"Where is the God of Justice?"

This week we have been looking at a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Malachi, where the Jewish people were arrogantly and skeptically questioning God’s justice. Wednesday, we saw Malachi’s response to those who accused God of delighting in those who were involved in selfishness and rebellion. Today, we will see Malachi respond to a second accusation that the Jewish people held that denied God’s justice in verse 5:


"Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me," says the LORD of hosts.

Here we see Malachi respond the Jewish people’s question “Where is the God of justice?” Malachi responds to this question by explaining that when the Jesus comes, the Jewish people will experience justice. When the Lord comes, He will serve as a witness that will testify about the selfishness and rebellion that led the Jewish people to take detours that kept them from living in relationship with God and that dishonored God and others. Malachi reveals seven different acts of injustice that served as evidence that the Jewish people denied God’s justice by living lives of injustice.

First, Malachi explains that the Lord would testify against the sorcerers, who were those who engaged in magic and other cultic practices of false worship that revealed their injustice toward God. Second, the Lord will testify against the adulterers, who were those who engaged in sexual activity in addition to marriage that revealed their injustice toward their spouse. Third, the Lord, upon His return, will testify against those who swore falsely. These were individuals who gave either false testimony or were deceptive in the promises that they made. And it was their false and deceptive words and promises that revealed their injustice toward God and others. Fourth, Malachi explains that upon His return, the Lord would testify against those who oppress the wage earner by extorting or defrauding their employees, which revealed their injustice toward those whom they employed.

Malachi then exposes the injustice that the Jewish people were displaying towards the most vulnerable in Jewish society. Fifth, Malachi explains that the Lord would testify against those who oppress the widow. Sixth, Malachi the Lord would testify against those who oppress the orphan. Just like today, in the Jewish culture of Malachi’s day, widows and orphans were extremely vulnerable and were often the victims of injustice. And there were those in the Jewish culture of Malachi’s day that were exploiting, extorting, and defrauding widows and orphans of the resources that they so desperately needed that revealed their injustice toward the most vulnerable in society. And seventh, Malachi explains that the Lord would testify against those who turn aside the alien. Instead of following God’s command to treat the non-Jewish person who lived in the Jewish culture with respect and love, the Jewish people were treating them harshly as outsiders, which revealed their injustice to the non-Jewish world.

Malachi then reveals the heart condition of the Jewish people that drove their injustice: the Jewish people did not fear God. In other words, the Jewish people did not give the Lord the honor and reverent awe that He deserved. The Jewish people did not respect God and being the just judge. Instead the Jewish people were denying or questioning the justice of God. And as a result, the Jewish people had taken a detour that got them off track in their relationship with God and that dishonored God. This makes what Malachi says next in verse 6 all the more amazing. Let’s look at it together:

"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

Now when Malachi uses the word consumed here, this word, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be finished or destroyed. If Malachi was to communicate God’s word to the Jewish people of his day in the language we use today, this verse would have sounded something like this: I am the Lord and because I do not change, you Jewish people have not been destroyed. I am a promise maker and a promise keeper. And I will keep my promise to send a rescuer who will provide an opportunity to rescue on His first coming and will come to usher in justice and judgment upon His second coming”.

And a little over 400 years after this letter was written, John the Baptizer began preaching and proclaiming that the Jewish people needed to repent, that the Jewish people needed to clear away the obstacles of unbelief, because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. And then the messenger of the covenant, Jesus Christ, God-in-a-bod, the Messiah, the One whom the Jewish people were searching and seeking, the One whom the Jewish people delighted in, suddenly appeared on the scene. Jesus came and cleansed the temple in Jerusalem not once but twice. Jesus suddenly appeared on the scene to usher in a new covenant that would provide all of humanity the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for through placing one’s confident trust in His life, death, and resurrection, as Lord and Leader.

Yet, the Jewish people missed it. The Jewish people missed it because Jesus came suddenly and in a way that they did not expect. The Jewish people missed Jesus as the Messiah and rejected Him by handing Him over to be crucified as an enemy of the state. The Jewish people missed it because they were taking a detour that questioned God’s justice while embracing a life of selfishness, rebellion, and injustice.

And in the same way today, we take a detour when we deny God’s justice while engaging in a life of selfishness and rebellion that results in injustice. You see, while we can question why injustice occurs in the world; while we can question why God allows injustice; we cannot question God’s justice, because God’s justice and God’s love is most clearly seen at the cross.

In His love, God sent His Son Jesus into humanity in order to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And Jesus death on the cross satisfied God’s justice, which demands eternal death for our selfish rebellion. God’s justice demands that sin be punished, but God’s love compels Him to save sinners. So Christ’s death on the cross releases His love and satisfies His justice.

Thus there is no contradiction between absolute justice and unconditional love. God’s justice is administered in love and His love is distributed justly. And just as Jesus suddenly and unexpected appeared on the scene some 2,000 years ago, at the end of God’s story here on earth, Jesus will suddenly and unexpected appear to put to an end once and for all the injustice that flows from selfishness and rebellion and to usher in God’s kingdom in its fullest sense. And all of humanity will stand before Jesus who will with perfect justice judge the world.

So here are a couple of questions to consider: First, are you denying or questioning the justice of God? Are you asking “where is the God who acts justly?” Because we take a detour that gets us off track with God and that dishonors God when we deny God’s justice. And second, what do you think will happen when you stand before the God of justice at the end of your life or upon His return?