Lately I’ve found myself thinking a lot about justice and what it really means. In a world where justice is usually not correctly dispensed it seems to me all the more interesting how much time God devotes in His law in the Old Testament to equity in judgment. Certainly, mercy is necessary, but justice must prevail.

Perhaps because we have focused so much on the grace and mercy of God, we’ve forgotten that He is also completely just. It’s precisely His grace that allows Him to be simultaneously just and merciful. However, that does not abrogate His justice. As I look at a lot of the unjust decisions that are handed down in various courts and in legislation, I can flee to only one place: One day Jesus is going to come back, and He will put an end to this injustice.

Some people might view this as weak consolation of someone who feels himself impotent, but for me it’s hope. And perhaps a wee glimpse at who Justice truly is. No matter what wrongs have been done the Just God will see them righted. He will see those who committed these infractions punished, whether in this life (as He did with Israel destroying the Canaanites) or in the next (as He will at the Great White Throne judgment described in Revelation 20). And that is a comforting thought.