“The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation.” (v. 18)

When you read a verse like this, it draws you in. It encourages your heart. Your hands might even go up in worship. It’s good news!

The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion.

Yes!

We’re good with Part A.

But what about Part B?

But He will not leave the guilty unpunished….

We have to know that we do not get to revel in one and refuse the other. The Good News is an invitation, and God’s patient grace is the very thing that affords our opportunity to respond, in the Spirit (see 2 Peter 3:9). Yet judgment is still promised. The unrepentant receive what is rightly owed. And the patience of God meets its terminus—either when the dead are judged, or when Christ returns to judge the whole earth.

The bad news is what makes the Good News so good.

Let’s tell the world.

— Tyler