GOD ON TRIAL : PART 3 ( The Justice of God )

The justice of God has always been misunderstood by those who do not believe/read the bible.

Some of the reasons people have for objecting to the idea of God being a just God, yet filled with love in compassion is as follows :
1) People are generally Good, how can God send good people to hell?
2) The moral code of this world is “good people get rewarded”, which is cemented into us from an early age. So why are the good people punished with the bad?
3) God is love
4) The judging cynical God contradicts the loving Jesus depicted in the bible.

All these examples above are what we call “bad doctrine” of God. It basically means, that the people making these statements do not fully understand who God or Jesus is, and so make false claims/accusations about things they do not fully understand.

But first, lets look at hell, and what the bible says about it.
Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19″There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22″The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25″But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27″He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29″Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30″ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31″He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

From this passage we learn a couple of things about the rich man ( the one in hell ).
Although he asks Abraham to send Lazarus down to give him relief from the fire, not once does he ask to be saved from the fire!
He continues to treat Lazarus as a slave or a lesser being (vs 24 & 27 ), and shows no sign of repentance towards Lazarus.
In vs 27 he asked Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, basically saying “Look, you didn’t give me the heads up, but at least give my brothers the heads up about this place”. To which Abraham replies ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ (which is basically saying “They have the same information you have, you didn’t listen to it, for your sake, lets hope that they do”)

Note the last verse, see how Jesus knew that even His resurrection would not automatically turn everyone into believers! (.. they will not be convinced even if someone raises from the dead.’ )

From this passage we see that the general attitude of those in hell will be exactly the same as when they were on earth. Still in denial and blame shifting, with no thought for God, or how to serve him.

Hell is God giving us what we always wanted, a life without Him. When we die, God gives us an eternity without Him!

If this is all true, then what is the deal with God being “loving”, yet condemning people to hell? How can a God who judges, also love?

A loving God must be a judging God

If we look at those who love, they also judge. They do not judge because of their lack of love, but because of their love.
A loving person is not indifferent to their loved ones actions. Instead, because of their love, they cannot ignore what is going on, and so God cannot ignore our sin. Not because He hates us, but because He loves us!

Tim Keller puts it this way :

“Think how we feel when we see someone we love is ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Do we respond with benign tolerance as we might toward strangers? Far from it… Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference… God’s wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.”

Romans 1:21-25 puts it like this : We have chosen to ignore God (even though he has made himself known to us), because of this God gives us what we want, and turns us over to our own desires.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 hits the nail on the head.
“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Or as Ravi Zacharias puts it :

“People often say, what about all the good things I’ve done? What about all the good people in this world? Jesus did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came into this world to make dead people live. Those who are dead to God, to make them alive to God.”

Well, a good question might be “Well then why be punished for eternity?”, why not just for the 80 years (or however many) we live on this earth? Because “The length of punishment reflects the severity of the crime” – S. Tubman. Our sin is so bad, that infinity can not reconcile us back to God (not without the help of Jesus).

Because God is just, loving and perfect, His love will never compromise His justice, and His justice will never compromise His love.

Imagine a world where evil did not matter and was not punished? Would you follow a God who did not care about justice? Who did not care about you or your eternal future! What kind of God would that be?

The God of the bible ( the true God ), is a loving and compassionate God, but also a righteous God, and because He is just and righteous, we can believe in His word.

However, because of His righteousness, He  can not just sweep our sin under the carpet. Instead, He came up with the ultimate plan (planned from the beginning) to save us by sending His only son, to die on our behalf so that His wrath may be satisfied! This plan therefore keeps within Gods character of being a loving God and a just God and not compromising on His judgment. To sum up how His character is not compromised, He loves by sending His son to judge sin (this is Gods justness) but at the same time makes the sinner justified (God’s love) through His son for those who believe. His love never compromises His justice and His justice never compromises His love!

This is how a loving God works, not by blessing us with BMW’s and fancy holiday houses, but by saving us from eternity in hell, and giving us the life ever lasting!

AMEN!!

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