Tag Archive for 'Atonement'

More on God’s Justice…

Published
by
Michael Clary
on December 7, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

A.W. Tozer’s chapter in Knowledge of the Holy on the justice of God is so potent and powerful, yet so painfully brief! Yet here are a few observations.

First, he says that justice is not a standard that exists above God and which God is required to obey. This would be to imply that God is not the highest standard of justice but is subject to a higher standard of justice. No, God is Himself the standard of justice and he executes his justice perfectly. Yet, Tozer says that “there is nothing in His justice which forbids the exercise of His mercy.” God’s justice is free and perfect, and there is never a time when he is unjust. As the Psalmist Asaph ponders the prosperity of the wicked, he is reassured with this knowledge:

“ 18Truly you set them [the wicked] in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.” (Psalm 73)

When he considers the justice of God with the mercy of God, he concludes first that “no attribute of God is in conflict with another.” Secondly, he says that “mercy does not become effective toward a man until justice has done its work.” That’s the rub; that’s the cross. He’s referring to a theology of redemption that teaches the severity of God’s wrath, the depth of God’s love, mercy, and compassion, the absurdity of the cross, and how God is completely consistent with Himself in the whole matter. At no point is His justice compromised in His exercise of mercy. On the contrary, the very manner of his demonstration of mercy vindicates His justice, because mercy is accomplished via the cross.

It breaks down like this. God is always just. If one wonders if God is just towards the wicked, he need look to only two places: the cross, or to hell. Does God punish sin? Yes. The punishment for every sin will be meted out in either hell or on the cross. There is not one solitary sin in all existence that his escaped the scrutiny of God’s just eyes and His vengeful wrath poured out upon the sinner. For me, and all my sin, God’s vengeful wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ. And all the riches of the glory of Christ, his glorified body, his righteousness and favor with God, are all mine (not that they were taken away from Christ to be given to me, the resurrection proves that he can suffer punishment for sin and yet be raised again to live because God is himself the source of all life).

For those who do not know or love Christ, who do not repent of their sins and obey him, they will meet the justice of God in hell. When someone dies apart from Christ, they will get nothing more or less than they deserve. God will not punish them more than their sins require, nor less. His punishment for sin is just, and that justice is hell.

So then, God’s justice for sin is seen in two places: on the cross (for believers) and in hell (for non-believers).

That was the hope of Asaph in the Psalm, as well as the hope of Job, Jeremiah and others who wonder, “why do the wicked prosper? (Jeremiah 12:1).” The wicked prosper for only a season. God has his own purposes in not handing down judgment immediately, otherwise he would have destroyed Adam and Eve and this whole human experiment put to an end right then. No, God desired to redeem humanity, which required a temporary suspension in his justice. This suspension would have been unjust were it not for the fact that God knew he would redeem in the future. If God had no plans to redeem in the future, then why suspend judgment? Why not just send Adam and Eve to hell right then? Why allow them to procreate when there was never any hope of anyone ever living a righteous life who was their descendant? This is why it is appropriate to say that anyone who lived before the time of Christ “borrowed” from the cross the mercy that they may someday hope for. Old Testament believers, such as David, Samuel, Enoch, and so on, lived in a time of suspended judgment under a system that could not permanently redeem them from their sin. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).” God’s mercy was extended during a time when mercy had not yet been purchased by the cross. They borrowed mercy from Christ not knowing from whom or by what means mercy would come.

This is the hope of the Christian. God’s justice for my sin was met in Christ on the cross. But death could not hold Christ down. Because he is God and is the source of all life, the resurrection secures for all who are “in Him” all the things that are his. We will be like him, glorified in body, purified in heart and conscience, righteous before God in deed. Perfected. God’s justice also insists that those who are righteous before Him and are in Christ receive those things promised to Christ and belonging to Him, an eternal inheritance. Amen!

God’s Justice and Darth Vader

Published
by
Michael Clary
on November 15, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

A. W. Tozer remarks in the chapter on justice that there is no conflict between God’s justice and God’s mercy. God does not send people to hell necessarily with neither delight nor with regret. In Ezekiel 18:23, God says, “’Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?” God is pleased to show mercy to those who are willing to receive it. And yet in Isaiah 13:11, he says, “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” This is remarkably unflinching. God does not express the slightest hesitation in handing out his justice in the right time.

 

In 2 Peter 3:9, he writes that “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” He is encouraging his hearers to not doubt that God will return for us, but that we must be patient, along with him, to wait for more people to come to Christ. How thankful I am for this! What if Christ had returned the day before I repented and believed? I would face a just wrath.

 

The Lord’s justice is furious and strong, yet, because he is still a God of love and mercy, He has demonstrated great patience towards us to allow time for more to come to Christ. I think of Romans 9:22: “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” Here we see an even further purpose of his patience: it demonstrates some beautiful quality of his character to those who have eyes to behold it. For example, this is a beautiful and comforting truth to me, because he has been gracious to me and has given me the eyes to recognize it, and so, while I weep for those who perish, I rejoice in the Lord who was patient to endure them as long as he did.

 

Just like me: he was patient to endure me far longer than I would have been. I like to hand down justice quickly. When I am right and I know it I have little patience for anyone who disagrees. God, however, has no emotional needs to satisfy and no one he is inclined to impress. He is who he is, unconflicted. And so, while men on earth, like fools say “there is no God” while breathing in the very air he has provided for them to breathe, reject him continually and his anger burns against them for their obstinance, he at the same time will bear with them for quite a long time in order to demonstrate something higher about himself.

 

In our day, we are quite uncomfortable with the notion of God’s justice because we are unacquainted with pain and suffering. Those who are daily in the throes of a life of suffering do not question God, because they have not been spoiled enough to think that they deserve any different. It is amazing to me that African slaves of America’s history largely adopted the religion of the white man, their oppressor. How ironic that they are now rulers in the kingdom of God while many of their bigoted “Christian” masters have perished.

 

They were well acquainted with suffering, and so it was easier for them to detach themselves from this life because there was little hope for them in earthly life. Christians who suffer and whose hope is in Christ alone are comforted by the idea of God’s justice because they look forward to the day when God will vindicate Himself and mete out punishment to those who oppress them. Only in recent times has the notion of God’s justice been under such heavy scrutiny and attack.

 

When Luke Skywalker confronted his father on the moon of Endor, he became a great spokesperson for this point of view:

 

Luke: Search your feelings, Father, you can’t do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.

Darth Vader: It is too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now.

Luke: Then my father is truly dead.

 

Luke Skywalker is the modern man, exalting himself over God and pleading with him to “come back to the good side.” Yet God, in all his unrighteous anger and temper tantrums, wearing a black helmet and causing evil tsunamis and earthquakes, can’t seem to let go of his violent tendencies. “It is too late for me, son.” So Luke, like any virtuous humanist responds, “then my father is truly dead.” This exchange illustrates well what happens when a person becomes grows uncomfortable with the idea of a God who still hands out justice.

 

We are the smarter, “good” son, trying to rescue our vindictive father from his antiquated ways, and we neuter him in our books and in our pulpits. But this is not God. God is the source of all that is good and he would be in conflict if he didn’t enact justice. Yet his justice is always good, patient, unconflicted, and righteous.