There's going to be hell to pay, or there is another way.
Psalm 89:14-37
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!
O
Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
16 In Your name they rejoice all the day,
And by Your righteousness they are exalted.
17 For You are the glory of their strength,
And by
Your favor our horn is exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,
And our king to the Holy One of Israel.
This portion of Psalm 89 is a continuation of what we looked at yesterday, where the psalmist is exhorting us to praise and give thanks to God for His restoration, for His promises and for who He is. Verse 14 begins with 3 important attributes of God. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. They are the things His authority and dominion are built upon. Righteousness is defined as "
“There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.
God's justice is very much the same. There is no way we can possibly compare even the most just person or system known to man to the perfect justice of God. Think about this though, in our imperfect system of justice there must be a punishment or penalty for improper behavior. If there is no punishment or penalty there is no deterrent and evil increases. Because of God's perfect righteousness and justice there needs to be a penalty for unrighteous behavior. Verse 14 continues - loving kindness and truth go before you.
People who try to discredit the truth of God's word or God's very character will say how can a good loving God punish people. The truth is that love and judgment are not opposing characteristics of God. Because He is perfectly just He has to judge sin. He can not overlook it. His character of righteousness and justice requires that there be judgment and a penalty for sin. Romans 6:23 tells us what the penalty for sin is.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death,
This penalty for sin was first seen in the garden when Adam and Eve comitted the first sin. Man who was created to live eternally with God here on earth would no longer do that, his days on earth would be numbered and end in physical death, justice requires judgment. Romans 6:23 continues though,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You see because God is just, there must be judgment and a penalty for sin. But because His loving kindness goes before Him. Because He is a God of grace and mercy, because He couldn't overlook sin, He paid the price Himself. Jesus came to pay the penalty for sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
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