THE GOD OF JUSTICE

Introduction

-{Malachi 2:17-3:6}

-It has been almost ten years since one of the greatest miscarriages of justice ever occurred in the American judiciary. Back around 2013 a North Texas teen who was 16 at the time got drunk, got behind the wheel of a vehicle, and ran into and killed four pedestrians. The state was seeking the maximum sentence of 20 years in state custody for this heinous crime, of which there was ample evidence of his guilt. However, based on the testimony of a psychologist the judge sentenced the teen to merely probation and rehabilitation. You see, this teen came from a very wealthy family in Texas. And the psychologist testified that this teen suffered from AFFLUENZA.

~Even though that is obviously not a recognized diagnosis of the American Psychiatric Association, what the psychologist indicated is that due to the teen’s privileged upbringing, his affluence (which means you can read between the lines that he was a spoiled rich brat) he had no ability to discern right from wrong. And his upbringing of wealth and privilege taught him there were no consequences for bad behavior. And the judge bought it and gave that light sentence.

~Obviously, there was a great uproar over this. He kills four people, and all he gets is probation and he has to spend time at a swanky rehab facility that his rich parents could pay for. Where is the justice in that?

-There are a lot of times that we can look at the evils of the world and wonder where is the justice? We like to sit as judge, jury and executioner, and we sometimes sit in judgment of God because He doesn’t mete out justice as we think He should. But the funny thing is, is that we never consider that there’s probably ample reason for God to exact justice on us as well. We’re fine with God going after everybody else, but we think we’re somehow exempt. We have to be very careful what we ask for.

-Now, there is no doubt that God is a God of justice, and God will demonstrate His justice, and He has demonstrated His justice. But we have to remember that God exacts justice in His way and in His time. So, what we take away from today’s passage is that when we question the injustice we see in the world, we need to remember how God has already demonstrated His justice and how He will in the future demonstrate His justice. Never forget that our God is a God of justice.

Malachi 2:17–3:6 NET 2nd ed.

17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” Because you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the Lord’s opinion, and he delights in them,” or “Where is the God of justice?” 1 “I am about to send my messenger, who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 2 Who can endure the day of his coming? Who can keep standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap. 3 He will act like a refiner and purifier of silver and will cleanse the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will offer the Lord a proper offering. 4 The offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past. 5 “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination; those who commit adultery; those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help resident foreigner and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 6 “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, you, sons of Jacob, have not perished.

-{pray}

-Malachi is writing at a time when the Jews have seen God’s faithfulness in restoring them to their land from captivity. And yet, that is not enough for them to return to a full devotion to God. They are apathetic and lukewarm toward God, and they give a lot of excuses for why they are the way they are, but none of those reasons hold up to any scrutiny. God uses Malachi to confront them with their wrong attitudes and faulty thinking, and in this particular passage it all has to do with God’s justice. So, we first want to consider:

1) The misgivings about God’s justice (2:17)

-God begins this particular dispute by saying in 2:17 that the people have wearied Him with their words—they have wearied God with their constant complaining; they have wearied God with their constant talking from a place of ignorance. He is just sick and tired of all the garbage coming out of their mouths. Have you just ever gotten so sick and tired of someone who is just constantly spouting off junk and they have no clue what in the world they’re talking about. They throw out all of these crazy ideas that have no basis, and you’re just thinking “please stop, you’re giving me a headache.” God is there.

-And Malachi puts words into the people’s mouth as they feign ignorance, WHAT YOU MEAN? HOW HAVE WE WEARIED YOU? WE AIN’T DONE NOTHING WRONG. So, God tells them: it’s because you accuse Me of injustice. The people were going around thinking that since God wasn’t zapping the people they thought should be zapped, that this somehow meant that God thinks the evil people are good and He takes delight in them. They were saying that God must love the evil people (and we could probably read into this that they are talking about the Gentile nations that are oppressing them). So, where is the God of justice? He must not exist, because if He did there’d be justice?

-And so, because they didn’t think that God was doing justice the way they thought He should, it gave them an excuse to be indifferent toward Him and to be lukewarm and to be slack in being fully committed to Him and His law and His Word. If God didn’t do justice their way, then it’s no justice at all. Of course, they didn’t consider that justice is a double-edged sword—it swings both ways. If you want God to give swift justice to others, it can swing the other way and come right back on you as well. I mean, did they ever consider God’s justice against their indifference? But they were wanting justice for thee but not for me.

