Do you want justice?

Psalm 89:14-37 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

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.

¹⁹ Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.
²⁰ “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him,
²¹ With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him.
²² “The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
²³ “But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him.
²⁴ “My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him,
And in My name his horn will be exalted.
²⁵ “I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers.
²⁶ “He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’
²⁷ “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
²⁸ “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.
²⁹ “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.

³⁰ “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,
³¹ If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments,
³² Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes.
³³ “But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.
³⁴ “My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.
³⁵ “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. ³⁶ “His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me.
³⁷ “It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah.

Many people say God is love, it all about love. The psalmist says:   Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.    Indeed God is love, but the love of God is much more than what we know as human love. Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  John 3:16 says:  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”      God’s love was and is demonstrated by the cross of Christ. The psalmist says righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. They are what God’s authority, His rule, His sovereignty is built and established upon. In the cross of Christ we see that God’s righteousness and justice are also the basis for the demonstration of His love. God is righteous, He is holy and He desires that man should be righteous and holy. He says:  “You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy” (Leviticus 20:26) Man though was and is unable to live up to God’s holy and righteous standard. Romans 3:23 says:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.        If God were simply a just God then we would receive the penalty or the consequences for our sin. Romans 6:23 says:  For the wages of sin is death.      Death is justice for sin. Death is what we deserve. This life is precious and it in itself is a gift from God. We should not take lightly or ignore the blessing we have in living each day that we are given. Yet in the end we all will die. No one can argue with the reality of Ecclesiastes 3:1-2   There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— A time to give birth and a time to die       At the end of this life, there is death. Life itself is more than we deserve. Death is justice, it is the consequence of sin.

When God created man, He created us in His image and His likeness. He created man to be an eternal being, like Him. So because of God’s justice we deserve to die for our sins. But because of His love, Christ died for our sins. Romans 3:24 says we are:    justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.      In our culture and society there is a lot of focus on our rights, on what we deserve, what is owed or granted to us. The truth is we are owed nothing. People say they want justice, when really they want things to be given to them, to be provided for them. People today have a distorted view of justice because of our entitlement attitudes. This nation was not founded on the right of people’s entitlement. The Declaration of Independence says:   “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”     It’s not the government’s job to provide happiness, contentment and things to people. It is the government’s responsibility to provide opportunity for people to pursue happiness. God on the other hand is full of mercy and grace. He does provide the gift of redemption from sin through the cross of Christ. There is nothing more we need to do. Christ did it all.

The psalmist speaks of God’s promise and covenant with Israel through David their king.  God says:   “I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him… “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.  “My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him.  “So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven.”     God says:   “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments,  If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments,
Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes.  “But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.  “My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.  “Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David.  “His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me.
 “It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.”    The sons of David were not able to maintain the statutes and commandments of God. They, like all men, sinned and fell short of the glory of God. God though did not break His covenant promise. Jesus Christ was born through the lineage of David. It is through Him that the eternal throne is established. What David’s natural heirs could not do, Jesus did for us. Romans 8:17 says we are:   heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.     Through Christ we have been granted all that God has.

Indeed righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne. They are what God’s authority and sovereignty are built and based upon. Thankfully while God is a just God, He doesn’t give us what we deserve. He doesn’t give us justice. Instead, because of His lovingkindness, because of His mercy, He shows us grace.    We are:     justified (given justice) as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.  

Heavenly Father, Thank You that You do not give us what we deserve. Thank You that rather than justice we get grace. Thank You that You demonstrate Your love, not in acceptance of our sin, but rather in the cross of Christ, the redemption from our sin. Thank You Lord Jesus, for the price You paid, that through the cross I could become an heir of God’s eternal promises.   Amen