We need to talk about judgement

God’s judgement is a central Biblical theme, and for vast numbers of evangelical Christians, it was the experience of conviction of sin which led them to trust Christ as Saviour.

It certainly did for me. Knowing that I had sinned against God, and seeing the sombre truth about the rotten state of my soul before His righteous judgement, made the realisation that Christ had borne my punishment total liberation and joy!

But the judgement of God has been difficult to communicate. “How could you possibly worship a God who condemns people?” has been a common objection to the Christian faith.

Judgement offends human pride, and it’s always easier to speak of the love of God than His wrath. In the cultural climate in which we have swum for the last couple of generations, God’s judgement has been an especially unpopular truth. Liberalism and then post-modernism recoiled from the absolutes and impositions of power that this aspect of the gospel entailed – and (perhaps wanting people to think well of God), it was sometimes downplayed by the church.

So I was intrigued to hear a seasoned university missioner declare recently that God’s judgement is now a helpful way into gospel conversations, whereas even a decade ago it would have repelled listeners. “I now emphasise God’s judgement in every mission,” she said.

Why the change?

Especially amongst the young, it seems that the idea that all opinions are equally valid, all people are basically good, and judging others is wrong, is no longer assumed. This is seen in the rise of so-called “cancel culture” and the fact that freedom of speech is no longer an article of faith for the rising generations. In practice, freedom of speech can seem contingent upon signalling the right virtues and holding the “correct” opinions.

The students who “cancel” people who offend or violate political norms on their campuses, then look out at a world of wars, human-inflicted suffering and bloodshed, can find the idea that ultimately justice will be done, a deeply compelling notion. There is a hunger for justice in the human heart. God’s love was once thought to be the opposite of His wrath, but in a world of rape and war crimes it is evident that the opposite of divine love would in fact be divine apathy.

While once the idea of God as judge was a major apologetic obstacle, increasingly people object to the idea that God might forgive bad people. Grace is seen as scandalous and offensive. This is a welcome development, as grace should fill us with a renewed sense of worship and gratitude as we contemplate the cross of Christ, which compels us to commend that scandalous grace of God in Christ to everyone.

Despite the cultural shift, the human heart remains just as crooked. Persuading people that they need to face the evil within their own hearts and not merely condemn the errors of others is the difficult part of presenting the gospel. Everyone seems to think that their enemies deserve wrath but that they deserve grace! The default position of most people is that their moral failures are justifiable and explainable, whereas those of criminals and dictators are morally culpable acts of calculated evil. This shows that the Holy Spirit bringing conviction of sin is just as vital as it ever was for people to repent and believe the good news of Christ.

But in our everyday evangelism, we should not dread the “judgement question” being raised as an objection, but more boldly lean into speaking of the God who will not let evil go unaddressed. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Gen.18v25).