Perfect Justice

Where do we get our sense of justice? Where does the standard come from? 

Our problem as human beings is that we are not perfectly just because none of us is perfectly righteous and holy.

Even our reactions to injustice reveal the Moral Law which is written on our hearts and minds. But who sets this objective standard for what is right, fair and just? 

Let’s read:

Deut 32:1-6 NLT

1 “Listen, O heavens, and I will speak! Hear, O earth, the words that I say!
2 Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.

3 I will proclaim the name of the LORD; how glorious is our God!
4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

5 “But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.
6 Is this the way you repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father who created you? Has he not made you and established you?

This is the song of Moses that the Lord gave to him as he was preparing the children of Israel to enter the Promised land.
God was their rock and their refuge and was perfectly just in all that He did. God wanted His Word and ways to penetrate their hearts.

We can see three points in this passage in Deut:

●       A Perfectly Just God

●       Our Need for Justification (to be made right with God)

●       Our Responsibility

A Perfectly Just God

In verse 4, God is perfectly just in all His ways, which means that He will be perfectly righteous, holy, merciful and gracious, loving and patient to every person. God uses every one of His attributes in the right way - perfectly executing them because everything He does is with perfect knowledge and wisdom.

God is morally pure so when He acts it is the real thing without manipulation, any hidden motives, without any shadow of turning (James 1:17). All of God’s actions are right and just as He interacts with His people because He has no favorites, shows no partiality and treats everyone with equity (Act 10:34).

Moses spoke about Yahweh as the One who practices loyal love, justice, and righteousness and in a sense was challenging the Israelites to aspire to and practice the same things as they moved into the land God promised them.

Because God is just, His justice is an indispensable part of His character in the same way that His love and mercy are indispensable. Without His justice, sin would run unchecked. Evil would win.
Yet the payment that justice demands for our sin is death.

Romans 3: 10, 23  no one is righteous, not even one...for everyone has sinned; we all fall short God’s glorious standard.” God who is perfectly just is equally loving at the same time, which brings us to our second point.

Our Need for Justification

Justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous. It means to be put in right standing with God. The problem is no one has the power to be made right with God and stand before God and be justified.

Only God, who is both perfectly loving and righteous could provide what was needed (that is Jesus His Son) to pay the penalty owed to himself, and that penalty for our sin was death.

In that “great exchange” the sins of the world were put to Christ’s account and He paid the price, and for all those who accept His payment for their sin, God put Christ’s payment on their account. It was on the cross where Justice and Love met. Mankind can, through placing their faith in Christ perfect work on their behalf have peace with God.

Our Responsibility

Paul was telling us that since our guilt and debt had been so graciously pardoned by Christ’s blood, shed for us since we have been legally justified and acquitted, we should not ignore this amazing gift of salvation.

In both 2 Cor and Deut 32, we see both Paul and Moses reminding God’s people of their responsibility to others because of what they had received. This was to be their testimony to the nations, to the foreigner living in their land.
Now that we understand God’s perfect justice and love, how do we express that in a tangible way to the world around us?

God expects us as His people to show deep compassion for the poor, the sick, and the outcasts of society - to be a voice for those who do not have a voice (Micah 6:8; Isa 1:17). 
To treat everyone equally, no matter where they come from, regardless of the color of their skin, what religious background they are from, or place in society (Lev 24:22).

If you are a Christian, then you and I have a responsibility to the people in society we live in. We should take a God-centered approach to social justice, and we speak of upholding every person’s God given value. Christians are to express God’s love and justice by showing kindness in practical ways to those less fortunate.

Concern for others should be a part of our Christian walk and used as a means to open the door to share the gospel. It should be part of who we are to be generous, with our time, with our resources, with ourselves because God, who is our Father is concerned about others who are both physically and spiritually destitute.

God is perfectly just, as his people have been justified, and now we can allow God to use our lives to do justice and act on behalf of others. Will you allow God to show you how and where He wants to use your life to do justice?