The Gospel: Part IV

Last time we talked about what happened when Izzy (aka Isaiah) encountered the holiness of God, and what that did to him.  It is in the context of His holiness, his “set-apartness,” that we can begin to understand His view on sin, what we called selfishness.  My dear friend, Dave, had an interesting take of sin that I believe hits the nail very much on the head.  He described “sin” as an act of vandalism.  If you consider for a moment that not only are we living in God’s creation, but our minds, bodies and souls are also His creation, then we start to see how messing with those things – even our thoughts – is an act of vandalism against God’s creation.  I thought that was an extremely apt description, so kudos to Dave for that great insight.

We’ve already said that “God is Just” but even more, since God is an absolute being, “God IS Justice!”  He doesn’t mess around, and because justice is part of His very nature (his ontology to use a fancy-schmancy word), he cannot simply overlook sin.  Imagine a police officer or judge who simple overlooked murder or other such crimes.  We humans, however, like to think that some crimes SHOULD be overlooked.  We want the cop to catch the murderer, but overlook our speeding on the highway.  Sometimes we recieve a little grace in those cases, but if the police officer or judge let everyone off, we would no longer consider them just.  God, on the other hand, is perfectly just.  Hear what the Bible says about God’s justice – and take the time to really think about these verses…

The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Psalm 33:5)

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. (Psalm 36:6)

He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.  (Psalm 9:8)

Now check out these verses, that place the very kingship of God on the basis of His justice…

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (Psalm 89:14)

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. (Psalm 97:2)

His justice is what His throne is built on!  And see now how the demonstration of His justice is connected to how God reveals Himself to us…

But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.  (Isaiah 5:16)

The LORD is known by his justice (Psalm 9:16)

How does God’s justice affect us?  The Bible also talks about how His justice is applied, and how we measure up in the light of it…

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line (Isaiah 28:17) 

Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?  When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.  (Job 8:3-4)

The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame. (Zephaniah 3:5)

Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.  (Jeremiah 9:24)

I assert that if God, an absolute being whose very nature is ”justice,” lets even one crime go unnoticed, then He would no longer be absolute, and therefor no longer God.  But, oh wonder of wonders, I’m going to show you my favourite Old Testament verse regarding God’s justice:

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Isaiah 30:18)

Wow, think about that.  God longs to be gracious.  The next statement is referring to His kingship.  Ever been to a performance of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus?”  Everyone rises to their feet, because when King George II of England heard the Chorus for the first time, He rose to his feet.  The King need never rise, because he is sovereign.  In the same way, this verse refers to the King of Kings, God Himself, rising from His throne to show compassion.  Why?!  Why does God long to show us grace and compassion?  The next verse is the answer: Because He’s a God of justice.

How awesome is that?!  Part and parcel of His justice is this desire to be merciful.  Blessed are those who eagerly await His grace!  Blessed are those who anticipate the King rising to show compassion!  We’re going to come back to this passage a little later, but what you should see here are three things:

1. God is absolute justice, and cannot ignore sin.
2. Part of God’s justice is His mercy – He desires to be compassionate, yet without compromising His justice.
3. How does one receive that mercy, that compassion?  By waiting on Him.  Not a passive “whatever” waiting, but an anticipatory waiting.

We’ll talk some more about that third point next time, but for now, think about your own heart, and hold it up to the light of God’s holiness and justice.  Consider also what it means to wait in anticipation.

BibleWorks 7

It’s coming soon, and it looks better than ever.  BibleWorks is my favourite Bible software, featuring incredible power, searchability, original languages, lexicons and dictionaries, and all the added bells and whistles one might expect.  BibleWorks isn’t an alternative or replacement for the Bible-study electronic library system by Logos, so don’t make that mistake.  BibleWorks isn’t an electronic library, it’s a serious piece of Biblical exegesis software, designed for Biblical scholars.

The one Biblical scholar that I have contact with twice weekly hasn’t been a fan of BibleWorks in the past, but emailed me saying, “I noticed that BibleWorks 7 will support Unicode. Finally I can recommend it.”  For Greek/Hebrew scholars on the web, Unicode support is a must, BibleWorks 7 has that and so much more.  Here’s a highlight of some of the big features:

• New User Interface: The BibleWorks user interface has been redesigned to work the way you work. When you are researching a particular topic you normally progress from searching, to browsing, and, finally, to analysis of particular words. The new interface is laid out in this order so that your work flow is more natural and intuitive.
• Key Word in Context (KWIC) / Collocation Table Module: This new tool makes it easy to build key word in context lexicons and collocation tables for any word in any version. You will quickly uncover important phrases and word usage patterns often overlooked in standard searches.
• Support for Unicode Hebrew & Greek: BibleWorks now supports both Unicode and non-Unicode Greek and Hebrew. Exporting Unicode is as simple as dragging highlighted text from BibleWorks to your word processor. Standard SBL and SIL Unicode Greek and Hebrew fonts are also included in the package.
• Satellite Maps: BibleWorks comes with a set of beautiful satellite maps that you have to see to believe! The collection includes a full set of editable site and terrain overlays for major locations in Israel and Egypt, along with detailed overhead and elevation data and a comprehensive list of archaeological sites. You can even create your own map views, select sites to display, annotate key locations and trace journeys or battle lines.

There’s also a bunch of new databases, modules, and more.  Check out the complete list of new features by clicking here.