The Justice of God Part 1: God's Punishment

The Justice of God Part 1: God's Punishment

Malachi 3.5-7a-b

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty. “I do not change. So you, O descendents of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty”

There is a sign on one of our local churches that says something like, “God is just.” What an appropriate way to express the justice of God. God is bold, simple and short in His standard of justice, and unwavering. Rarely, however, do we study about the justice of God. Part of this is because we know that as Christians we are under the grace of God. We know that the wrath of God has been spared us by the wrath God poured out on Christ as the cross. Romans 5.9 tells us that “we have been justified by His blood” and we are “saved from God's wrath through [Christ].” Nevertheless, the justice of God has not dissipated merely because we have received justification through Christ. It is significant to study about God's justice if we are to learn about God's character, His behavior, and His love for His people.

Malachi is a tremendous example of God's justice. Here in chapter 3 we see a startling contrast in the same chapter. First we see God promising that He “will come near to [Jerusalem] for judgment.” Now, at this point in history, the Israelites had returned to the city of Jerusalem with a rebuilt temple. Unfortunately, however, the people of Israel, in the words of my study Bible “had fallen into a state of spiritual apathy” (Archaeological Study Bible, NIV). Thus, it makes sense that God is judging the people of Jerusalem—they have once again fallen into their old ways. God Himself even notes this when He states that “ever since the time of [Israel's] forefathers [they] have turned away from [God's] decrees and have not kept them.” So we see the first attribute of God's justice: He punishes wrongdoing. This is far too often perceived as bullying or unnecessary meanness, but in reality it is what makes God God. Think about the character of God. He is holy and perfect, powerful beyond measure and yet loving and merciful. In order to posses these attributes, we must hold them in respect to another significant property of God—He is eternal and unchanging. Because of this, He must be all holy and all loving and all merciful at the same moment. Thus, for God to truly be God, He must be consistent. When we look at nature, do we not expect the natural laws to work every time? I don't EVER have to deal with throwing a ball up in the air and it sticking sometimes—it will always come down. Physics is constant. Likewise, I do not have to worry about the plants ceasing to produce oxygen—they will keep pumping it out so long as they are here. Likewise, then, do we really expect the justice of God to be dependent upon specific circumstances. Nowhere do we see God compromising His justice for anything. Yes, we see compassion and mercy, but those come after judgment. With the Christian, it comes when He has accepted Christ as His Savior, for that is the moment that the wrath of God that was poured on His own Son is applied as a credit to you so that you will not have to face it.

But how does the punishment of God appear? Is it senseless? Absolutely not! Unfortunately, many people have the faulty assumption that God is like a sinister magician, who does little more than poke at humans, causing them grief for His pleasure and recklessly throwing people into Hell because they won't do things “His way.” This is not at all the picture Scripture presents, and such a view is of the Devil. What I am about to say is the most significant point in this devotion, so please read carefully and burn it into your brain: the punishment of God is meant for the redemption of Man. Again, the punishment of God is meant for the redemption of Man. We see it most beautifully applied here in Malachi. God says that He “will come near to [Jerusalem] for judgment. [He] will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice.” If this sounds harsh, the reality of it is far worse. Even in a society so exposed to graphical images, we would still cringe at the effects of the justice of God. God's wrath is brutal. But man has a choice! In the midst of God's testament against His own people, He finishes His sentence with elegant and yet simple, reassuring words: “but do not fear Me.” What reassurance! Why could the Jewish people and we today be so reassured? Because God says, “I do not change. So you, O descendents of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Because God doesn't change, so we are not destroyed. That is GRACE. That is the sort of mercy that we see of Jesus on the Cross. Grace says, “I will ALWAYS love you. I WILL NOT destroy you because of My love for you.” What a wonderful concept!

God goes further with His speech to Israel. He asks them to “[r]eturn to [Him], and [He] will return to them.” We see that after the punishment, God is calling His people back to Him. There is an incredibly important lesson in this—God punishes us to cause us to recognize our sins and repent and turn to Him. That is the very nature of God throughout every age of human history and every age to come. The justice of God tells us that if we are punished and we are a Christian, God is doing it for our own good.

God's justice is an incredible, powerful, beautiful, and mysterious reality. We cannot possibly cover it all, but we will study more about it later. For now, remember God's justice in regards to punishment. Can you think of some area in your life you are being punished? Identify it and turn it over to Christ. Allow Him to put you into “the path of correction.” Amen.

With love in Christ,


Austin Aldrich