I love thinking about, writing about, singing about and teaching about God’s mercy. It is probably because I am essentially a poster child for it, as close to an expert on it as anyone can be as I have needed and received so much of it in the course of my sin-laden life. I have considered retitling and rewriting the old African American spiritual classic, Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen to Nobody Knows the Mercies I’ve Known (nobody knows but Jesus).
However, as I came out of my spiritual brain fog, it became clear to me that for our hearts to cherish and rejoice in God’s mercy and grace (two sides to the same coin) as we should, if we are to treasure the love of God from which it proceeds in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, it would be essential to first understand, value and rejoice in God’s justice and judgement.
Justice and judgement – mercy and grace are not contradictions in God’s being, as some would suggest, but complementary aspects of His perfect holiness, of His infinitely glorious being, with man’s sin and God’s just judgement for our sin forming the dark backdrop for the glorious jewels of God’s mercy and grace and for those who are the recipients of both to shine most brightly (Malachi 3:16-17). Each is essential to Him ruling justly and lovingly over His creation, as well as magnifying the glory of all aspects of His being that make Him infinitely worthy of being feared and loved, trusted and obeyed, worshiped and pursued as the object of our deepest affections and the source of our greatest joy. (Psalm 97:2) (Proverbs 20:28) (Psalm 51:4)
These attributes are presented in complementary fashion throughout the Bible to provide a balanced and integrated understanding of the nature and character of God in His dealings with sinful mankind (Exodus 34:5-9) (Psalm 89:14).
If God’s nature was without justice and judgement and His corresponding wrath toward sin, He would be an impotent fool, a cosmic charlatan, worthy only of dishonor, disrespect, distrust, indifference and rebellion (which is how most people view Him today as He mercifully withholds His judgement on their lives.) As such, God would be the liar and the devil a truth teller in proclaiming to Adam and Eve that there would be no divine sanction, no judgement on their prideful disobedience (Genesis 3:2-4).
However, if God’s nature was without mercy and grace, and His corresponding compassion toward sinners, He would be a cosmic tyrant, worthy only of hatred and contempt, fear and dread, disdain and rebellion (Isaiah 30:18 -19).
Who among us does not want justice? It is innate to our having been created as image bearers of a just and holy God. We want just laws to be enacted and enforced that protect our person, rights and property. We want to be compensated – to be made whole, for things to be made right when we are wronged or mistreated. When we hear of horrific crimes against other image bearers, we want the perpetrators to be identified and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. We advocate for “social justice”, for systemic violations of the rights and protections of a certain oppressed group of people to cease.
Justice in its most basic form implies getting what we deserve, either by right or merit. In general, it is a term used to represent the establishing and upholding of that which is right or just in regard to the advancement and preservation of human flourishing and individual happiness (a just society). Cities, states, and nations establish related standards and laws as well as prescribe sanctions for the breaking of those laws. Unfortunately, because of sin, not all laws made by man turn out to be right or just, which is also true of our enforcement of our laws.
Not so with divine justice. Justice is not an optional product of God’s will, but an unchangeable principle of his very nature. The justice of God is the outflow of His righteousness (Psalm 11:7). Righteousness describes God’s eternal, essential and intrinsic nature, His moral purity and perfection, His commitment to perfect justice – to do what is right and just in regard to first and foremost upholding and displaying the inestimable worth and infinite value of His glory –of the infinite perfections of His being, which are the foundation and fountain of His eternal happiness and would thus be the foundation and fountain of ours.
God graciously creates mankind in His image and likeness, with His righteous nature and character, such that our thoughts, words, desires, affections, motivations and deeds could be and would need to remain perfectly consistent with His nature if His design for human happiness in Him was to flourish (Genesis 1:26-27).
God was pleased thus to place mankind under law—law consistent with His righteous nature and character – law which represents God’s design for how life in His world should be -must be if it is to flourish in the light of His glory, with the infinite perfections of His being displayed, proclaimed and rejoiced in as mankind would find our ultimate and eternal joy, pleasure, significance and satisfaction in knowing, loving, and obeying Him – trusting in His everlasting love (Romans 7:12) (John 17:3) (Jeremiah 31:3) (Psalm 16:11).
God will always act within His relationship with man in accordance with that which magnifies and upholds His glory and requires that man do the same (1 Corinthians 10:31). Sin is thus described in Romans 3:23 in terms of our unwillingness to do so.
Thus, His law is accompanied and enforced by sanctions that God determined from the beginning as perfectly just in His administration of His creation, promising the reward of eternal life to those who would personally, perfectly, and perpetually obey His law, and announcing the penalty of death upon the disobedient. Death is essentially our being cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created, subject to His judgement and wrath, partially in this world and forever in the world to come in what we commonly refer to as Hell (Psalm 9:16-17). As the just administrator of that law, He is morally obligated to execute its terms and does so justly (Genesis 2:15-17) (Ezekiel 18:20) (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) (Titus 1:1-2) (Psalm 9:8).
God willing, in my next post we will look at the justness of both God’s judgement and His mercy in His dealings with a sinful humanity.
Grace and Peace ×
thank you