God's Wisdom and True Justice

Speaking of God’s justice the psalmist declares:

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face. “(Ps. 89:14 KJV)

In the New King James Version, the same verse reads:

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.” (NKJV)

Adding to this Zechariah the prophet proclaims:

“Execute true justice, showing mercy and compassion everyone to his brother.” (Zech. 7:9 NKJV)

In reviewing the above Scriptures, there are several things we can learn about how God applies true justice. First, note that for God’s throne to be established in the earth we must effectively carry out justice and judgment. Also, notice how mercy and truth are associated with executing true justice and judgment.

With these initial thoughts, we can examine how mercy and truth play key roles in effectively ministering true justice and judgment, and how this is part of walking out God’s love.

True justice can only begin when mercy is part of the equation. Without mercy for the oppressed and victimized justice remains just a noble idea. Only when mercy and compassion for the lost, wounded or poor is activated, only then can it become the energy that empowers the motivation for justice.

However, justice with mercy alone results in injustice. Why? Mercy when left to its own devices usually results in an out of balance compassion that tolerates just about anything. In fact, it can actually become an unhealthy hindering enabling force that permits destructive, self-defeating, or ungodly behaviors and lifestyles to remain intact and unchallenged.

It is never “just” to minister mercy and loving kindness to a person that continues on in his self- destructive life patterns that will surely inflict greater pain and suffering upon himself or others. It is not “just” to assist, enable, or positively embrace someone who continues to injure, abuse, or violate another person. Unfortunately, far too many Christians unwittingly minister this form of mercy in their efforts to help others. Unfettered, and out of balance mercy does not do anyone justice.

For instance – if Jesus had said to the woman caught in adultery, “neither do I condemn you” (Jn. 8:3-12) and had said nothing more, the woman would have assumed it was okay to continue on in a sexually immoral lifestyle.

Sexual immorality is unjustifiable behavior that God does not tolerate and is a form of behavior upon which He has pronounced a death sentence (Deut. 22:22-24). Therefore, if the woman in this narrative were to continue walking in sexually sinful behavior it would have resulted in more deadly outcomes in her life.

Here, we need to see that death is actually a separation from God, and includes consequences that manifest, because of that separation. Some manifestations of death may include, broken and pain inducing relationships, financial problems, lost opportunities, and even sickness and disease.

However, notice that Jesus added truth – and brought balance to the equation – by saying “go and sin no more.” In challenging the woman to change her lifestyle and walk in behaviors that pleased God, Jesus was implementing true justice. Justice was served because mercy allowed her to be forgiven by God, and to be positioned for a new opportunity to live a God-honoring life.

Jesus helped her step into this new opportunity by giving her direction about how to live a life that is pleasing to God. In going and sinning no more, the women would reap God’s peace, grace, and blessing on a consistent basis.

If, on the other hand, Jesus moved in truth, but without mercy, He would have agreed with the Pharisees about condemning the woman and would have called for immediate payment for her sin. Thus, Jesus would have joined them in stoning her to death. However, justice without mercy falls far short of God’s idea of true justice. Without mercy as a vital part of the equation, true justice will never be served.

Truth, without mercy to bring balance, can only produce condemnation, self-hate, self-loathing, inordinate guilt, and a mantle of shame. When a person is trampled by the truth he may feel so trodden down that he might never be able to rise up again. He may see himself as inept and inadequate, and feeling like a worm for the rest of his life.

Without mercy, truth can wreck spiritual, emotional, and psychological devastation in an individual’s life.

It could inflict wounds that may take years to recover from. Therefore, for true justice to be achieved, a balance must be struck with both mercy and truth playing equally strategic roles in the administration of true justice and judgment.

In the wisdom of God David declared:

“All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.” (Ps. 25:10) Additionally, Paul wrote the Romans about God’s great love, saying:

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

When we pull together David and Pauls’ Spirit inspired insights we find our God consistently operates in ways that create paths for His people to follow. One of the reasons God’s love is so great is because He consistently demonstrates it with appropriate measures of mercy and truth.

Therefore, we could say that mercy and truth are essential aspects of God’s love and are to be chief ingredients, whenever we seek to display His love to others. This is especially important when we actively carry out His call to minister true justice and judgment into the lives of those He gives us the privilege to influence.

Through Paul, God’s message to us is; “I love you (Mercy), but I hate sin (Truth).” Therefore, through the death of My Son I’ve created a way to for you to separate from sin, and to be fully engulfed in My great love for you.

By His Son’s great sacrifice, our God has executed true justice and judgment on our behalf. The primary divine principle here is this: “God’s love for mankind is manifested in true justice and judgment, which can only occur when mercy and truth are significant parts of the equation.”