Reply To: The Holiness of God, Chapter 6 – Holy Justice

[Lynne MazzaHilway]

Yes, again so timely, I had just read some questionable posts from at least one seemingly sound Christian who seemed to be saying the Old Testament was outdated and only the ‘evolved’ New Testament applied now to Christians, especially because of the Old Testament’s ‘violent, bizarre and irrelevant standards’. I struggled with how to address such and shortly thereafter sat down to this sobering confirmation of God’s consistent just and holy character, praise Him! And yes, “the Cross is the most violent expression of God’s wrath and justice”, again praise Him, where would we be without it?!
Especially in this entitled society, “we expect and demand mercy and take grace for granted. In creation God is not obliged to give us the gift of life; all sin is cosmic treason deemed worthy of death.”

“There is a false conflict between the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament code represents a bending over backward of divine patience and forbearance; God’s patience is designed to lead us to repentance; justice is delayed so grace would have time to work.” How unbelievably amazing! “If the supreme judge is unjust we have no hope of justice ever prevailing.”
And so again we, as His image-bearers, pray for those who are mis-reading The Author of our faith and salvation and ask God to open their hearts and minds to fresh revelations of who He really is. I know it’s very sad and challenging to me when people misread who I am, how much more unjust and tragic when we don’t truly get our Creator.