THE JUSTICE OF GOD

Hugo McCord

When Habakkuk “the prophet” saw so much evil unpunished and unchecked among his people (apparently, in Judah), he asked the Lord “how long” it would be until the Lord took some action: “Destruction and violence are before me,” he said, and “justice never prevails” (1:1, 3-4, NRSV).

The Lord replied that he would allow a “fierce” army from Chaldea to invade the land, an army that would “gather captives like sand” and would “seize dwellings not their own” (1:6-9, NRSV).

The Lord’s answer did not satisfy Habakkuk, and he continued his complaining, saying that the Chaldeans, though sent “for punishment” of Habakkuk’s sinful people, were themselves more “wicked” than the ones being punished (1:12-13, NRSV).

The Lord responded that he knew the Chaldeans were “proud” and that “their spirit is not right in them,” for they live by “violence” and “bloodshed,” not “by faith” (2:4, 8, 17, NRSV). Therefore, they too would be punished at “the appointed time,” for the Lord, aware of all that all people do, “is in his holy temple” (2:3, 20, NRSV). Consequently, instead of Habakkuk’s finding fault with the Lord, both he and “all the earth” should “keep silence before him” (2:20, NRSV). Any human being, prophet or otherwise, is out of place to question the judgments of God.

After the Lord’s rebuke, Habakkuk stopped complaining, changed his disposition, and waited “quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us” (3:16, NRSV). Now he had come down from his “watchpost” on a “rampart” where he had challenged the Lord (2:1, NRSV). He began living “by faith,” not “by sight,” and would never again, no matter what troubles came, question the Lord (2:4; 3:17-19; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7). On the contrary, he said, “I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation” (3:18, NRSV).

The principle God set before Habakkuk, living “by faith,” is actually the divine plan of salvation in all ages. Even back in the patriarchal age, it was “by faith our ancestors [Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph] received approval (Hebrews 11:1-22, NRSV). Also, “in the Jews’ religion,” the same principle carried through, but the Jews “stumbled” because they lived “by works,” not “by faith” (Romans 9:32; Galatians 1:13).

Jesus was to them “the stone of stumbling,” whereas “the Gentiles” attained “the righteousness which is of faith,” because they believed in Jesus, as Isaiah had announced 800 years before: “whoever believes in him will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 28:16; Romans 9:30-33). Habakkuk heard the Lord say, “My righteous one will live by faith; but if he shrinks back, my soul will have no pleasure in him” (2:4, LXX; Hebrews 10:38).

Unfortunately, Martin Luther inserted the word “only” in Romans 3:28: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith [only] without the works of the law.” Indeed, justification is “by faith” (Galatians 3:11; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38) “without the works of the law” (Galatians 2:16), but not without works of faith (Romans 1:5; 4:12; Galatians 5:6; James 2:26).

Bible scholars call the book of Habakkuk a theodicy, defined by Jack Lewis as “an effort to justify the ways of God to man.” The dictionary defines a theodicy as a “vindication of divine justice in allowing the existence of evil.”

What is justice? From the Latin justus it is righteousness, uprightness, honesty. The foundation of God’s throne is “righteousness and justice” (Psalm 89:14). He who sits on that throne is “a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right” (Deuteronomy 32:4). As “there is only one who is” absolutely “good,” so only in one Being is perfect rectitude.

Physically and literally, the Hebrew verb sadaq means to be straight, as in Psalm 23:3, where a sheep rejoices that his shepherd leads him into “straight paths.” Morally and religiously, sadaq means that which is upright and righteous, and so a human sheep rejoices that his Shepherd leads him into “paths of righteousness.”

Physically and literally, sadaq could describe a javelin or lance as not only straight but “stiff” and “rigid” (Gesenius). Morally and religiously, it pictures justice as being not only righteous but also inflexible and unbendable.

