I will proclaim the name of the LORD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God!  He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. (Deuteronomy 32:3-4)

The People of Israel are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. Moses brings his final messages to the people, since he is unable to join them as they crossed into the land God had promised to Abraham.  As they move into the land Moses reminds them, God is just. They had experienced God as just, when they had rebelled against Him on their journey from Egypt, but they had also experienced his faithfulness. It was his faithfulness to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph along with His faithfulness to those who were listening. It is His faithfulness which lets us know that He is just.

Knowing God is expressed in his faithfulness. Moses describes Him as “The Rock.” Moving forward into the Promised Land, they must be able to rely on God. If they are obedient to God, they need confidence that He will accomplish what He said. They also needed to know that if they disobeyed, there would be consequences. (Read the Blessings and Curses in Deuteronomy 28). