God is Justice

 
The Lord says to us all, time and time again, “You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees (Lev 18:4)…Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Jos1:8)… I am the LORD your God; follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Keep the Sabbaths holy, that they may be a sign between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord (Eze 20:19).”

But truly how important is it to “Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always”? (Deut 11:1) How imperative is it to not prosper or be successful through any other way? How important is it to carefully follow all His commands, to love the LORD your God and to walk always in his ways (Deut 19:9), and to carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut 26:16)? And how important is it to take a copy of the law to be with you, and to read it all the days of your life so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of the law? (Deut 17:19) Is not the fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge and is not knowledge more precious than choice gold?

In truth, it is exceedingly significant and critical - it is a matter of life and death for the Father says, “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them” (Lev 18:4 & Eze 20:11). He is the Lord who does all things- He forms the light and creates darkness, He brings prosperity and creates disasters (Is 45:7). Whoever hears the word of the Lord and believes He who sent His Son to establish justice on earth (Is 42:1) has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life (Jn 5:24). Whoever believes in the Word has streams of living water flowing from him (Jn 7:37) - and whoever follows the Word will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life (Jn 8:12). In faithfulness, the Word brought forth justice as He came to this world to testify to the truth- the Father’s word is truth, the Father is the only one who is good, and the Father’s word is the only one which is good.

For judgment Jesus did come into the world- and everyone on this side of truth, on the side of Jesus, on the side of the Spirit of truth listens to Him and to what the Spirit says to the churches. The Lord did not come to judge the world but His ministry in the Father set in place the measuring line of justice by each word which overflowed from the Father’s heart unto the Son’s honest lips and sown into our hearts – the measuring line is His testimony of the Father who alone is good, His testimony of men who are evil, and His testimony of the plans of the Father to prosper us and not to bring us harm, and of the power of the resurrection of the kingdom of heaven which began with His own resurrection from a body which was crucified on a Roman cross in weakness of the flesh. He spoke the words which sanctified us and saved us if we accepted them into our hearts and into the daily practice of our lives- but those same words which He spoke will condemn us on the last day if we continue to reject them. For He did not come to bring peace but a sword to bring division between members of the same household, the house of God. With one swift strike of His sword, the very words He spoke separated the sheep from the goats- judged between the fat sheep and the lean sheep- gathered in those which are not of this sheep pen- exposed the wolves in sheep’s clothing- and impeached the hired hand who abandons the sheep and the shepherds who rules over the flock harshly and brutally. And it continues to have the same effect when we speak His words combined with the testimonial power of the Holy Spirit, who convicts the world of guilt and brings demonstration to it in regards to sin righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8).

With the words of the Father which the Lord spoke, He made the clean delineation between those who have been saved by faith through repentance, and those who remained condemned because of the lack of faith from the hardness of heart and the pride of their spirit. If He had not come and spoken to us, and done among us what no one else did, we would not be guilty of sin. (Jn 15:22) Now, however, we have no excuse for our sin and deliberate blindness as we claim we can see when in fact we are blind. And blind we are when we live in darkness- when we descend in the waterless pit of half-truths - drinking in the bitter waters of lies upon lies that there is no Resurrection- that there is no power of the resurrection- that we should take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. Woe to those who laugh now and are well fed, for they will mourn and weep and go hungry in the famine of the hearing of the word of the Lord- but unless they repent and change, they will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so shines the justice of our God: if it is darkness which men so love and treasure, then in darkness they will stay to their hearts’ content for all eternity. But if you love light now, then the glory of God will be your light in New Jerusalem, just as the glory of the Word is your light on this earth.

The light of the glory of the knowledge of the R/resurrection did come into the world, yet men still loved darkness because our deeds are evil and preferred to walk in deep shadows of ignorance instead of the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice formed by the footsteps of Wisdom. But whoever lives by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God comes into the light and trusts in the light, so that we may become sons of light (Jn 12:35) and all may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven, the God of Resurrection. And as the Father sent His Son, so His Son sends us to open the eyes of the world and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in the one who is the light of the world (Acts 26:18)- for the Word who the Father sent as His justice is the light to all nations (Is 51:4).

And this is the Father’s justice: His judgment is His justice, for all He says and does is justice. He sent His Son to demonstrate His justice- to testify that His ways are just and His judgment is just (Jn 5:30), His thoughts are just, His regulations and laws are just, the work of His hands is just- and ALL the words of His mouth are just.

The Father is just when He sits to judge on His throne- He is just when He rises to show us compassion. He is just when He speaks; He is just when He is silent. He corrects, disciplines and shepherds the flock with justice- He judges and makes war with justice - He secures justice for the poor and the needy. He conducts ALL His affairs with justice.

His attack is justice- His defence is justice – His beauty is justice- His splendour is justice. His justice is His delights, passions and pleasures. His justice is perfection. And the knowledge and understanding of the mystery of His justice is the wisdom of God.

The foundation of His throne is justice - His kingdom is established and upheld in justice- a sceptre of justice is the sceptre of His kingdom - He governs with justice and by Him kings reign and rulers decree justice.

