Mankind today questions the justice of God. "How can God be "just" when there is so much evil in the world?" We can only ask this question because we do not understand who God is in His being and the great price He paid so that mercy could be given to those who were unjust. For if He were not in His being perfectly "Just" it would not have been necessary to go to the cross. Let's listen to the thoughts of J.I. Packer on the subject taken from "The Knowledge of God".
"The concept of God held by the psalmists and prophets of Israel was that of an all-powerful ruler, high and lifted up, reigning in equity.
Justice embodies the idea of moral equity. Judgment is the application of equity to moral situations and may be favorable or unfavorable according to whether the one under examination has been equitable or inequitable in heart and conduct.
Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation.
Everything in the universe is good to the degree it conforms to the nature of God and evil as it fails to do so.
God is his own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when he sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, he simply acts like himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not himself.
Redemptive theology teaches that mercy does not become effective toward man until justice has done its work. The just penalty for sin was exacted when Christ our Substitute died for us.
This message of justice discharged and mercy operative is more than a pleasant theological theory; it announces a fact made necessary by our deep human need. Because of our sin we are all under sentence of death, a judgment which resulted when justice confronted our moral situation. When the penitent sinner casts himself upon Christ for salvation, the moral situation is reversed. Justice confronts the changed moral situation and pronounces the believing man just."
God as Judge
This naturally leads us to consider the right or authority God has within Himself to administer His Justice, brother Packer continues as follows:
"The judge is a person with authority. As our maker, he owns us, and as our Owner, he has a right to dispose of us. He has, therefore, a right to make laws for us and to reward us according to whether or not we keep them. He is both Lawgiver and Judge.
The judge is a person identified with what is good and right. The Bible leaves us no doubt that God loves righteousness and hates iniquity, and that the ideal of a judge wholly identified with what is good and right is perfectly fulfilled in him.
The judge is a person of wisdom, to discern truth. God is omniscient and wise as the searcher of hearts and the finder of facts. He knows us, and judges us, as we really are. God knows. His judgment is according to truth- factual truth, as well as moral truth.
The judge is a person of power to execute sentence. God is his own executioner.
Retribution - the rendering to persons what they have deserved; this is the essence of a judges task. To reward good with good, and evil with evil, is natural to God."
So let us bow before our Maker, and give to Him the glory and honor due to His Almighty Name. May we continually sing His praise, not only for all that He has given to us in Christ, but for who He is in Himself. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
