Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. I. LET US THINK OF JUSTICE AS RESIDING FROM ETERNITY IN THE DIVINE BEING, AND AS OPERATING INDEPENDENTLY OF THE EXISTENCE OF CREATED BEINGS. 1. In this view, justice must be contemplated as rising out of the very existence of Deity. Justice exists necessarily and infinitely in the glorious Godhead. 2. It may be viewed as operating within the Divine Being itself, distinctly from every prospect of the future existence of a universe of creatures, in such ways as these: in a righteous valuing and honouring of the distinct preciousness of other Divine excellencies, such as power, holiness, goodness, etc.; in a fair arrangement, union, and well-adjusted harmony of all the other Divine perfections; and in the mutual acknowledgments of the equal rights, dignity, and relations of each of the Three Persons in the Godhead. II. LET US THINK OF THE NATURE OF MORAL GOOD AND EVIL, AS FOUND IN CREATURE AGENTS, WHICH IS THE PROPER OBJECT OF JUSTICE. 1. Such agents possess the natural image of God, in spirituality, in intelligence, in capacity of choice, in voluntary activity, in discernment of good and evil. These things are necessary to the existence of either moral good or moral evil. It may be asked, What is the meaning of these words? 2. Moral good and evil are opposite qualities of such creatures, as to their dispositions and actions. 3. The chief moral good and evil must be found in the dispositions and actions of the creature towards God Himself. Here must be the greatest, the noblest beauty, or the foulest deformity, the richest flavoured sweetness or the most poisonous bitterness. 4. There is a wide range of good and of evil, in disposition and in action, relative to man made in the image of God. 5. There is a general importance in all moral good and evil, even in their most ordinary and tranquil movements; for they are the acts of a creature endowed with the natural image of the great God, to whom also these acts and qualities have an ultimate reference. 6. In connection with these things we have to think of the vast multitude of moral agents, men and angels, whom we know with certainty, and of the vast variety of circumstances and events, and also the long flight of ages, before the final judgment; besides the numberless worlds of intelligent agents which may lie behind an impenetrable veil of obscurity and uncertainty. And thus we have some view of that awful, wide-extended, moral empire, the direct object of the cognisance and procedure of Divine justice, and of which everyone who now thinks on this subject is an interested and important part.Application — 1. How contrary to this whole doctrine of the justice of God is that spirit of frivolous, presumptuous ease and gaiety which generally reign in the world! 2. Let us consider the majesty and power of the justice of God as the guardian attribute of all the other excellencies of Divinity. 3. Who can sufficiently estimate the preciousness of deliverance from the wrath to come by the sufferings and blood of Jesus, the Son of God? III. THE NATURE OF THIS GLORIOUS JUSTICE AND OF ITS EXERCISE RESPECTING GOOD AND EVIL. 1. His penetrating and transcendently perfect inspection of moral good and evil (Isaiah 3:8; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Revelation 1:14). 2. His approbation of moral good, and His complacency and delight therein. 3. His honouring and rewarding moral goodness. 4. Let us think of the aspect and procedure of this great Judge against moral evil, by rejection, disapprobation, and vengeance.Application — 1. In review of the things spoken on this subject, the glorious justice of Jehovah, it is of importance to notice the place which this excellency holds among the other perfections of Deity. It is, in some respects, a consequence of the general rectitude of the Divine Being and of some other particular excellencies of God. But it is specially to be remarked that to justice belongs the high character of the guardian attribute, both in relation to the glory of all that is Divine, and in reference to the rights and interests of created beings among one another. 2. It demands our most serious consideration, that it is not without very great difficulty that an apostate creature can attain genuine and powerful views of the attribute of justice. 3. How solemn are the exercises of an awakened believing soul, making express application to God for reconciliation and peace by the blood of Jesus! 4. How perfect is the glory of the sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus, the Son of God! (John Love, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. |
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