The Justice of God: Part 2: God Punishes Wickedness

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 descendants 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."

One of the things that always used to shock me about the Old Testament was the severeness of sin. We see God commanding His children to stone adulterers, sorcerers, and the like. As I have matured, however, I have begun to understand the seriousness of sin. One pastor says that the reason we do not understand the punishment of God is because we have no concept of the severity of sin. I agree with that. Sin is an awful thing that destroys not only us, but our families as well. Joshua 7 tells the story of Achan, who deliberately disobeyed God by taking the plunder from a war that God commanded the Israelites not to do. Achan was stoned along with his family. The severity of sin is such that it corrupts our entire families.

From such examples in the Old Testament do we comprehend the punishment of sin. Last week we talked about how God punishes His people to bring them back into correction, but this week we will talk about a different type of punishment--the punishment for those who rebel against God. From Malachi we see that God says He "will come near to [Israel] 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, but do not fear [the LORD]." Beloved, God's wrath is against sin and those who practice it. Malachi shows us that God Himself has a plan for how to punish wickedness. And when we play with sin like it is a toy and make it out to be "no big deal" we are disobeying and displeasing the Father. He has proven time and again that He is serious about sin. Nation after nation have fallen who have turned to wickedness. The punishment applies to both nations and individuals.

Until we really see the wickedness on Earth, however, we do not truly understand why it is important that God punishes wickedness. You see, for God to be a holy God like He claims, we must never find Him condoning or "letting people off the hook" for sin. If He does, then He defies His own nature and is not the God that we know. At this point all such standards of morality would be pointless here on Earth, for the moral law we possess is but a reflection of the heavenly law. That is why God has every right to destroy us for sin. If you think, "How could God be so cruel as to allow people to go to hell or kill them because they committed a sin?", be careful. The moment we make that argument that moment we declare that God has no power over life and death. Remember, our sin deserved the divine punishment of God. The Old Testament Israelites saw this punishment carried out through physical death, and we today see God carrying it out through spiritual death--Hell, the eternal separation from God.

Thankfully, however, we are spared from the wrath of God. You see, Romans 5.9 tells us that "we [as Christians] have now been justified by [Christ's] blood" and we are "saved from God's wrath through [Christ]." The punishment we deserved was, in fact, carried out. But you see, Christ took our punishment and bore it for us, like a brother or friend who takes the fall for our actions. That is the most significant point in this lesson: the punishment for wickedness can be spared only through man's acceptance of Christ. There is no other way--He is the only sacrifice holy enough to continuously purge us from sin.

Beloved, I do not think we realize how blessed we are to have Christ's sacrifice. It is the most incredible thing we could ever have or dream up. For thousands of years man has longed for this through his myths and stories, perhaps a subconscious psychological and spiritual longing for forgiveness. Thankfully, we have redemption through Christ! We are free from the punishment we once deserved! We are justified and we now ARE worthy to stand before God because of Christ's payment of our sins. If you do not have that forgiveness, receive it today. Ask Christ to forgive you through His death and resurrection on the Cross and to come into your heart and live. What a beautiful plan of salvation we have. Remember each day how privileged we are to be in Christ's love and mercy and not under God's wrath! Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich