by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
November, 1940
THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
We come now to consider, third, its manifestation. But let us make it unmistakably clear at the outset that it is the manifestation of God's justice under the economy which He has instituted which we shall here treat of. It cannot be insisted upon too strongly that there is a vast difference between the justice of God when it be viewed absolutely and when it be viewed relatively—a difference as real and as great as that which exists between His essential independence and those restrictions which He has voluntarily assumed. The justice of God considered absolutely consists of His own Divine rights to do whatever He pleases; the justice of God considered relatively consists of His course of action in relation to those creatures which He has placed under a moral constitution, wherein He has pledged Himself unto a certain order of procedure.
This distinction is far more than a metaphysical nicety: it is a basic fact. The great God was absolutely free to create or not create, just as He saw fit. There was no compulsion—either from within or without—for Him to bring creatures into existence: He decided to go forth into acts of creation solely for His own glory. In like manner, God was entirely free to create whatever kind of creatures He pleased: it was solely for Him to determine whether they should be rational entities or not. So, too, it was for Him to decide whether or not evil should enter His universe and sin mar the works of His hands. Furthermore, it was entirely at His option whether He should promptly annihilate evil-doers or whether their existence should be prolonged; and if prolonged, whether their iniquities should be pardoned or punished; and if punished in what way and for how long. Alas, how ignorant this generation is of Holy Writ!
Absolutely considered, then, the justice of God is one with His sovereignty: that is to say, whatever God decrees and whatever He does is just, simply and solely because it issues from His own imperial will. But relatively considered the justice of God consists in His administering with strict impartiality the Law which He was pleased to frame, so that He gives to each under it his exact due. Above, we made mention of those “restrictions” which God has voluntarily taken upon Himself: lest this be misunderstood or wrested, we hasten to define our meaning. It has pleased God to form a purpose or plan, the broad outlines of which are revealed in His Word, and He is now acting accordingly. It has pleased God to make certain promises and threats and He has pledged Himself to fulfill the same. We shall, then, now contemplate the Divine justice as it is manifested under that economy which the Lord God has appointed.
First, it is testified to by our conscience. Since it pleased the Creator to constitute man a rational creature and to place him under external law, He also saw fit to afford proof within himself that he is subject to a Government which is righteous and just. Man is not only endowed with a faculty which enables him to distinguish between right and wrong, but with perceptions that intuitively feel that justice is worthy of approbation and injustice of condemnation. This is a part of that “work of the law written within their hearts” (Rom. 2:15) by the Maker of men. It is in consequence of this moral faculty that the wicked “knowing (within themselves) the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32). Hence it is that from earliest times and all through the centuries the most benighted even of the heathen have resorted unto all manner of means and devices in seeking to placate Deity.
It is the province of our conscience to weigh actions in the scales of God's Law (or what we apprehend to be His Law) and pass sentence according to their conformity or lack of conformity with that standard. It has rightly been termed the deputy or vicegerent of God within our souls, for it performs not only the work of a monitor by reminding us of our duty and exciting us to attend unto the same, but also of a subordinate judge summoning us before its tribunal and pronouncing us innocent or guilty. Its sentences proceed on the assumption that God's Law is “holy, just and good,” with the demands of which we are bound to comply. And as Romans 2 tells us, this moral faculty obtains as truly in those who receive not the written Law of God as in those who do. Thus we see how the creature bears within him a witness to the attributes of God's justice, for the constitution of his mind is as much His work as is the balancing of the clouds.
The workings of conscience are indeed remarkable, for they often expose the vanity of our most specious pretenses and convict us of sin at the moment when we are employing all our sophistry in seeking to justify our mad conduct. In this manner the rights of God as the Supreme Governor to place man under law and to enforce its sanctions are manifested within him even amid his very attempts to repudiate His demands and escape from His yoke. This advocate for God's claims accompanies us wherever we go and makes its voice heard in solitude and company alike. It upbraids those whom men would never think of reproving, and speaks with such potency as makes kings to tremble upon their thrones. It checks us when we are meditating wicked devices and if unheeded, disturbs our pleasure while we are seeking to enjoy our unlawful spoils.
Second, the dispensations of Providence tend to confirm the dictates of conscience and manifest the justice of Him who is Lord over all. Providence supposes the preservation of creatures and the government of them according to their respective natures. Are there, then, any indications of a moral government over men? Both experience and observation inform us that good and evil are disbursed, and the point we now raise is, do these appear to be allotted unto men in any degree according to their conduct considered as morally good or evil? Admittedly this is no question which is easy to answer to the satisfaction of many people, especially when they are in a gloomy mood—nevertheless, the Scriptures record so many examples of the justice of God in punishing sin and in rewarding righteousness that the godly cannot doubt the reality of this principle.
Among the more conspicuous demonstrations of the retributive justice of God we mention the sparing not of the angels that sinned, for God “cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4); the swallowing of the inhabitants of the old world by the flood; the overthrow of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; the destruction of the haughty Pharaoh and his hosts at the Red Sea; and the calamities which befell the rebellious Jews, particularly their transportation to Babylon and their subsequent dispersion by the Romans. Secular history also records many striking and solemn demonstrations of God taking vengeance on those who oppressed His people. Instances of Divine intervention in the lives of nations may still be observed, and will not be overlooked by those who are attentive unto what is passing around them and who piously believe that not a sparrow can fall to the ground without the permission of the Most High.
The like retributive justice of God appears also in the case of individuals. When the Israelites caught the Canaanite Adonibezek and cut off his thumbs and his big toes, he acknowledged, “Three score and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me” (Judg. 1:7). Ahab's blood was lapped up by dogs in the very place where the blood of Naboth had been shed (1 Kings 22:37, 38). Jezebel was more guilty than he: Ahab permitted, but Jezebel contrived. Ahab afterward humbled himself, and therefore received honourable burial; but Jezebel was entombed in the bellies of the dogs. Haman was executed on the very gallows which he had set up for Mordecai (Esth. 7:10). Henry the Third of France was killed in the same chamber where the horrible massacre had been planned, and Charles the Ninth died flowing in his own blood in bed.
So plainly does Providence hint that the Ruler of this world is endowed with justice that we find heathen antiquity uniting in acknowledging its belief in Divine retribution upon all enormities. Examples of this are found in the mariners who manned the ship in which Jonah was passenger, for they were convinced that the awful storm came upon them because of some evil-doer in their midst (Jonah 1:7); as also in the case of the inhabitants of Melita, for when they saw the viper settle upon the hand of Paul they exclaimed, “No doubt this man is a murderer whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live” (Acts 28:4). Indeed it will generally be found that the heathen are far readier to consider the workings of Divine retribution than are those nations which profess to be Christian, and that unbelievers today are more ready to own God's hand in justice than most of those who claim to be believers.
This principle of Divine retribution appears also in the lives of God's own people. Jacob secured Isaac's blessing by a piece of deception, posing as his brother Esau, and after seven years of hard service with Laban the homely Leah was palmed off on him in the stead of her beautiful sister Rachel. When Joseph was inflexible to his brethren's requests they exclaimed, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us” (Gen. 42:21). Asa, who put the Prophet in stocks, afterward became diseased in his own feet. Paul consented to the stoning of Stephen, yea, assisted in his execution, for his murderers laid down their clothes at his feet; and therefore Paul himself was afterward stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:19, 20)—this is the more noteworthy because Barnabas, who was his companion—who had given equal offense in preaching the Gospel was not stoned.
And so it is still. Without being guilty of the presumption and uncharitableness which our Saviour condemned when speaking of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices and of the people on whom the tower of Siloam fell, yet there are times when we are constrained to acknowledge, “Verily, there is a God that judgeth in the earth” (Psa. 58:11). When we see, as at times we do, the sins of men called to remembrance by the very nature of their punishment, and when we occasionally behold the sinner smitten with the rod of anger while he is in the act of transgression, we cannot doubt that the Ruler of this world is our righteous judge. But it may he objected that the distribution of rewards and punishments is not regular or uniform, that upon the whole the treatment which men receive from Providence is little connected with their character and conduct, yea, that the wicked rather than the righteous are the more successful.
The prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous have in all ages presented an acute problem, and it was the observation of Job that, “the tabernacle of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure” (12:6). David declared, “I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree” (Psa. 37:35). Asaph lamented, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men” (Psa. 73:3-5). After declaring, “Righteous art Thou, O LORD, when I plead with Thee,” Jeremiah asked the Lord, “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” (12:1). Habakkuk also inquired, “Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” (Hab 1:13). In Malachi's days there were those who murmured, “It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance . . . They that work wickedness are set up, yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” (3:14, 15). What answer may be given to such questions?
First, God's Word does sufficiently declare His displeasure against the wicked and His approbation of the righteous even though His Providence does not. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl. 8:11) Though the warrant is signed, yet the execution thereof may be suspended for just reasons. Sin is not the less odious to God because He does not immediately inflict its punishment. He delays it to display His infinite patience: bearing 'with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath.” Some, like Manasseh and Saul of Tarsus, are spared, that they may become the monuments of His sovereign grace. So, too, God has wise reasons for delaying the rewards of the righteous: that faith may be tested, patience developed, and the sufficiency of His grace to sustain under afflictions demonstrated.
Second, it should be more definitely borne in mind that there are other punishments beside outward afflictions and other rewards beside material prosperity. Alas that we so readily forget this. Invisible judgments are the most fearful of all. To be abandoned by God unto blindness of mind, hardness of heart, and terrors of conscience, is far worse than any physical loss or pain! Who can measure what Cain felt when he cried, “my punishment is greater than I can bear”! Who can gauge the depths of remorse felt by Judas ere he went and hanged himself! Contrariwise, the favour of God is expressed unto His own people in the spiritual blessings which He showers upon them. What though the ungodly give them the cold shoulder, if they are conscious of the smile of their heavenly Father! Which is the better, houses and lands, or the comforts of an ungrieved Spirit and a peace which passes all understanding? Assurance of Divine sonship is worth more than silver or gold!
Third, Providence must not be viewed piecemeal, but in its entirety; nor by halves, but in its whole frame and connection. We are required to possess our souls in patience on this matter, too, for in His own good time God shall make it unmistakably plain to an assembled universe that He is a righteous Ruler and Judge. In the meanwhile God has good reasons for not yet making a full demonstration of His justice by openly rewarding or punishing men according to their works. This is the day of His patience and not of His wrath—it is the day when we are called upon to walk by faith and not by sight. It is our failure to view Providence as a whole which so often makes us say with Jacob, “all these things are against me,” when in reality, “all things work together for good to them that love God.” But it will only be in the future that this grand fact will be fully evidenced. “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12), and what an immeasurable difference this will make!
Fourth, the solemn triumph of the justice of God will fully appear in the Day to come. The righteous and the wicked receive but the beginnings of their reward and punishment in this life. Though the wicked are not altogether without punishment yet these are but the beginning of sorrows, if we respect either God's external or eternal retribution. The reason for this is not hard to discover: if God should punish no sin here, then none would believe there is a God—if He should punish all sin here, none would be afraid of future judgment. “He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31)—that will be the grand Assize for all mankind, where the Great Judge shall appear in His royalty. At present God keeps but petty sessions, but then will be, “The day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Rom. 2:5). Now God's judgment is manifested on a few here and there, but then upon all. Now much of His retribution is disbursed secretly, but then openly. Now the punishment is but a temporary one, but then eternal. So, too, with the rewarding of the righteous: here they have but the beginning of their salvation, the fullness thereof being reserved for the world to come, for here, too, we have to walk by faith and not by sight.
Finally, let us point out once more that under the dispensations of Providence the external government of God is so exercised as to provide the world with a sufficient witness of His retributive justice as to give plain warning of what may be expected in the world to come. The occasional instance which we behold of the Divine vengeance upon evildoers are notices that the Ruler of this world is not unmindful of nor indifferent to the actions of His creatures, and they are calculated to excite an expectation that in the future God's justice will be more openly and fully displayed. Divine indifference cannot be fairly inferred from the afflictions of the righteous, since they are compensated for by those spiritual consolations which make them joyful in tribulation and are productive of salutary effects. Here justice is mingled with mercy to the godly in their sufferings, and mercy is mixed with justice to the wicked in their temporal blessings; but at the last Day it will be fully demonstrated that God is a righteous Judge, keeping strictly to that Law which He has framed for the government of this world. Moreover, at that Day even the wicked shall be sufficiently delivered from the delusions of Satan as to perceive the righteousness of their Judge in His dealings with them.—A.W.P.
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