God, Just and Justifier

As I'm working through the Bible looking for the characteristics of God I noticed something in Exodus 19, 20, and 21.

In Exodus 19 the people have arrived at Sinai, and God tells Moses that the people need to prepare for His visit. Moses gives them God's instructions for preparing themselves to meet God, and when they are ready God descends on the mountain.

Exodus 19.18-19 says, "Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder."

God is fierce and dangerous. God is to be feared and respected. God spoke the universe into creation, He sustains it, and He has the power to destroy it. God comes in fire, the mountain quakes, He speaks in thunder. God is powerful. God is to be obeyed. He gives Moses instructions for himself and the people to follow for their own good. He gives them boundaries so that they will not die. when the people obey, they live and are able to behold God.

Exodus 19 tells us that God is to be obeyed.

Exodus 20 is the giving of the Law, the 10 Commandments. God is to be obeyed, and here He tells us what to obey. He lays out His standards for Holiness. He alone is God, and must be worshiped and revered as God. God created us for relationships and He lays out how we can exist together in harmony. He shows His desire for life, for purity, for honesty, and contentment. His standards are perfect, they are the foundation that society is to stand upon.

Exodus 20 shows us what God requires. His standards are to be obeyed.

Exodus 21 (to 23) show God's justice. When wrongs are committed, when God's standards aren't broken then there must be justice. For God to be a holy and righteous God He must be a God of justice. He cannot allow people to slide by and act as if nothing happened when His standard isn't kept. If He did, He wouldn't be God. God's laws must be followed, His standard must be kept.

Exodus 21 tells us that God is a God of justice.

So we have a God who must be obeyed, He then tells us what we are to obey, and then we see that He gives justice when wrong things are done.

We're in trouble. We have failed over and over to obey God. We have failed over and over to keep His standards, and we deserve His justice to be enforced. And God would be fully justified in punishing us. We know that He is to be obeyed, and we know what we are to obey, and we deliberately choose not to. God is just and we deserve justice.

But greater than God's justice, is His love. God, knowing that we justly deserve death for breaking His law, makes a way for us to be justified. He sends His Son, Jesus, God made man, the only one capable of perfectly keeping the law, to die in our place. Jesus the perfect lamb, came and took the punishment for breaking the law, in order for us to be justified. The God of justice is God the justifier. We truly do worship an awesome God.

To God alone be the glory!

Peace be with you