Justice and Mercy - Double vision made whole

Grandad’s field glasses

Justice

Mispat - Justice 421 occurrences OT, 47x NT (krisis)

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 4941 מִשְׁפָּט

מִשְׁפָּט [mishpat /mish·pawt/]

Continue the work of Exodus - setting captives free

Mercy

He-sed 248 occurrences 35x NT (eleeo)

Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 2617 חֶסֶד, חֶסֶד

חֶסֶד [checed /kheh·sed/]

Double vision

Orchestra playing out of time

seemingly in conflict with one another - one about punishment, the other about forgiveness

Mercy seat

Exodus 25

Ezekiel 43:13-15

Hebrews 9:5 NIV

Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.

Romans 3:24–25 NIV

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—

1 John 2:1 NIV

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Comes together in walking with God

The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts

Jesus’ teaching

the beatitudes - walking humbly with God becomes a revelation of God’s kingdom, God’s truth, God’s fullness of life.

Justice becomes shorthand for the way things are meant to be, the way things are going to be, but the way things are not yet.

The New International Version Chapter 5

The Beatitudes

5:3–12pp—Lk 6:20–23

He said:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What is our part in this?

The work of discernment: Is this state of being “justice” that will roll on like a river of life that gets deeper and deeper as you go, is this something that God will bring about by sovereign act in the fullness of time? Or is this something real that we can participate in? Do our acts of justice and mercy make a real difference in the world? Is there purpose in us walking humbly with God?

Double vision again.

Bring these two together:

The sovereign grace of God

Our participation in mishpat and hesed

Somethign beautiful becomes true, not only for our lives, but for our world.

In a few weeks...

comes together - wholeness, beauty and truth.