Is there any way that the perfect “Righteous One” can retain his own righteousness while justifying sinners (Isaiah 24:16, NRSV; cf. Romans 3:26)? If justice is inflexible and unbending, and if no sin can enter heaven, what hope can any sinner have (John 8:21)? The spotless One has affirmed, “I will not justify the wicked” (Exodus 23:7, ASV), “I will not acquit the guilty” (Exodus 23:7, NRSV).

But the spotless One, besides being “just and right,” is also “compassionate and merciful,” even the essence of “love” (Deuteronomy 32:4; James 5:11; 1 John 4:8, NRSV). Is there any way that inflexible justice can unite with flexible mercy? There are some situations in which “never the twain shall meet” (Rudyard Kipling).

When I protested to the photographer that the picture he made did not do me justice, he looked at me, and said, “What you need is not justice but mercy.” When a judge told a thief, “I will give you justice,” the man replied, “Justice is not what I want.”

Sometimes a courthouse has a marble statue of Nemesis, the goddess of justice. In her hands is a pair of scales, which say the same thing that Solomon wrote, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight” (Proverbs 11:1).

A blindfold covers the eyes of Nemesis, telling the world that justice is blind and has no favorites, rich or poor. Moses instructed the Hebrew judges, “You shall not pervert the justice due to the poor in their lawsuits” (Exodus 23:6, NRSV).

Jephthah’s only child, proud of her father, met him “with timbrels and with dancing” (Judges 11:34, NRSV), but her father was “very low,” because he had vowed to make a “burnt offering” of the one who met him (11:31). “I cannot take back my vow” (11:35). In most instances those “who stand by their oath even to their hurt” (Psalm 15:4) are to be complimented, but in this instance justice was cruel and mercy was needed.

In Israel, if someone injured a pregnant woman, causing premature births or miscarriages, the Lord’s law of justice was stiff and rigid with no mercy:

Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe (Exodus 21:22-25).

King Saul was angry because someone had violated a law he had made, and exclaimed that even if his son Jonathan was the guilty one, “he shall die” (1 Samuel 14:24-39). Yes, justice is blind, showing no favorites.

Another king, Zaleukas of Persia, having made a law that the penalty for adultery was to blind the guilty, was embarrassed that his own son was guilty. Would the king let the law of justice be executed or would a father’s love prevail? He had one of his son’s eyes punched out, and one of his own.

Another Persian king was tricked into making a law that anyone praying to anybody but the king would “be thrown into a den of lions” (Daniel 6:7). The laws of “the Medes and the Persians” could “not be changed” even by the king himself! (6:8). But King Darius “determined to save Daniel, and until the sun went down he made every effort” to spare him from the lions (6:14, NRSV). Undoubtedly lawyers were called in to see if there were any loop holes in the law that would exempt Daniel. None was found. Justice is unbendable, inflexible, unmerciful. Into the den of lions Daniel had to go.

On the island of Malta the natives believed in the goddess of justice, Nemesis, whom they called “Dike.” When they saw a deadly viper hanging on Paul’s hand, they said to one another,

Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, Justice [Dike, personification of a goddess, NASV] has not allowed him to live (Acts 28:4).

Apparently those natives believed that Dike held to the “life for life” merciless law of justice. That law did not originate with men, but with God: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Genesis 9:6, NASV; Exodus 21:23; Numbers 35:33).

When the prime minister of Egypt said that Benjamin, now convicted as a thief, must become a slave, Benjamin’s brother, Judah, recognizing that justice called for such a penalty, asked the prime minister if he might pay the penalty and let Benjamin go home (Genesis 44:6-34). In this way, justice would not be compromised, and the heart of a grieving father back home would not be broken.

Though Gomer had betrayed Hosea, he still loved her with a love deeper than most men could muster. Apparently the adulteress, getting old and no longer physically attractive, was forced to sell herself as a slave in order to have food and clothing (Hosea 3:1). Still Hosea wanted her back as his wife.

However, she was not free, and her owner wanted the price of a slave, 30 shekels of silver, before he would release Gomer (Exodus 21:32). Hosea had only 15 shekels, but also he had 15 bushels of barley, which the slave master agreed to accept, and so Gomer was returned to Hosea (3:2-3). Justice and mercy in this case were intertwined.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, is a memorial to Major Malcom MacGregor. In the Sepoy uprising in India, he volunteered to take the place of a sick soldier, and marched to his death. The law of justice in the army was not violated, and mercy was extended to the sick soldier.

All people are sinners, and “the wages of sin is death,” even “the second death, the lake of fire” (Romans 3:23; 6:23; Revelation 20:14). Sinners want mercy, not a “just recompense” (Hebrews 2:2).

Before the world was, methinks, in a heavenly conference, someone asked if there is any way, in the “manifold” wisdom of God, that he can be just and yet justify sinners so as to relieve them of sin’s penalty (cf. Romans 3:26; Ephesians 3:10).

Someone said, “Look! See those animal sacrifices that will rise from the hills of Judea, odors of sweet smell, sacrifices acceptable.” “Yes,” replied the all-wise God, “but they are all pure animal, and it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take sin away” (cf. Hebrews 10:1-4).

Someone said, “Let gold and silver from all continents be ransom money, even as Hosea paid to get Gomer free of the bondage of slavery.” But God said, “Sin is so black, so unlike purity, ‘perishable things like silver or gold’ cannot satisfy the demands of justice” (cf. 1 Peter 1:18).

Someone said, “Let clean morality and good deeds counter balance people’s sins. Let there be a Treasury of Merit with the records of good deeds canceling the bad, and so the law of justice will be upheld.” But God said, “Release from guilt can never be by ‘works of righteousness’ of sinners” (cf. Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Someone said, “O God, you be heaven’s attorney and draft a law that would absolve all guilt from sinners.” But God replied, “Such is impossible, for if a law could be written which would be ‘able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed’ be ‘based on law’“ (cf. Galatians 3:21).

Heaven is quiet. Look! Someone is approaching the great white throne. He is the Logos, the Word, the one afterward called “Jesus” (John 1:1-14; Matthew 1:21). The angels, the cherubs, the seraphs, and the Holy Spirit all watch and listen as Jesus kneels before the Father, and says, “I have come to do your will, O God” (cf. Psalm 40:6-9; Hebrews 10:7, NRSV).

Again heaven is quiet, awaiting the Father’s response:

If you are willing to be made “a little lower than the angels,” willing to “partake of flesh and blood,” willing to suffer “death, even the death of the cross,” your ‘blood’ will satisfy justice and will “wash” away all the sins of all who obey you (John 3:36; Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 2:9, 24; 5:9; Revelation 1:5).

But, my Son, you do not have to take this demotion and you do not have to undergo the pain of a crucifixion. It is up to you (cf. John 20:17-18).

A second time Jesus kneels, and repeats his offer: “I have come to do your will, O God.”

So to earth Jesus came, and “loved me,” said the chief of sinners, and “gave himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20; 1 Timothy 1:15). He took my place in the middle of three crosses. My sins are gone! God is still just though he has justified me, a sinner (Romans 3:26).

But at what a price! “Life for life, ... wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (cf. Exodus 21:25). “With his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24-25). As Judah offered to be a substitute for his younger brother, so an elder brother became my stand-in (Romans 8:29). He loved me as much as Hosea loved an adulterous wife, to pay a ransom for me from the bondage of sin, not “with perishable things like silver or gold,” but “with precious blood, as of a Lamb unblemished and spotless” (Romans 6;6; 1 Peter 1:18-19).

In Jesus “mercy and truth” meet together, “righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10). In the hymn “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” Elizabeth Clephane exclaimed that the cross is “A trysting place where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet” (part of verse 2).

We cannot be justified even by that precious blood unless we in penitence are immersed in water and thereafter busy ourselves in works of faith and labors of love (Acts 2:38; 10:47-48; Galatians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 1:3). But by themselves baptism and Christian works will not open the gates of pearl (Revelation 21:21).

Obedience to the commands of the gospel is necessary but no saving power is in anything that we do (Hebrews 5:9; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). If anything but the blood of Jesus has saving power, God was a sadist to let Jesus suffer.