“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!“
Isaiah 30:18

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A simple concept of justice could be summarized as every person receiving exactly what they deserve for deeds they have done: proper reward for good behavior and appropriate punishment for evil acts. Equivalence between actions and consequences without respect to person. This ideal is symbolized in our justice system by statues of a blindfolded woman holding a level balance in her hand. Infractions require penalties, be they violation of rules in athletic competition, lack of integrity in financial dealings, or breaking society’s law.

The word for this is retributive justice. But the biblical idea of justice goes much further than this: in the Bible, justice refers to rightness. All things put right, all things as they should be. Not merely the good and bad paid back accordingly, but the world itself functioning as God created it to—and as God is still redeeming it to become.

When referenced in Scripture, God’s justice is commonly accompanied by compassion. In Isaiah chapter 30 the prophet confronted the people of Judah with their failure to depend upon God and warned them of the danger of reliance on foreign allies for deliverance from Assyrian invaders. But sprinkled through the chapter are examples of God’s compassion.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
 Isaiah 30:15

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.'”
Isaiah 30:21

God’s justice has a redemptive quality essential to its nature. He is not arbitrary in His response to the injustices of our world—including our own sin and failures—but in His compassion, He uses our misguided blunders and mistakes to teach us the way.

God’s justice is a positive force, teaching lessons we need to heed if we are to live justly. God is a just judge who sees clearly the injustices of our world—the many ways things are not at all “put right” just now—and at the same time, can clearly see His long-term objective—the world put right where all can thrive, a society centered around shalom.

“Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law;”
Psalm 94:12

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • What is your concept of justice?
  • How does it compare to the biblical idea of justice?
  • How have you seen God’s justice expressed in compassion?
  • What lessons have you learned from the exercise of God’s justice in your life?

 

Church Reading Plan: Jeremiah 11; Matthew 25