-And so, when we talk of God’s justice, we need to do a whole lot of soul-searching before we begin accusing God about all our misgivings about His justice, or else we will start throwing out there baseless accusations. Our God is a God of justice, and He answered their complaints by saying that He was going to send:

2) The messengers of God’s justice (3:1)

-In v. 1 God says that the messengers of justice that they were looking for would be coming. And there is an interesting play on words here. The prophet that is writing this under God’s inspiration is named Malachi. The name Malachi in Hebrew means MY MESSENGER. And God through Malachi says in v. 1 I AM ABOUT TO SEND MY MESSENGER—literally, I am going to send malachi (my messenger). But it’s not Malachi the author that God is talking about—it is someone that God is going to send in the future who would have a similar role as the author Malachi. It is someone who would have a special message that would clear and prepare the way for God.

-So, he tells them that the Lord they are seeking will come to the temple. It goes on to talk about the messenger of the covenant whom they long for. This is a parallelism, the Lord they are seeking is the messenger of the covenant. But this messenger of the covenant is different from the messenger that clears the way. So, here you have Malachi the messenger talking of another messenger that would come in the future who would clear and prepare the way for the messenger of the covenant—the one who would usher in a new covenant for God’s people which would give the answer they were looking for about God’s justice.

-From our standpoint in history, it is easy to put together the pieces of the puzzle of who God was talking about. First, there is the messenger that would clear the way. Malachi 4:5 further identifies this messenger as Elijah the prophet. Mark 1:2-4 declares that John the Baptist is this messenger that was preparing the way of the Lord. And Jesus in Matthew 11:13-14 states that John the Baptist is the Elijah to come—meaning he came in the power and ministry like that of Elijah.

-This messenger was clearing the way for the Lord to come to His temple who would be a messenger of covenant. The Jews knew that this referred to the Messiah. Well, if the first messenger is John the Baptist, then the messenger of the covenant is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Lord God who came to His people and came to the temple and He ushered in the new and everlasting covenant through His death, burial, and resurrection. Through Jesus’ person and actions He brought forth the final covenant that God would make with humanity, and it is through Jesus and through the covenant that Jesus ushered in where God’s justice would find its satisfaction; where His justice would be all worked out. But how would all that be worked out? He next talks about:

3) The ministry of God’s justice (3:2-5)

-The messenger of the covenant (from their perspective) is going to come and bring about God’s justice—exactly what they had been asking for. But Malachi asks: WHO CAN ENDURE THE DAY OF HIS COMING? WHO CAN KEEP STANDING WHEN HE APPEARS? He’s warning them, they think they want it, but it’s not going to be what they’re expecting. It then goes on to describe the ministry of the messenger Messiah, and we find that God’s justice is going to come one of two ways.

-First, there is going to be the justice that leads to cleansing. In vv. 2-3 it says that He is going to bring about a work that will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. This is a picture of cleansing. A launderer’s soap obviously speaks about getting the dirt out of the garment. The refiner’s fire is the process of getting the impurities out of metal. The metal is heated to a point where the impurities separate themselves from the precious metal and then are removed so the silver or gold is as pure and valuable as possible. The messenger of the covenant is going to bring this into the life of people.

-It speaks of cleansing Levi to bring a proper offering, but it looks toward the future (for them) when people would be able to worship God in a pleasing way by Spirit and truth. The messenger of the covenant would cleanse a people to live and worship in ways that are pleasing to God. But what does this have to do with God’s justice?

-God is saying that this is one way in which God’s justice would be meted out and satisfied—when the just judgment of sin falls on another. The only way for someone to be cleansed before God like refined metal or laundered cloth is to have the stain of sin removed. As God said elsewhere, even though humanities sin is like scarlet, they can be made white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they can be made white as wool. But that only happens when God’s justice is satisfied in another way.

-Here is what the people in Malachi’s day did not consider: God is a God of justice, but He is also a God of mercy. He cannot ignore His justice, but He also desires to make peace with a sinful humanity. Although mankind is corrupted in sin, He offers a way to be made clean and whole. Sure, the people in Malachi’s day, much like our own, are fine when mercy is shown to them, but not when it is extended to others. We want mercy for ourselves, but God’s justice on those other people (whatever category you want to throw at them).

-But God says here is a way that my justice is going to be displayed—the messenger of the covenant is going to come and satisfy God’s justice to extend mercy to those who would come to Him, and He will cleanse them and make them pure and make them acceptable in God’s sight. And we know that this was bought for us by Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He met the demands of God’s justice. God can’t just ignore His justice, God can’t just wink away at the reasons for justice. Justice has to be served. Where is the God of justice? He was at the cross of Jesus Christ pouring out His justice on His own Son so that those who repent and believe in the Messiah, the messenger of the covenant, Jesus Christ, would have had the justice due to them satisfied and they are extended mercy and they are made clean. There is the God of justice.

