Salvation and Judgment

I'm currently reading a book by R.J. Rushdoony entitled The Biblical Philosophy of History, and was struck by his statement in chapter 8 (on "Inescapable Knowledge") that "Salvation requires judgment."

Many Christians prefer to avoid the topic of judgment -- particularly when conversing with unbelievers -- because, not surprisingly, it's a trifle awkward to look a friend in the eye and tell him his sin condemns him to hell! It also makes people nervous to think they might, themselves, be vulnerable to God's judgment. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that salvation comes at a price. As Rushdoony says:

Without judgment, there can be no salvation. The salvation of Noah from a world of tyranny was the judgment and destruction of that world by a flood. The salvation of Israel from Egypt meant the judgment and destruction of Egypt. The Cross of Christ is the supreme coincidence of judgment and salvation. It is God's judgment and sentence of death on man the sinner, and also God's salvation through the atoning death of Jesus Christ.

We cannot accept salvation if we reject judgment. In order to save godly men from an evil and apostate generation, God must judge that generation and destroy its works, and the believer must move in terms of that reality. The reality is simply this: no judgment, no salvation. This means, moreover: no judgment, no God. Judgment reveals God and His justice...

Those who hate judgment hate salvation also; they resent deliverance. Men who hate God's judgment want the total enslavement of man, his entrapment in guilt and in the outworkings of past history. If there be no judgment, no salvation is possible.

A denial of God's judgment on sin is a denial of His holiness, and as Rushdoony says, denies God's very existence! Thus while a mindset of universalism may seem an easier pill to swallow than the biblical doctrine of judgment, the pill is really poisonous. The universalist hates justice, hates holiness, and hates God.