Intro
In the last couple of posts I talked about God’s justice, love, and mercy throughout the Bible to demonstrate how all of them are consistent and rejects the subtle belief of the Bible depicting two gods or one god who goes through an attitude adjustment between the Old and New Testaments (catch up here for justice and here for love and mercy). Today I’m going to talk about how God’s justice and His mercy are two sides of the same coin and are both necessary for a loving and perfectly good God.
Mercy and Justice for All
As humans, we tend to be fickle. And we have double standards oftentimes. The topic for today is a great example of this. We desire God to show us mercy when we screw up and we want others to show us mercy as well when we sin against them. However, we so often want justice for those who sin against us. Or perhaps hurt a loved one. Or we watch the news and hear about some horrible crime someone committed and we want justice. Do you see the double standard? We don’t want justice administered to us, but we are more than ready to administer it to others. And then we have the gall to ask God why He doesn’t administer His justice against the wicked.
No Escape
The problem with that attitude is obvious. If God administered justice to every wicked act, that means every single one of us would get it. Don’t forget what Paul says in Romans.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
And where would that leave the human race? If God gave every sin committed exactly what it deserved, He would have sent Adam and Eve straight to Hell instead of just casting them out of the garden. The End. Time to start over with some new people. If you think that’s a bit extreme, here’s another verse from Romans.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
The wages – or payment – for sinning is death. Not just physical, but eternal. We all deserve physical and eternal death as payment for our sins. That would be pure justice in action.
Step Back
At this point you might be thinking, “Yeesh. Maybe pure justice isn’t a good thing”. And you’re right. Justice – while good – needs to be tempered by love and mercy. Otherwise justice is harsh and legalistic. And it doesn’t take into account people’s emotional or mental states at the time. It doesn’t take into account the reasons why the did what they did. They may be going through some really rough stuff and throwing the book at them could be enough to tip them over the edge to suicide. Whereas perhaps showing them a little mercy (without necessarily letting them get away with it) could encourage them to seek help and reform.
Doesn’t that sound a bit more like God? As I talked about in previous posts, God punished His people for committing acts of wickedness. But there was frequently a delay. He often let things go on for quite a while before administering justice. And He always warned them of the consequences. And even after punishing them, God continued to tell them that if they turned back, He would show them mercy. Mercy and Justice. The writings of the prophets are littered with these two themes. Always back-to-back, in tandem. And God continues this through the New Testament and beyond.
God’s Mercy and Justice in Action
It was a combination of mercy and justice that sent Jesus to the cross. On the one hand, God desired to show all mankind mercy by offering up the one sacrifice that could bring us back into eternal relationship with Him. On the other hand, there had to be a sacrifice. Jesus had to die. And what a brutal death it was. And on top of that, God placed all of mankind’s sin – past, present, and future – upon Jesus. Along with every physical ailment and mental/emotion sickness. All of it Jesus bore on that cross.
Each one of us deserved to be upon that cross and bear the weight of our own sins. All of us. And yet, Jesus bore it all for us. That’s mercy. And that’s justice. Sin was defeated upon that cross.
The Ultimate Justice
God’s justice is more than punishing people for sin. Whether that’s here in this life or spending an eternity burning in the Lake of Fire. God’s justice is the complete eradication of sin and the effects of sin on creation. In other words, the complete restoration of all of creation and restoration of our perfect state of being that existed before the fall. That’s what God aims to achieve. Sometimes that means actual punishment here on this earth. Other times, it’s His patient mercy to woo people to Him. For God does not desire anyone to perish, but for all to come to Him (see 2 Peter 3:8-9).
Now we know that not everyone will turn to Him, but it is God’s desire. However, He will act in the name of justice to preserve His children and to move the world to that place where it is ready for Him to execute His final judgments upon the earth and immediately follow it up with a restoration of all that is good and perfect.
Justice Fuels Mercy
Don’t overlook what I wrote where I said, “He will act in the name of justice to preserve His children”. That sounds a bit like mercy, doesn’t it? God’s justice is intermingled with His mercy. Truly, it fuels His mercy. There are times where He delivers justice to one in order to also deliver mercy to another. The Bible supports this in Matthew.
“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.”
Matthew 24:22 (NIV)
These are Jesus’ words. And what He’s saying here is this, “My love for mankind is so great that I want to hold out forever so every person would turn to me. However, because of the great wickedness of mankind, I would never come back to restore all things, and this world would become barren. And because of my great love and mercy, my justice must come to this world so that I can rescue my children.”
That’s powerful. And humbling. To know that because of God’s great love and mercy, He relents and puts off the justice we long to see in order for more to turn to Him. Yet at the same time He will not relent forever because He wants to rescue His children. It’s crazy. It’s hard to wrap my head around it. But I’m so grateful for His mercy and justice. And I long for the day when He restores all things.
How do We Show it?
You might be wondering if it’s possible for us to show mercy and justice in a similar way. And the good news is, we can! Even though we are fickle human beings, with the power of God living in us (Holy Spirit) we can learn to show mercy to people and administer appropriate justice. He gives us the wisdom and strength. To do so, however, we must spend time with God and let Him change our hearts and souls to be more like Christ. It’s a journey.
And one key element to being able to find this balance is humility. More specifically, walking humbly with God like Micah 6:8 says to do.
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8b (NIV)
Notice that justice and mercy are present in this verse. Along with the key to be able to do this as humans. Walking humbly with God. Not just walking in humility, but specifically with God. And doing so will forge our character into the character of Jesus Christ. And this is God’s mercy in action in our lives – we don’t deserve to be made into His character. But it also is God’s justice in action as more and more of the stuff that is not pleasing to God falls away and is eradicated. Mercy and Justice. A perfect harmony.
Wrapping Up
Unlike what some people think, God’s mercy and justice are not in conflict with each other. In fact, they complement and support each other. I hope you have all gained a clearer understanding of God’s mercy and justice as seen throughout the Bible and can trust and rejoice in them both.
Outro
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