Holy Justice

This morning I had one of those moments when I realised that what I was reading was probably a bit of a watershed moment for me. Sproul's chapter Holy Justice is a must read. It's one of those chapters that I will now try to re read every so often so as not to forget. I can't copy and paste all that I'd like to to put on here- it would end up being most of the chapter so I would really strongly recommend reading it. Sproul really helpfully walks through the passages in the Old Testament which we find so difficult where we see God's wrath displayed, such as the Canaanite conquests, the killing of Nadab, Abihu and Uzzah. It made me realise that I have so often been guilty of calling God's justice into question. I have been amazed and surprised by justice rather than amazed and surprised by grace. As many of you know, back in September we were present when our neighbours' son tragically died. I must admit to being very angry with God. If God is love why then did this young man die? But my question was wrong. I should have been asking, Why not me? Why not all of us? Why only now and not before?

Sproul:

Hans Küng, the controversial Roman Catholic theologian, writing about the seemingly harsh judgments of sin God makes in the Old Testament, says that the most mysterious aspect of the mystery of sin is not that the sinner deserves to die, but rather that the sinner in the average situation continues to exist. 

Küng asks the right question. The issue is not why does God punish sin but why does He permit the ongoing human rebellion? What prince, what king, what ruler would display so much patience with a continually rebellious populace? 

The key to Küng’s observation is that he speaks of sinners’ continuing to live in the average situation. That is, it is customary or usual for God to be forbearing. He is indeed long-suffering, patient, and slow to anger. In fact He is so slow to anger that when His anger does erupt, we are shocked and offended by it. We forget rather quickly that God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance, to give us time to be redeemed. Instead of taking advantage of this patience by coming humbly to Him for forgiveness, we use this grace as an opportunity to become more bold in our sin. We delude ourselves into thinking that either God doesn’t care about it, or that He is powerless to punish us. The supreme folly is that we think we will get away with our revolt.

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Old Testament history covers hundreds of years. In that time God was repeatedly merciful. When His divine judgment fell on Nadab or Uzzah, the response was shock and outrage. We have come to expect God to be merciful. From there the next step is easy: We demand it. When it is not forthcoming, our first response is anger against God, coupled with the protest: “It isn’t fair.” We soon forget that with our first sin we have forfeited all rights to the gift of life. That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything. If He allows a tower to fall on my head this afternoon, I cannot claim injustice [Luke 13, Tower of Siloam].

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We often blame God for the injustices done to us and harbor in our souls the bitter feeling that God has not been fair toward us. Even if we recognize that He is gracious, we think that He has not been gracious enough. We think we deserve more grace. 

Please read that last sentence again: We think we deserve more grace. What is wrong with that sentence? Grammatically it is fine. But there is something seriously wrong with the content, with the meaning of the sentence. 

It is impossible for anyone, anywhere, anytime to deserve grace. Grace by definition is undeserved. As soon as we talk about deserving something, we are no longer talking about grace; we are talking about justice. Only justice can be deserved. God is never obligated to be merciful. Mercy and grace must be voluntary or they are no longer mercy and grace. God never “owes” grace. He reminds us more than once: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Exod. 33:19). This is the divine prerogative. God reserves for Himself the supreme right of executive clemency.