Justice vs God’s Judgement
Numbers 12:14, “But the LORD said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days ? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.’ ”
This was right after Miriam and Aaron started complaining and maybe even questioning Moses’ unique position with God. The Bible says that God got furious with the two, my Bible says in 12:9 – “So the anger of the Lord burned against them,…” God was mad!
Somwtimes I, and I suspect I’m not alone, get this image in my mind of a God who sits up in heaven and watches His children down here, and smiles at us all the time even when we mess up or displease Him. I mean God loves us doesn’t He? He would never judge us for things that we do wrong.
We see Jesus dying on the cross for all humanity, and we think that God always loves us, and He never punishes sin. We are right in saying that God loves us no matter what; Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We do not have to jump through any hoops, or climb any mountains, or do anything else to recieve God’s love. It’s their for the taking regardless of how we have lived or what we have done.
But, there is a catch; after we have accepted the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ then our lives must change in order to show the difference. However, God does not leave us alone to make that change because the second we come to God through faith in Jesus we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. That is the awesome work of the Trinity. We are saved by God because of our faith in Jesus then we are strengthened by the Spirit!
However, it is possible for a person to go through steps 1 & 2 but reject 3. I am NOT saying that a person who has truthfully and honestly called on the name of Jesus for salvation, but then rejects the power of the Spirit to conquer sin is not a Child of God; but I am saying that such a person will never have a right relation with God. And if sin is in the life of a Christian then we are in danger of recieving the type of justice that accompanies that sin, and being seperated from God.
Just like Miriam received the justice that goes along with being a lepour; she was separated from the camp and from God, but in the end she received God’s merciful judgement.
If we choose to live in sin apart from God then we will receive the justice that accompanies that sin, but in the end God will look at us through the lens of Christ and judge us according to His love.
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Father, I thank You for not judging me as I deserve, but showing me compassion through the life and death of Your Son, and I ask that You empower me through Your Spirit so that I will not receive the justice that I deserve because of my sin; and be separated from You.In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at: http://worshippingchristian.org/blog/?p=8012
Yes, You Can Ministry 