Amazing Justice

We sing "Amazing Grace" and it warms our hearts and we're all happy about that, but I would suggest that it is not grace that we find so amazing most of the time, but justice. Mercy and grace we get and we like and we often take for granted and, unfortunately, we often demand, but justice is something that we tend to find amazing. Why do I say that?

Recently I discussed the biblical account of the judgment of the Amalekites. Like many of the biblical stories, that account is difficult to read. Men, women, children, infants, and even little baby goats were killed. That's horrible! Is it? Well, according to the biblical account it isn't horrible. It is the command of God on the basis of justice. But we are caught off guard by it. Take some less "Israelite" accounts, where there is no intermediary. God, for instance, didn't command anyone in the case of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10). They offered "strange fire" and God burned them to death on the spot. "On the spot??? I mean, that's kind of extreme, isn't it?" That's the sense of it. Aaron, their father, is outraged, but when Moses tells him that God warned that He would be regarded as holy, Aaron shuts up. It was just. Or how about Uzzah (2 Sam 6)? This is another one that baffles many. They were bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem on an ox cart. The oxen stumbled and Uzzah did God a favor by putting his hand out to steady the Ark and God struck him dead on the spot. When I say that it baffles many, I include those present in the account. David was so mad at God that he shuffled the Ark into a local farmer's house and left. Extreme, isn't it? Or is it? These Old Testament accounts are often explained away by modern folk as "myth" or "legend" or "the mistaken explanation of an early race of people" or "epic literature". So let's shift to a more modern account. How about Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5)? Their crime? They didn't give full disclosure on a piece of land they sold. Bam! Dead on the spot. Both of them. Seriously? Isn't that a bit extreme?

"Well, okay," some might suggest, "these people were all sinners. God warned that the wages of sin was death. They got what they deserved. But not in the case of babies, man! Not them!" Perhaps. Still, without intermediaries as in the case of Amalek, we still have events that we can't push aside that easily. It cannot be argued or even hinted at that there were no babies killed in Noah's Flood. I'm sorry. That just can't be. So, without asking anything of anyone, God Himself flooded the world and killed every single human being (except for Noah and family), regardless of age, with far more effectiveness than Israel's attack on Amalek. And God considered that justice. This concept is actually explained in the account of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18-19). In that event Abraham was told that God planned to annihilate the two cities. He was told why: "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave" (Gen 18:20). Abraham had the very same response that we might have. "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" (Gen 18:23). Abraham bargains with God who refuses to destroy the cities if 10 righteous people can be found. Just 10. Should be easy. Go find 10 babies and we're done! Easy! Of course, that doesn't happen. God removes Lot and his family (without any recognition that they were righteous) and drops fire and brimstone on the cities. To this day we cannot find these two locations. The Judge of all the earth did what was right.

Why do these events trouble us so? I would suggest that it is not because we see the grace and mercy of God as amazing. I would suggest that we are more amazed at the justice of God. We are used to grace and mercy. We're so acclimated to God's grace and mercy that we scarcely see it at all. We don't recognize, for instance, that the Old Testament is a vast story of God's astounding grace and mercy. "What? With all that death and destruction, how can you say that? With all those laws about death penalties for so many things, how can you even suggest it?" See what I mean? We don't even see it. You see, the Law of Moses represent a grand reduction of death penalty requirements. What was the original? To answer that, let me do a pop quiz. What is the first act of mercy in the Bible? Some would see Noah and his family as the first one (or not). Closer to the truth would be the fact that God spared and even protected Cain after killing his brother. But the first act of mercy in the Bible was before Cain. What did God tell Adam and Eve? What did God's death penalty cover at the beginning? "On the day that you eat it, you shall surely die." At the beginning, all sin was punishable by death at the moment of transgression. Sure, Adam and Eve died spiritually, but they did not die physically at that moment, a remarkable act of mercy on God's part. And when the Law of Moses came out, that number (all sin) was drastically reduced. Mercy in a big way. Or how about the existence of Israel at all? Moses told them, "God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people" (Deut 9:6). They weren't better than the Canaanites they drove out or the Amalekites they killed. God gave them grace -- undeserved favor -- when they deserved (justice) annihilation with those God was having them kill.

We are not really amazed by grace and mercy. We expect it. We are often offended at justice because we're so used to grace and mercy. In the New Testament, Paul gets to this point. He addresses the outcry of his listeners that God would show mercy to whom He would show mercy that "That's not fair!" He tells them that they just don't get it. "What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" (Rom 9:22). God's desire? God's will? To show His wrath and make His power known. God's act? Mercy on "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction". Paul says that it is not surprising that God chooses to save some. Paul says that it is surprising that God chooses to save one! Jesus said the same thing. When asked about the Galileans killed by Pilate, He assured His listeners, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-3). The message? Everyone deserves to die. Horribly. Without mercy. Even me. Even you. That is not mean or evil or unkind. It is justice. But we are amazed by justice because we are accustomed to grace and mercy. I suspect that we need to get a clearer view of the justice of God and the guiding holiness that makes it so if we really want to see how amazing grace is.