Who is God? God is Righteous and Just

Isaiah 45:18-19 (ESV)
For thus says the LORD,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in vain.’
I the LORD speak the truth;
I declare what is right.

(This is part 16 of our study on ‘Who is God‘)

God is righteous and just. This means that He always does what is right, without partiality or prejudice, to all people. When we talk about God, it is difficult to separate both His righteousness and His justice, so we will treat them together.

God always does what is right. One who is righteous is one who always does what is right. Or in the negative, someone who is righteous never does any wrong. Our God does not do anything the wrong way, or for wrong reasons, or with wrong intentions, or with prejudice which is wrong. (If you think about it, God cannot have prejudice in any case, as the meaning of prejudice is to make a judgment without all the facts, or to make a judgment on limited facts or predispositions, such as racial prejudice. Since God is Omniscient – He knows all – and he is righteous, he cannot have prejudice!).

Deuteronomy 32:4 (ESV)
“The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.

God is always just. That means He administers justice correctly. It means that God always does what is right – which is why righteousness and justice go together.

Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

What does this mean for me?

Combined with God’s love (John 3:16), the righteousness and justice of God means that Jesus came to this world so that you can be right once again with Him, and not suffer eternal punishment as you deserve.

For being righteous and just, God cannot just allow sin to go unpunished. An earthly judge cannot allow a criminal to go free unpunished, lest he cease being a ‘just’ judge. How much more then our just and righteous God let us free, for without payment for sins, there can be no forgiveness. But God, who knew there was no way we could pay our debts, sent Jesus to pay those debts for us, to give full satisfaction for our sins.

Lastly, for us, it means that God will always do what is right. We may not see or understand, but God does – and He will make the right choices. He will make the right choices for our lives, for our direction, for what happens in our lives, without prejudice, without bias, without sin. He will make the right choices, and we can trust Him in that!

Thank you Lord God that you are righteous and just. We know without you, we cannot be righteous or just before you. We know that without the payment for our sins, but the blood of Your Son Jesus, that we could not dare to stand before you. So we come before you humble, and thank you for what has been done for us, in your righteousness and justice, that we can be free of ourselves and made right with you once more. In Jesus Name. Amen.

(photo flickr/al_hikesaz)