The God of Justice Is the God of Mercy

Is God Merciful Or Just?
We tend to think that a God who has a fierce sense of justice and hates evil (Ps. 7:11) is not likely to be a very merciful God, (Lam. 3:22-23). For most us, our natural inclination is to equate the abhorrence and punishment of evil with harshness and cruelty, (Matt. 25:24).

The same assumption is also true in reverse. We tend to think that a God who has abundant compassion for the guilty and pities the villain (Jonah 4:11; Luke 23:42-43), cannot, at the same time, be a God who is utterly uncompromising in his judgment of man's sins, (Ecc. 12:14; Heb. 4:13).

Thus, whether we realize it or not, many of us end up confused by a distorted 'either/or' view of God's character. We either think that he is a God who is merciful or that he is a God who is just. We assume he must be one or the other, or at least mostly one or the other. Yet, the truth is, our God is both perfectly merciful and absolutely just. He is supremely compassionate toward the guilty, and yet dreadfully severe toward the same, (Rom. 11:22). He is not a God who is only one of these things, but a God who is both, holding them in seamless harmony within the perfections of his own indivisible character, (Rom. 3:26). The God of justice is the God of mercy. 

The Blessed Ministries of His Mercy & Justice
This dual affirmation of God's character as being both merciful and just should yield two great ministries upon the souls of men:

1. The astounding wonders of God's mercy should fill our hearts with all comfort and hope—even in our failures—because we know that he is "a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love," (Neh. 9:17).
   
   
2. At the same time, the Lord's impartial devotion to justice should humble us to the dust, instill a holy and reverent fear in our hearts, and empty us of every illusion of safety when we are walking in sinful rebellion against his holy law, (Col. 3:6; I Cor. 6:9-10; I Jn. 1:6).

Some who prize themselves as being of the very serious sort of Christian may tend to emphasize God's justice over his mercy. Others who style themselves as being of the very loving sort of Christian may tend to emphasize God's mercy over his justice. But true spiritual maturity as a child of God involves a deepening recognition and appreciation for both of these wonderful attributes of the Lord. The elevation of one attribute over-against the other does not promote maturity, but rather deformity. It mars the portrait of God that has been set forth in holy Scripture.

The Effect of An 'Either/Or' Mentality
To behold the Lord as the God of justice, while forgetting his tender mercy, will not lead your soul to embrace the comfort of his love for you in Christ—an everlasting love that has been given apart from all works or merits of your own, (Matt. 11:28). Instead of embracing the wonder of your adoption in Christ (Rom. 8:15), you will stand aloof at a cold distance from God, weary of drawing too close, lest his holy anger break out against you, (Isaiah 57:15-19).

Likewise, to behold the Lord as the God of mercy, while forgetting his holy and unyielding justice, will lead your soul to approach him with presumption, to think little of the offense of your sins, and to forget the unspeakable preciousness of Christ's blood, without which your soul would have no hope of rescue, (Psalm 50:17-23; Rom. 2:4).

Without a sober sense of God's justice against sin, the wonder of the gospel quickly fades and Christianity becomes a very lackluster religion. After all, it is not really that incredible to be "saved" from a wrathless God whom we had no reason to fear to begin with. Our awe, admiration, and gratitude toward God for our salvation will be directly proportional to our understanding of the justice we deserved for our rebellion.

Likewise, without a deep personal embrace of God's mercy for sinners, guilt, shame, and fear will overwhelm the conscientious soul to despair. For each new day we fall short yet again. Thus, each new day we add fresh offense to God's glory, and enlarge the condemnation we deserve. There can be no comfort for the sinner who has a sense of his guilt and the justice it deserves, but who has not yet beheld the mercy of God which is offered in the bleeding wounds of Jesus Christ.

Both God's justice and God's mercy must be held together in unity for the Christian to have a proper view of God and a proper perspective on the life we are called to live before him. And the wonder of it all is that there is no better place to see the unity of these two divine attributes, and our own need to embrace them, than in the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Cross: A Picture of God's Mercy or God's Justice?
Let's stop and ask a question: Was the cross a picture of God's mercy or God's justice? Does it reveal God's wrath against sin or does it reveal God's compassion for sinners? The answer, as you may have already guessed, is both. At the cross—the central event of redemptive history—the mercy of God and the justice of God are both displayed with a beauty that shall be admired for all eternity, (Rev. 5:12).

It was there, at the cross, that the God of all justice poured out his wrath and punishment against sin, (Isa. 53:10). Yet, it was also there that the God of all mercy took that wrath upon himself in order to save sinners, (Isa. 53:5). The God of justice is the God of mercy. He is so holy that his eyes cannot bear to look upon evil, (Hab. 1:13). Yet he is so loving that he takes no delight in the death of the wicked but would rather see them spared, (Ezek. 33:11).

This wonderful collision and perfect union of all the various attributes of God's holy character in the person and work of Christ is what Paul meant when he said in II Corinthians 4:6,


It is in the bleeding wounds of Jesus Christ where the justice of God is satisfied and where the mercy of God is displayed.