My Thoughts on the Justice of God

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I remembered back when I read the book by the late R.C. Sproul Sr. called "The Holiness of God". One of the chapters talked about God's justice. One line from the book says to be careful when you ask for justice - you might get it. How many times do I find myself really singing "Amazing Justice" instead of "Amazing Grace" never mind that I was forgiven of debt I couldn't pay? How many times have I really ignored the fact that I'm just a flawed human being in the need of God's grace to do right?

Genesis 18:25 has Abraham talking about the Judge of the Earth doing right. Any truly saved person wouldn't want to punish the innocent along with the guilty. Such are poor standards today like in Communist countries or in Nazi Germany - the innocent suffered along with the wicked. Yet, one can also question God's justice such as the incident with the Tower of Siloam which caused 18 bystanders to die, or Pilate's massacre during the ministry of Jesus. Where was the justice there? More often, it feels God is acting rather slow. More often, we feel that justice delayed is justice denied. Yet, God has a purpose in delaying His justice so He can give space for the wicked person to repent.

The KJV Study Bible defines the justice of God as an extension of the holiness of God. God's justice depends on His holiness. It implies that God has the authority and ability to establish the standard for all relationships and that He will be consistent in relating to the righteous and the wicked. This justice is both legislative and distributive. The issue is that we've all been wicked and cut short of God's glory (Romans 3:10-19, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, James 2:10-11) and we can't work our way to righteousness. That's justice needed to be fulfilled with Jesus becoming the sin sacrifice for the world (Isaiah 51-53). 

I was thinking about a couple of times I'm being judgmental or said somebody had to die already. I felt like it wasn't fair that somebody truly righteous had to die early. What I didn't see is that the person who was truly saved had a promotion when he died early. Meanwhile, the wicked are given their chance to repent. God could've struck Adam and Eve dead but He didn't. God may have banished Adam and Eve from Eden yet He still promised a Savior. God could've flooded the Earth immediately yet He chose to give 120 years before doing so. It was because God prepared time for Noah and his seven family members to build an ark huge enough. It would've taken that long for Noah to build the ark that huge based on what I'd want to imagine is caveman or stone-age technology. What I don't realize is that God allows injustices for a reason.

A good example of God's justice was with Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21. Why God allowed Naboth to be harmed is something I can't answer. Why God allowed Abel to be killed by Cain is something I can't answer either. All we know is that after Abel died, Seth became the replacement. After that, the pronouncement against the House of Ahab was done after the incident when Ahab and Jezebel stole Naboth's vineyard. Naboth was wrongly framed and he was a victim of injustice. What happened next was that justice was declared against all the crimes of the House of Ahab (for none was as wicked as he was before or after him). Ahab was buried and later, Jezebel was eaten by wild dogs. Another example of justice after an injustice happened with Athaliah. Athaliah was the bloodiest of all of Ahab's children. Athaliah was pretty much her mother except worse - she murdered her own family. Yet, after seven years, Athaliah was killed so Joash the rightful king can be enthroned. 

Should I really question why God allows injustice? I do question it. I do feel like I didn't deserve it. But what if any injustice that happened to me was a result of my own unjust acts? What if any injustice I'm suffering is because my attention needs to be called? The justice of God is much harder to fathom than the injustice of man. Man's injustice can be understood because man is sinful. However, God's justice is way harder to understand because God is naturally holy. Even the most sanctified person alive is only holy in the sense, set apart for God. However, God's holiness is the very basis of all His actions. 

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