In today’s world the perception of justice dictates that if you are guilty of wrongdoing or have caused harm to another, you should or will be punished. The offended tend to be satisfied if an offender is punished, as though punishment brings closure and justice is served.
Scripture says, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (a) [See endnotes for Scriptures] But, what is true and righteous in the eyes of the Eternal One? How does Scripture define God’s view of true and righteous judgements? Is God’s sense of justice anything like ours?
Clarity and Correction
While giving Israel the Ten Commandments (Hebrew – ten words) as guidelines for relationship, God shed light on His view of justice, stating: “I, the Lord Your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations…showing loving kindness to thousands…the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (b)
When God speaks of visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, He references the fact that children tend to follow the attitude and actions of parents. You may be surprised to learn that the Hebrew word (naqah) translated ‘unpunished’ in this verse means ‘unclean’. In essence God says He will not just leave offspring to continue in the error of parents, but seek to clean them up.
As Moses repeats God’s words in a prayer, he confirms God’s sense of justice: “But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, the Lord is slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression…visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.” (c)
Clarity comes as the prayer of Moses continues in the next verse: “Pardon…the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” (d) God continually forgave Israel’s rebellious stubbornness and cared for them through their uncertain wandering. God clearly forgives His wayward kids.
Hebrew scholars point out that when ‘thousands’ is compared to the ‘third and fourth generations,’ God demonstrates His tendency to forgive five hundred times greater than His lean toward punishment. This is amazing! God’s loving kindness is a supportive and cleansing factor in life.
We tend to overlook this description of God’s loving kindness and forgiving nature. His sense of justice is a correcting action. While correction can appear to us as punitive, it is really for our good.
God’s loving kindness is a supportive and cleansing factor in life.
Understanding God’s Treatment of Us
The judges in old Israel were appointed to discern between disputes and resolve issues. They also administered justice for wrong actions, by seeking to restore what was lost or damaged, and correct wrong attitudes and behavior. This justice was “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” (e)
The pattern God gave Israel sought to restore what was lost and turn the offender toward proper behavior. In some cases, the offender became a servant to the offended until the debt was satisfied.
In the latter days of Israel’s function as a nation, their sense of justice had greatly deteriorated. God addressed their miss-understanding and chided them for using the proverb, “The fathers eat the sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge,” as if children were held accountable for their parents’ errors. Israel’s response to God’s corrective words were: “The way of the Lord is not right!” God declared: “Is my way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right?” (f)
The prophet Isaiah said: “The Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice.” (g) What is justice? Rather than punish the children for their parents’ errors, He visits the next generations with efforts to clean us up.
Scripture even says “When the earth 
experiences Thy judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (h) Many times the corrective activity we experience is the difficult times we bring upon ourselves. When we reach what appears to be our end, we tend to be more open to improving change. God’s just-judgements are intended to turn us toward righteous behavior.
God actually understands why we come up short of the goal. His sense of justice considers our earthly beginnings: parentage, culture, environment, and impactful experiences. As God’s wandering offspring and responsive children, (i) He seeks to help us do and be better. (j)
As a perfect Father, God’s treatment of us is full of compassion and loving kindness, intending to restore and reconcile us into right thinking. (k) God’s sense of justice always seeks to restore. His heart is full of loving kindness and forgiving grace, even while we are rebellious. (l)
Is it time to reconsider our perception of God and what we understand to be His sense of justice?
God’s just-judgements are intended to turn us toward righteous behavior.
God’s Forgiving Nature
Do we really understand the cleansing effect of God’s forgiving love? The ill activity we encounter is usually a result of our or someone’s erroneous action. From God’s standpoint, they are built-in corrective measures that are meant for our own good, to clean us up so we can be more productive.
When did our misperception of God’s justice begin? It started with our first parents in the Garden of Eden, when Adam chose to turn from God and focus on natural experience as their primary source of wisdom. (m) Their newly acquired sense of fear confused their view of God’s loving nature and they expected to be hurt – punished. In their perception, He became a fearful God!
When their error was exposed, God was looking for repentance, which would have restored their relationship and helped them mature into better reflective resemblances (image and likeness) of His Heart. (n) Rather than punish, God sent them out of the Garden to experience what they chose.
To our detriment, we tend to think God is like us. We forget He created this temporal system as a place to initially birth and raise His offspring. What child does the Father not correct and seek to restore? (o) Could this be true for this life and the next?
Some people think God’s forgiving nature is limited to this natural life. It is not! Scripture is clear; “Neither death, nor life, nor angels…nor principalities (Greek – beginnings), nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers…nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (p)
All of these conditions are part of this natural world. Yes, we can ignore, deny, and even turn away from God’s love, but His love for us remains steadfast. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “’I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” (q)
Near Death Experiences (NDE) tend to confirm this insight on God’s justice. Of the hundreds of thousands of recorded NDE, a vast majority report seeing a more robust light and feeling a more intense love than anything they knew on earth. Believers and non-believers alike report the same intense sensations of love, joy and peace, with no sense of fear or condemnation.
Despite our ideas, neither God nor eternity is like this created world. Eternity is the habitation of our unchanging Father. While every person has a deposit of eternity in us (spirit of life), in this life, our perceptions are very often restrained by the limitations of this time and space world.
Furthermore, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (r) God’s love for us remains steadfast! (s) So Scripture declares “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” (t) Does God’s loving kindness and forgiving mercy reach further than we perceive?
What a difference this Scriptural understanding can make in our daily lives!
We can ignore, deny, and even turn away from God’s love, but His love for us remains steadfast.
a) Psalm 19:9; b) Exodus 20:5-7; Deuteronomy 5:9-10; c) Numbers 14:17-18; d) Numbers 14:19; e) Leviticus 24:17-21; f) Ezekiel 18:1-3, 25; g) Isaiah 30:18; h) Isaiah 26:9; i) Acts 17:22-27) j) Ephesians 4:13-16; k) 2 Corinthians 5:18-20; l) 1 John 2:2; Romans 5:10; m) Genesis 3:6; 1 Timothy 2:14; n) Genesis 1:26-28; o) Hebrews 12:5-10; Proverbs 29:17; Proverbs 3:11-12; p) Romans 8:38-39; q) Romans 9:15-16; r) 2 Timothy 2:13; s) Lamentations 3:22-23; t) 1 Corinthians 15:22
Keith Carroll, “The Relationship Guy”
Relational Gospel Founder
Created To Relate author