Justice (2)
The Character of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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How crucial is the knowledge of God to life itself?
How crucial is the knowledge of God to life itself?
12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”
Looking into what we have been studying for the last few weeks, we have been establishing the idea of God and who he is.
My experience might not give a proper knowledge of who God is. Experience might be wrong.
Another’s experience is not also a valid starting point in knowing God.
General assumptions about God, based on some kind of observation of life, forming patterns.
Now, why is this crucial? Many times in our lives, we are faced with contrary experiences. Sometimes, it is good, sometimes not so good.
15 I have seen everything in my days of vanity: There is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
Now, this is something that we can witness and experience in life, and to a very large degree, this is something WE have noticed, and experienced. Where the just man perishes in his righteousness, the wicked man has his life prolonged in his wickedness. By observation of this, it is pretty clear that this is common in our day also.
If you read on, you see where such frustration led the man who was making life observation, which is;
16 Do not be overly righteous, Nor be overly wise: Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Do not be overly wicked, Nor be foolish: Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you grasp this, And also not remove your hand from the other; For he who fears God will escape them all.
To him, the conclusion was “don’t be too righteous”, also, “don’t be too wicked”
Less righteousness? Some wickedness?
Less righteousness? Some wickedness?
Now, this text is a context heavy text, meaning, I can’t take it can run with it anyhow I see or feel like. The context in itself, has to do with the perishing of the righteous and the prolonging of life of the wicked.
Now, what we find is, there is a way to view righteousness, that you think that is what leads to the prolonging of your life, the writer will say, “WHY SHOULD YOU DESTROY YOURSELF?”
There is also a way you can act wickedly, thinking, that prolongs life, the writer will say “ WHY SHOULD YOU DIE BEFORE YOUR TIME?”
This is quite interesting that, based on HOW we observe life, we might think, either by my righteousness I can prolong life, or either by my wickedness, I can prolong life. The truth is, that is not the way at all.
LIFE ITSELF DOESN’T FOLLOW OUR LOGIC OR REASON. IT CANNOT BE GAMED.
Hence, how should a man live?
18 It is good that you grasp this, And also not remove your hand from the other; For he who fears God will escape them all.
That man who fears God, won’t live his life gaming it, he will escape from that trap, he will walk in the knowledge and fear of his God.
Hence, knowing God is not luxury, it is crucial to man and that man’s existence.
The fear of God is the key to living such a life away from that complexity of self preservation based on my actions.
How does the fear of God come?
How does the fear of God come?
Fear — יָרֵא (yārēʾ)
reverencing one ⇔ fearing one — a person who reverences something, conceived of as a person who fears something.
The fear of God i.e as reverence, not by a guess work, not a natural feeling. It comes from the revelation of himself. That is, this is WHO HE IS.
10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
You can see linked to the fear of the Lord, is the knowledge of the Holy One.
Let us proceed and look into this more;
1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord; 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.
Notice also, here, There is forgiveness with You, that you may be feared. Also, here he is clearly linking the fear (reverence) of God, to his atrribute as one who forgives.
The fear of God comes from the revealed knowledge of God.
Hence, when a man seeks to walk in life properly on the earth, it has to come from a careful observation of knowing God.
Hence, we can take a journey of discovering God once again today. Knowing that, this is the source of a life without uncertainties.
6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.
Now, there is something that if you use the NKJV, it will be unclear to you.
6 And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God, who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness, 7 keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing the guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth generations.”
Looking into Loyal Love
Looking into Loyal Love
The word goodness there is something we should study; it is the word
Goodness — חֶסֶד (ḥesed).
If you notice, the Lexham or ESV or other translations, use the word steadfast love or loyal love.
The core idea of this term relates to loyalty within a relationship.
Now, we should look at it as a standalone much later, but in reading Exodus 34:7, it is deeply associated with forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
So we can say, God forgives sin also because he keeps loyalty within the relationship with his people.
This is quite profound. That there is a pletora of dealings in God’s character, that has to do with forgiveness of sin.
Look verse 8-9
8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
Immediately, what we find with Moses, is that, he said to the Lord to pardon our iniquity and our sin immediately. Central to the revelation of God, is his core heart to forgive sins and iniquity.
Yet, we will find with God, that he does not clear the guilty.
Clearing the guilty
Clearing the guilty
So, what does that mean?
Clearing — נָקָה (nāqâ). (Pronounced Nika)
to acquit — to pronounce not guilty of criminal charges or to continue in the condition of being unpunished.
Now, that simply mean that in God’s character, HE DOESN’T PRONOUNCE the criminal as “not guilty”.
Now, think about it deeply,
If I pronounce the guilty as innocent, what have I done? I have shown partiality i.e. an unfair bias in favour of one person or thing. It is favouritism, that is injustice.
Mercy & Justice are not on two opposite ends, the other side of the coin here is partiality.
This is what God would not do. With him, there is no favouritism.
So, in scripture, what is presented as the opposite of God’s mercy is not justice, the opposite is partiality. In that, the person who is indeed deserving of judgement, is cleared based on partiality.
Let us study this more;
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. 18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
With God, there is no partiality. The word there is like faces that turns. That is not with God, he doesn’t pervert justice by showing partiality.
Let us look at more;
4 So Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem; and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers. 5 Then he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, 6 and said to the judges, “Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. 7 Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.”
Inquity — עַוְלָה ʿǎw·lā(h) (pronounced avlah)
injustice (practice) — the practice of being unjust or unfair.
This is a very important thing, that what is called injustice is not mercy, it is partiality.
Mercy and Justice are not at odd with each other. What we call injustice is favouritism, not that a man is forgiven.
18 Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
Notice in this text, why the Lord have mercy, is because he is a God of justice. Meaning that, we have to expand our understanding of justice, since, we can clearly see, that mercy is part of his justice, not apart from it (something we will examine on it’s own someday).
God not clearing the guilty yet forgiving
God not clearing the guilty yet forgiving
A good thing to ask is, How then does God forgive and yet, also punish the guilty?
The people in Ezekiel said thesame thing, asked thesame question, which is, if we are in transgression, how can we live?
10 “Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’ 11 Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
God’s heart is never for the wicked to perish. Yet, the wicked can perish in his ways. How? IF HE DOES NOT TURN.
Hence, there is something that goes on with and in God, it is his disposition to forgive the wicked, to let go of his wrong, to wait for him to walk in righteousness.
Is that partial? No. Why? The condition is thesame for all men at all times.
When the wicked turns to the Lord, he will experience his mercy, if he doesn’t turn to the Lord, he will die in his wickedness.
14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
It is consistent across the entire scripture.
7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Longsuffering — makrothymia
patient endurance of pain or unhappiness.
It is God, with patient endurance of pain and unhappiness, such that it gives men room and time, to turn (repentance).