He never withholds justice- He never perverts justice- His mouth never betrays justice - He never denies justice and He never deprives us and Himself of justice. It is only from God that men get true justice- justice of the calibre of purity that is priceless and precious, desirable and a delight in the eyes of God. Our God loves justice- He is exalted by His justice- and He is known by His justice.

He is a God of justice - God IS justice.

And there is no other. We need not look elsewhere for there is no justice outside of God – we have no good thing apart from Him. For He is the only one who is just- the one and only from whom we can get justice - the only who truly seeks justice in His land - the only one who fills the heavens with justice- the only one whose ways are always just- whose thoughts are always just- whose words are always just- whose plans are just- whose dreams are just- the only one whose Son is just- and whose Spirit is just.

For there is truth in justice, righteousness in justice, and there is love in justice. And in the Son our hopes are set as we put our hope in His law because He will betroth us to Him forever, He will betroth is in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion and in faithfulness (Ho 2:19).

When the Father said, “I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight”, did we realise that the laws and commands, decrees and statutes He gave us through Moses was the budding fruit of His desire to bring us close to Him that He may demonstrate to us the outcomes of His perfect justice? That in our obedience to His law, we are vessels for Him to exercise that which He delights in- and by walking in His ways in His company, we would come to love Him more because of our increasing understanding and knowledge of His heart’s delights as He makes the treasures of His heart known to us, and we would return unto Him true treasures of praise and worship as we stand in awe of His discernment in administering justice? We are meant to learn from the Teacher so everyone who is fully trained will be like his Teacher (Lk 6:40), and have the wisdom from God to administer justice, just like He does- for only those who seek the Lord understand justice fully (Pro 28:5). We are meant to learn the ways He uses His law and commands as tools to exercise justice, and learn to wield them in the same degree of expertise, passion and delight as we rejoice always in His presence- His craftsmen by His side (Prov 8:30).

Did we know what we were saying NO to when we stayed at a distance from His presence and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die”? (Exo 20:19) Did we love our lives without God more than our lives in God? Did we forfeit our soul in exchange for a long life in a bleak soul-less world? We said a resounding No to loving God, but a casual yes to an outward worship of Him. And we replaced rituals and sacrifices with the love of an intimate relationship with our God, our Father and with the perfect fear of the Lord which grows into respect and admiration, and would lift us to new heights of growth in our relationship with Him. Did we know that our distance from God had let His law become a futile dead rock in our hearts from which no living water flows- and it caused us to honour Him only with our lips but keep our hearts far from Him, worshipping Him in vain with teachings and rules taught by men, instead of worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth? If the foundation of our obedience of the law was established in the love for God and delight of justice through due diligence, it would be impossible to bury alive the spirit of justice behind His law by twisting and manipulating His regulations and commands- there would not be misunderstanding and misapplication of His law- and there would not be borne customs of men to imitate the kindness of God. Where in the law did the Father command to release a prisoner at the time of the Passover? Rather, did He not say, “I will not acquit the guilty” (Ex 23:7)? We have developed a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe our own traditions. (Mk 7) Do we think that we are dressed in splendour, living in king’s palaces when we are covered with the powerlessness of our traditions rather that the powerful truth of His word and the regal justice of His law?

By only following the law like blind guides without the pre-requisite of firmly loving God with all our hearts, understanding and strength, we neglected the most important matter of the law- the love of God. We have caused our heart to become calloused and slow - we have strained out a gnat but swallowed a camel. Therefore the law is paralysed and justice never prevails. (Hab 1:4) And so to demonstrate His justice and His love of it once and for all, He sent His Son, the living Rock, to bring us back to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. It is by our acknowledgment in calling Him, “Lord, Lord” - coming to Him and hearing His words and putting them into practice, that we can dig down deep and lay the foundation on the rock. (Lk 6:46) The foundation is justice and righteousness- and the rock is Jesus Christ- and He is the sure foundations of our times (Is 33:6) - a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation (Is 28:19). He is the one who came to fulfil the Law, not to abolish it (Mt 5:17) - and to fulfil all righteousness. Love is the fulfilment of the law (Ro 13:10) - for God loves justice (Is 61:8) and Jesus loves His Father (Jn 14:31) and the Father loves Jesus (Mt 17:5).

As it is written, the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law (Gal 3:24). For when there is a change of the priesthood, there was also a change of the law (Heb 7:12). The former regulation is set aside for the law made nothing perfect and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God (Heb 7:18). And now we are led by the Spirit, and are not under law (Gal 5:18), because the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death (Ro 8:2). Now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6). The Word in the flesh is the new law- Jesus Christ resurrected is the embodiment of the law resurrected.

