Monday 10 October 2011

Are We Really Concerned About Justice?

I'm sure many of us will be familiar with people accusing God of wrongdoing. When they look out on a world that is filled with evil, whether it be the latest murder investigation saga on the news or the feeling that they have been personally mistreated, many people question whther a just and good God can exist.

However, we have no right to put God in the dock. For one thing, we are the creature and He the Creator, so we are in no position to exalt ourselves to become His judge. What is more, if we were really concerned about justice we would be be questioning why God is treating me so well. Yet no one complains about that. I've never heard anyone get worked up over the fact that God is treating them far better than they deserve. How can God allow me, a sinner who has dragged His glory through the dirt and rejected the rule of the Lord of the universe, to still live? What is more, how can God forgive and welcome such sinners to be part of His people? Nobody asks these questions, yet this is what we ought to be concerned about. How can God be right and say that I am right when I'm wrong?

The answer to this is found in the cross of Christ. John Stott writes:

No one can now accuse God of condoning evil and so of moral indifference or injustice. The cross demonstrates with equal vividness both his justice in judging sin and his mercy in justifying the sinner. For now, as a result of the propitatory death of his Son, God can be ‘just and the justifier’ of those who believe in him. He is able to bestow a righteous status on the unrighteous, without compromising his own righteousness.