The Bible’s bad news is not to be glossed over, hidden away, or avoided. Without the Bible’s bad news, its good news will have no meaning. The center of biblical theology is nonnegotiable for evangelism precisely because God saves people through judgment for his glory. If a man does not perceive that God is holy, righteous, just, and personally offended by transgressions, he will sense no need for Jesus.
God is holy, righteous, just, and personally offended by the sins we commit, and the more clearly we see this, the more deeply we will feel our desperate need for Jesus. God’s wrath makes his mercy beautiful. Without his wrath, his mercy has no meaning and no one has any need for it.
Seeing that the glory of God in salvation through judgment is the center of biblical theology will liberate us to announce the bad news so that the gospel will be seen as good news. Our culture tells so many lies about what it means to do evangelism that we need huge doses of the Bible to counteract the world’s poison. We must love God and know him in all his judging and saving glory so that we will have boldness to tell the truth.
~James Hamilton~
God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2010) p. 566-567
