as a useful reference.
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In