God is Just
Gavel
He is the Rock, His works are perfect, and all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He. – Deuteronomy 32:4
INTRODUCTION
Justice is a term used for what is right. Justice is one of God’s attributes and flows out of His holiness. Justice and righteousness are often used synonymously in the Bible. Since righteousness is the quality or character of being right or just, it is another attribute of God and incorporates both His justice and holiness.
We cannot begin to understand God’s justice unless we first understand sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4) and iniquity (Daniel 9:4-5; Micah 2:1; James 3:6). It embodies everything contrary to God’s holy nature and is offensive to Him. Thus, sin is a crime against God, and justice demands a penalty of death and separation from Him for it (Romans 1:18-32; 2:5; 3:23). But God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to this earth to pay that penalty for us (Romans 5:8-11; 6:23) and made salvation available to all who believe in His name (John 1:12; 3:15-17; 20:31).
What then is Justice?
Just means “fair.” When something is morally and ethically sound, it’s just; justice stands for rule of law, absence of arbitrariness and a system of equal rights, freedoms and opportunities for all in society. In fact, Justice stands recognised as the first virtue or ideal or objective to be secured. In other words, Justice means securing and protecting of rights of all in a fair way. It stands for harmony among all the people, orderly living and securing of rights of all in a just and fair way.
God’s Justice is manifested through the death of Jesus
Justice is a limited commodity in our world. Everywhere we look, we find suffering and death. The world seems to the natural mind a cosmic accident, a grand lottery we all eventually lose. But this is not reality. The reality is a righteous Father, a forgiving Saviour, and a life-giving Spirit. The reality is a God who is just.
In our society, whenever people are declared guilty of committing crime, they have to pay the penalty for what they did wrong. They usually go to prison and are held captive in prison until the penalty is paid or they are fined. The penalty of sin was too heavy that it took Jesus to die to rescue mankind from the penalty of death.
In the Old Testament, God decided that certain animals would die to pay the penalty for the sins of His people. By the deaths of those animals, called sacrifices, the people would be set free from being guilty for a little while, until the people did bad things again. This was only a temporary plan.
God had a better plan. He loves people so much that He came to earth Himself as a man named Jesus who lived a perfect life and died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus paid the penalty for sin that God’s justice demands. Jesus paid this penalty for us so that we would not have to do it nor would any animals ever be used to do it again!
What does it mean that God is just?
It means more than He is simply fair. It means He always does what is right and good toward all men. Likewise, although this is hard for many to accept, His sentencing of evil, unrepentant sinners to hell is also right and good.
A natural question that arises from this is, how then can a just God justify the unjust (as each of us are without Christ!)? The Bible answers this by reminding us through the Christian doctrine of justification and redemption. Through the work of Christ in atonement, justice is not violated but satisfied when God spares a sinner. His mercy does not forbid Him to exercise His justice, nor does His justice forbid Him to exercise His mercy. He is both fully merciful and fully just.
The justice of God is also demonstrated at the cross. As Jesus was crucified, the sins of the world were laid on Him (Isaiah 53:4–5), and Jesus’ death became the propitiation, or the satisfaction, of God’s justice: “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness” – Romans 3:25. God could not just ignore sin; justice requires a penalty. To our eternal benefit, that penalty for sin fell on Jesus Christ: “It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” -Romans 3:26.
In light of God’s other attributes of goodness, mercy, love and grace, there are some who might, in error, say that God is too kind to punish the ungodly. But to believe this means we dull the reality of his infinite, unchanging justice. God will have justice for sin, either from Christ’s atoning death or, for those who will not accept it, eternal wrath in hell.
“Let’s assume that all men are guilty of sin in the sight of God. From the mass of humanity, God sovereignly decides to give mercy to some of them. What do the rest get? They get justice. The saved get mercy and the unsaved get justice. Nobody gets injustice” –
God Will Bring Justice
Believers of God look forward to the day when the Lord returns and establishes true justice on the earth. Whatever the injustice in this world, God has promised, “I will repay” (Romans 12:19). A world pining for justice will finally see it administered when the King of Righteousness comes:
The Lord has promised to return and set things right. Truth will win in the end. In the meantime, we wait, and we do not lose hope: “The Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” – Isaiah 30:18 (ESV). And we praise Him for His justice: “I will thank the LORD because He is just; I will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High” – Psalm 7:17.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war” – Revelation 19:11. This lesson gives assurance to all those who have been wronged that our God is a just God and, therefore, His mercy cannot rob His justice.
Prayer point
Please God, I don’t want to face Your justice for it is a fearful thing to fall into your hands – Hebrews 10:31. Let Your mercy be my portion and prepare me for a righteous life prepared for me through Jesus Christ my Lord.
Stay blessed!
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By Dr. Joyce Aryee, the author
