Living with Tozer's God

Blogpost #32

Chapter 15: The Justice of God

“Never pray for justice, because you might get some.”

Margaret Atwood, Cat's Eye

Wise words if you understand that Justice is not so much about doing right as it is about making right. We live in a moral universe, which is to say that everyone acknowledges that some things are right and some things are wrong. Most of us believe in the ideas of fairness and equity. The problem is that rarely does everyone agree on what is right and what is wrong, fair or unfair. Too often selfish self-interest rules these decisions, which usually perpetuates the wrong.

We've all heard and probably uttered the phrase, "He/she got what they deserved." How do we know that? Is it based on a feeling? What's the basis of this? This is not just an academic question...remember, one day you may get what you deserve! What will you get?

Like it or not, in our culture the foundation of justice is law. Law is the embodiment of what we believe as a society constitutes right and wrong. Fairness and equity are supposed to be maintained impartially for all. By default, what it recognizes is the innate tendency of some to want to take advantage of others, so it provides legal protections that warn the lawless that there will be consequences if they violate the law and attempt to perpetrate some injustice, some inequity, some wrong on another person.

Justice is the attempt to right those wrongs. The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote "In the state of nature, indeed, all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the laws." ¹ What he is saying is that when we are born into this world, we come into a society filled with men with a bent towards selfishness, who will do what they must to achieve and maintain their success, their prosperity and their happiness, even if it's at the expense of yours...which will, at some point, almost certainly be true.

Whence cometh the Standard?

Though some would still try to promote the myth of the basic goodness of mankind, the universal testimony of history acknowledges that men are basically not just but unjust (and the evidence could easily be used to argue that man is basically evil). This has caused the wise among us to set up systems of laws, in almost all societies, to regulate our behavior towards one another. This is an adequate safeguard, most of the time. The potential flaw is that these laws are based on some standard.

Where does that standard come from? That's a crucial question. Who's making the rules? What qualifies them to make the rules?

The success of the whole system is based on two things: first, that right and wrong can be determined and that the standard is sufficiently righteous so that fairness and equity are assured to all, and second, that the standard can be upheld and not degraded at whim.

Let's answer the first question, How do you know what is right and what is wrong?

Right and Wrong

We could engage all kinds of philosophical speculations about what is right and wrong, what is moral and immoral, but the real-world answer is much simpler.

The One who rules will determine what is right and wrong. He will make the law.  That's the way it is and that's the way it's always been.

If this is true, then how do you establish a sufficiently righteous standard so that fairness and equity are assured to all. The simple fact is that we don't have to worry about this, God has already determined what right and wrong is. He Himself is the standard. It is His righteous character which is the measuring rod of all right and wrong.

How is this character able to be translated into action on earth?

Character has always been forged during the early years of our lives. The Jesuits used to say, "Give me a child for the first 7 years and he'll be mine for life." For the last 2000 years the bulk of that character training has been founded on the Judaeo-Christian ethic of right and wrong found in the Bible. It was a fundamental part of the education. The basic fundamentals of right and wrong were found in the Ten Commandments, and this was never seriously challenged, that is, until this generation. Belief in the existence of God (or gods) and therefore in the accountability of one's actions, was understood and respected by all until this generation.

That is simply not true today. A whole generation has been raised in the Western world which has been taught that science has determined that there is no god. Anyone who does not embrace evolution as the "truth" of the source of our existence is viewed as ignorant. This makes character training virtually impossible. Why? There is no inerrant basis for determining anything to be absolutely right or wrong.

Everything is now based on human opinion, often supported by "scientific" opinion. The irony is that "science," the basis for eliminating God as the divine determiner of right and wrong, is now used as the ultimate support for determining right and wrong!

The greater irony is that science has always denied that it has any moral component at all, it claims to be objective and, therefore, amoral.

"Shall not the Judge of all the Earth Do Right?"

Gen. 18:25

But science is not God, and though scientists declare He does not exist, that does not have any impact on the truth. It only shows their foolish ignorance and blindness, as Romans, chapter 1, clearly describes.

It was Abraham who had it right. When he interceded for the men of Sodom, it was on the basis that justice demanded that the righteous and the wicked would not be treated the same way. In other words, the righteous should not be judged or incur the same punishment as the wicked. Where did he get this idea?

It came from God. God is the Creator and Sustainer of the whole earth. The Scriptures declare, "The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it." ² If the Bible is truth, then it's an unequivocal fact that this earth and all the people who dwell on it are God's and accountable to Him. He makes the rules and there is no court of appeal. Righteousness is based on obedience to His law. Judgment is incurred when we disobey that law, period.

It is no accident that when Micah the prophet wanted to sum up what a righteous life looked like he began with "doing justice." He said, "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God." In other words, walk humbly with your God, recognize that He is God and you are not, submit to His will, treat your neighbor with kindness and make it your goal in life to treat others with fairness and justice, leaving judgment with the Lord.

God is going to "do justice." The Lord says "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." Deut 32:35. He is going to judge the whole earth one day. No injustice, no wrong, no inequity will escape His justice. Everything will once again be set right.

27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels,

and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS."

Matt 16:27 NASU

"These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction,

away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,

and to be marveled at among all who have believed —

for our testimony to you was believed." 2 Thess. 1:9-10 NASU

1. ^{(Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws, 1748)}
2. ^{(Ps 24:1 NASU)}