-So, we might say that verses 2-4 give a wonderful description of what was made available to humanity at Christ’s first coming. But I mentioned that God’s justice is going to come to us in one of two ways. V. 5 gives us the other way.

Malachi 3:5 NET 2nd ed.

5 “I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination; those who commit adultery; those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help resident foreigner and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

-You see, for those who die without having been cleansed at the cross of Jesus Christ, the justice that is due them will fall on their own heads. God through Malachi lists a bunch of different ways that God’s law could be broken—from sorcery to lying to exploiting the vulnerable, to not giving God the fear due His name. There are a lot more ways to break God’s law, but these may have been very specific to Malachi’s day—some specific societal issues they were facing. But every human is a lawbreaker, and therefore an object of justice. And if the justice due to you is not placed upon Jesus Christ then it is placed on your own head.

-So, God in essence says to the Jews (and, by extension, to us): DON’T WORRY ABOUT MY JUSTICE. I WILL TAKE CARE OF MY JUSTICE. YOU NEED TO CONCERN YOURSELF WITH WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE THE OBJECT OF MY JUSTICE. And the time is short to have God’s justice appeased in Christ. Because if you die without Christ, you will be judged and found wanting and under God’s eternal curse. If you are in Christ, you are cleansed and have eternal life. In Christ there is life and light and peace and grace and mercy. But outside of Christ is nothing but pure, unhindered justice.

-And we are told that there is going to come a day when Christ returns, and it won’t be for mercy this time, but He will sit on the throne of His judgment and He will give out justice.

Revelation 20:11–15 NET 2nd ed.

11 Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.

-On the day of judgment, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, your name is in the book of life, God’s justice against you is satisfied, you have nothing but mercy and grace. But if your name is not in the book of life, you have nothing to look forward to except the lake of fire—the place where God’s justice is handed out for eternity. Where is the God of justice? He is pouring out His justice on the wicked and unbelieving in hell.

-If you are in Christ, you need to be praising Him all day long because the God of justice will not ignore His justice, but for those who believe in Christ the justice you deserved fell on Him instead of you. People demand justice of God not understanding that justice is demanded against them. And Jesus is the only means of escape. And we finish here with a great promise.

4) The maintaining of God’s justice (3:6)

-God says:

Malachi 3:6 ESV

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

-Or as the NET says, I DO NOT GO BACK ON MY PROMISES. The great promise is that God will always be the God of justice. You never have to worry about His justice. But you also never have to worry about His love. God will always be the God of love for those who are in Christ Jesus.

-When you look at the American judicial system, it works but no system is perfect. A particular judge might seem to go tough on some people in one situation, but then they seem to be very lenient in another situation. There could be a number of factors: personal biases, their mood for the day, personal things going on in their lives. It’s difficult for any human to be consistent.

~You think of the judge from the case I opened the sermon with, giving probation to someone who killed four people. More than likely, she sent someone to jail for theft. I’m sure we can guarantee there wasn’t any consistency in her judgments.

-You never have to worry about God’s consistency—He maintains His perfect justice. God has not changed over the 2400 years since Malachi was written or the 2000 years since Christ was on the earth. God’s law remains constant, His commitment to His law remains constant, and His justice against lawbreakers will remain constant. But His promises in Christ will also remain constant. God does not change. He made promises to the nation of Israel, and kept them. He makes eternal promises to His children through Jesus, and He’ll keep those. He also will consistently and perfectly judge people and give the justice that is deserved.

Conclusion

-I’ll close with this thought:

There is a story about a young lady who occasionally walked through the park after work. One day while walking through the park there was a guy taking Polaroid pictures of people if they wanted, so she stopped to have her picture taken. She was very excited about her picture being taken. As she walked out of the park, she looked at the Polaroid picture in total amazement. She turned and headed back to the cameraman. When she got there she stated, "This picture is not right! You have done me no justice!" The photographer looked at the picture and then looked at her and said, "Miss, you don’t need justice, what you need is mercy."

-And that we all do. Where is the God of justice? He was at the cross of Christ. If you have been cleansed by Christ at the cross, come to the altar and praise Him for it. If you haven’t, come forward today and receive His mercy. Because God is the God of the lake of fire as well, where you will receive justice just like you asked for—but it doesn’t have to be that way.