The Justice of God

The Justice of God
2 Kings 23:21-26
“However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.” (23:26)

The die was cast. Like the northern tribes of Israel, Judah also continued their descent into immorality and idolatry. The final straw occurred when Manasseh had “shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 kings 21:16). He had promoted witchcraft and idolatry. He even instigated child sacrifice (21:6). His wickedness surpassed the Amorites. Because Judah followed his sin, God pronounced final judgment upon them (21:12-15). Even though Josiah sought to obey the commands of God and sought to bring spiritual reform, it did not change the outcome. Because of Josiah’s obedience and reform, God promised to avert judgment until after his death. Nevertheless, the judgment of God upon the nation was already pronounced.

After the death of Josiah, the country quickly descended into political turmoil. His successor, Jehoahaz, reigned only three months before Pharoah Neco disposed of him. In his place, Jehoiakim was made king. Although he reigned for eleven years, it was a time of turmoil as Judah became the buffer state between two superpowers: Egypt and Babylon. Because Judah sought to ally themselves with Egypt, they faced the wrath of Babylon. However, in 2 Kings 24:2-4, God makes it clear the reason Babylon was on the offensive against Judah was that God sent them to destroy Judah because of their sin. As a result, Judah would join Israel in exile in Babylon, and the nation would no longer exist as a vibrant, independent country.

Of all the attributes of God, the one we disdain the most is his justice. We affirm his love, we cherish his mercy, and we celebrate his grace. But his justice we ignore. In his classic work, The Existences and Attributes of God, Stephen Charnock states, “Fear of God is natural to all men—not a fear of offending him but a fear of being punished by him.”  To pacify our fear, we deny his justice. We use his grace as a cover for our sins and ignore the threat of his judgment. As Charnock points out, “There is something of a secret atheism in all, which is the foundation of the evil practices in their lives—not an utter disowning of the being of God but a denial or doubting of some of the rights of his nature. The absolute disowning of the being of a God is not natural to man. Yet an inconsideration of God or misrepresentation of his nature is natural to man as corrupt.”  This is no more seen than in our minimizing God’s justice and wrath upon sin. We celebrate Christ’s first advent when we came as our savior but ignore his second advent when he will come as a judge (Matthew 24). We cannot think that we can continue to slaughter our children and show contempt for his moral law and escape his judgment. If he fails to judge, then he is no longer just.

However, there is hope even for the worst of sinners. No matter what we have done or the depths of our descent into sin, there is hope. For the justice of God that demands judgment upon sin also promises salvation to those who accept the substitutionary death of Christ. When Christ died on the cross, he satisfied the justice of God by taking upon himself the punishment for our sins. All that is required of us is to ask for his forgiveness and surrender our lives to him. Then we have the assurance of salvation because his justice equally demands our forgiveness because Christ has paid the penalty. Thus, the justice of God is both the terror of the sinner and the hope of the forgiven. Because God is just, he will not condemn those who surrender their lives to him. As John points out in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” For his children, his justice is not to be feared but embraced. If you fear his justice, then seek his forgiveness.