Chapter 3. God's Mercy and Justice

God is love. 1 John 4:8. This is the foundational principle of His kingdom. You cannot separate God from the principle of love because it is who He is. 

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" Romans 11:33. The best way to comprehend God fully is by studying the revelations given in His Word. 

The whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is God's revelation of His love to mankind, it is His love letter, His storybook to His children. Through it, we gain a fuller understanding of His glory and character. 

The man Moses once asked God, "Show me thy glory." God descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. Then He passed before Him and proclaimed, "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Exodus 34:6-7. God's glory is His name, which is His character.

In Moses' encounter, we see the two sides of love: Mercy & Justice. God is merciful and forgiving towards those who humble themselves before Him but will by no means clear the guilty. Love is the balance between mercy and justice, and God's character is the most perfect representation of it.

At Calvary, mercy and justice met. The just punishment for all who sinned and transgressed the law of God was taken by the ever-merciful Prince Immanuel. It was the greatest manifestation of love in the history of the universe! For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16.

Imagine yourself being sentenced to death because you committed first-degree murder. Then all of a sudden, a stranger walks in and makes an appeal to the judge that he/she wanted to take the sentence in your stead. How would you feel? You may not feel it now, but when you're faced with death, many of are going to wish for a miracle! And that's exactly what God's love is, it is a miracle!

The kind of love that Jesus preached about is manifested by someone who lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). But Jesus Christ laid down His life for a race that crucified Him, enemies of His kingdom! Even at the cross, He prayed, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Who does that?! Only Jesus.

What is love? It is doing the right thing for the sake of those you care about. God's loving tender care was the motive behind what He did for fallen humanity. 

He could've just left us at the mercy of Satan while He stayed on His glittering throne, surrounded by the adoration of His angels, ruling over the parts of the universe that were not affected by sin. But what good is a family, when a member is lost? The Good Shepherd left the ninety-nine and went in search of that one sheep that was lost! Love, according to God, is the combination of motive and action.

There's this other side of love that we always overlook: JUSTICE. This is the Godly instinct to protect the hearts of the ones you love. It deals with fairness, judgment, and vengeance. Does God get angry, yes! He is longsuffering, not foreversuffering, and that means that there is a limit to how much injustice he will bear. You break the rules, He will drop the rod on you, just like a normal parent would. 

"There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community." NIV Proverbs 6:16-19.

When someone crosses the line, God acts to protect the justice of His kingdom. Thousands of Israelites were killed by God in the Exodus because they crossed the line. The wages of sin is death, if not today, then later. The Flood, Sodom & Gomorrah are examples of people who have crossed the line of God's justice.

God serves justice by punishing those who harm His family. "No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house." Mark 3:27. By yielding to Satan's temptation, mankind became subjects to his dark kingdom. God was not going to let that pass! The whole Bible is the story of God's mission to rescue mankind from the dark prison and destroy wickedness, sin, and death forever.

Oh, how terrible God's judgments are for those who willfully choose to rebel against Him. Fearful is His vengeance against those who caused hurt His family just so we could know that God is our protector against bullies.

Like any earthly court, God our judge will execute the just sentence to the guilty. However, if the guilty will humble themselves to the Judge's mercy, admit they're wrong, God through Jesus Christ is faithful and just to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9. 

God cannot allow creatures that do not love Him to exist in His universe. How can He be so harsh?! Have you seen the way marriages fall apart in this world? Can you live in the same house with someone who does not love you? No, because it's a miserable position to be in! Get a divorce and get out! 

Selfish beings are unable to live with unselfish beings because they would not be able to stand it, just like they could not stand Jesus when He was on Earth, they ended up crucifying Him. Their lives will be miserable in God's kingdom. Compared to an eternity of misery, death is mercy. God, at the end of time, will open their record books before their eyes so they see His love and justice. Then He will put an end to their existence by consuming them in the lake of fire.

Why is sin so offensive to God that He will put to death all who commit it? Because it threatens His family. Sin is the principle that wars against the principle of love, wreaking destruction, woe, and misery to everything it touches. Sin is the enemy of love. God's love brings vitality and life, while sin brings only decay and death. 

Did God create sin? No. Sin is conceived by a heart that chooses to rebel against Godly principles. When God gave the gift of free will, he knew that it carried with it a risk, that is: that His creatures may or may not choose to love Him. 

Lucifer was God's most beloved angel, also gifted with freedom of choice. The Bible says that He used to walk amongst stones of fire in the holy mountain of God, right before His very throne. He was perfect in beauty and full of wisdom. Many beautiful gifts were bestowed upon this anointed cherub, including the mastery of music.

Then the tragedy occurred! Lucifer chose to rebel against God, coveting even the throne of the universe. This former angel of heaven was the originator of sin and rebellion. He went around the worlds with his campaign and managed to tempt the principal of planet Earth, Adam, to join him. So here we are today, battling with the evil that was caused by our First Parents' choice.

But God wasn't an irresponsible parent. His children messed up, He cleaned up their mess. For more than 6000 years, His plan of securing the hearts of all His creatures has been slowly executed on Earth. Our little planet acts as the lesson book of God's love to all the inhabitants of the universe. At the end of His great lesson, no one will ever again choose the path of sin and death. Everyone has learned that the Lord is holy, just, and good!

How should your heart respond to such a just and merciful God? I'll talk about that in the next blog post of this series. Until then, God bless you.