My neighbour recently placed a poster on their gate to support a new political candidate who they’re hoping will get to Canberra. He shared with me various things she stands for. Most of them are wrongs she believes need to be righted. Time will tell if she’ll make it to Canberra. If she does, even more time will tell if she can improve anything.

The great crescendo of Psalm 96 is that God himself, the Lord, is on his way. Unlike my neighbour’s political candidate, however, there is certainty in both the fact of his arrival and its effectiveness. He is coming, and he’s coming with a specific purpose in mind: to judge the earth, the world, and its people.

Many people find the concept of God’s judgment repugnant. I suspect many Christians are somewhat embarrassed by it. But it is something for which everyone longs. There are wrongs that need to be righted all through our world. As Romans 8 tells us, creation groans under the weight of sin’s curse, longing for the day when the sons of God will be revealed.

On that day of his judgement, God’s glorious goodness will completely overwhelm everything. It will swallow up sin, destroy evil, eradicate injustice, put an end to suffering, and wipe the tears from the eyes of all God’s faithful. His promise to us is his gloriously good presence with us. In Christ’s death and resurrection, we see it. In his return, we’ll see it all the more. And so we pray “Maranatha”.  Come, Lord Jesus.