We died to the law through the body of Christ that we may be resurrected into the new way of the Spirit who is the power of the resurrection of the Word. Do we then, nullify the law by our faith? No- rather we uphold the law by maintaining the spirit of justice behind the law - we uphold the holiness of the integrity of the law which is justice- we keep up the love of justice in our hearts to offer the Lord an abundance of His heart’s delights- and we uphold the law that we may see wonderful things in His law- to witness the power of resurrection surging through the entire law of the kingdom of God as surely as justice rolls on like a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb- like a never-failing stream of righteousness (Am 5:24) which sweeps us away in majesty and awe of His waterfalls whilst we stand firm in faith, stay rooted in knowledge and grounded in love. The treasures of the law have not depreciated but have been enhanced by our faith in Jesus Christ. For the Levitical law was our introduction to God and His delights in kindness, justice and righteousness- it was God’s first words of love and care to us while we were but infants - the law is our initial attraction to God - a preamble to the greater things to come - it is a prelude to the true righteousness of God who is His Son - an opening act for justice and righteousness so that when His Son came, the one who leads justice to victory, the love of God in our hearts and our love of justice would immediately recognize the voice of the Son of God in the face of the Son of Man, and be drawn to Him head over heels without delay or hindrance. This is the purpose and effect of the law: to refine and sculpt us as a skilful jeweller would, so that we may be fruitful in bearing the love of justice and the love of God in us to recognise the time of God’s coming to us.

Since the fruit of righteousness is peace (Is 32:17), then the fruit of justice is love- the love for God and the love of His righteous laws. When we pursue the spirit of justice behind the law through a loving habitual fellowship with the Lord, we bear the fruit of everlasting love for God and we bring to Him endless delights as we bind the love of the law in our hearts on earth as it is bound in heaven, and we loose justice and judgment on earth as it is loosed in heaven. And since the effect of righteousness is quietness and confidence forever (Is 32:17), then the effect of justice is the preaching of the gospel with testimonies based on the knowledge of truth and love. For testifying of Him and for Him requires knowledge of His word, love of His word and the truth of the power in His word. Our testimonies of the Resurrection, the power of the resurrection, and the resurrection of the kingdom of heaven, the love and our own lives resurrected and much more - are to be like the Lord’s testimony- justice and judgment which is a light to the nations. For we are being raised in the stature and likeness and brightness of the Resurrection and the Life to co-testify as expert and independent witnesses, in fulfilment of His word that anyone who has faith in Him will do what He has been doing and the greater things as well (Jn 14:12). But do not think for a moment that the Lord’s ministry in heaven through us on earth is going to be an easy road. It calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints, which is our present training for the coming days when the man of lawlessness will be revealed- when the end days are fully set in motion in the opera of God as it leads up to the climatic entrance of the Son of Man’s return. If the disciples of Jesus, who has been with Him from the beginning, rejected the words of the first witness of Christ resurrected, how much more will men reject our testimony? If they have been listening to the Lord, then they will listen to us too, for he who listens to us listens to the Lord; but he who rejects us rejects the Lord the Lord the Lord (Lk 10:16). But we are not doing this to be popular in the world and to be honoured by men, for there is nothing good in men but for God’s mercy - the fact that God so loves us despite our sins is a miracle in itself. No, we make our efforts to obtain the praise that comes from the only God, our desire is to grow in wisdom and stature as our brother, and in favour with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Woe to us when all men speak well of us, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Lk 6:26) If the world hates us, bear in mind that it hated our brother first. If we belonged to the world, it would love us as its own. (Jn 14:18) As it is, we do not belong to the world, but He has chosen us out of the world to dwell in the Holy Spirit as the indwelling of the Spirit fills and possesses every part of us. That is why the world, and men of God who love the world more than they love God, will hate us, and they will hate us without reason- just like they hated the Lord- just like they will hate the appointed 2 witnesses (in Revelations 11).

But take heart- There is delight in testifying to, for and of Jesus and the word of God which is veiled in the love for God and protected by the love of God in the face of opposition and hostility- even when the world hates us because of the name of the Lord, when all men hate us because of Him (Mt 10:21). We were warned. There will be those who will not accept our words to obey the Lord’s teaching- they will refuse to repent even when the scorching heat of the truth sears their hearts - they will persecute us and we will stumble so that we may be refined and purified and made spotless- and when we stumble, they will gloat over us and celebrate by sending each other gifts- they will hand us over to the local councils only to bring us before governors and kings as witnesses. And the momentum of the all of which is within God’s plans will increase as the heat of the battle increases and the temperature of the urgency of the Holy Spirit’s imminent departure rises. But let us not be afraid, but keep on speaking, do not be silent for the Lord is with us. For the Lord had said early on: Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man (Lk 6:22). The delight of the testimony of the resurrection is in this blessing- we are blessed because just as men hated the Son of Man, so they will hate us as the sons and daughters of God. Men will do this when they do not have the love of God and the love of justice running through their hearts. And our delight comes from the joy of being counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Acts 5:41). But disgrace in the sight of men is not necessarily disgrace in the sight of God, for what is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight (Lk 10:16).

So let us sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (Rev 15:3):
“Proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He (Deut 32:3)”

Father, we know that you are just- that you are justice and there is no other:
“Great and mighty are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts will be revealed.” (Rev 15:3).

BE BLESSED FATHER- FOREVER and EVER!
AMEN HOLY SPIRIT!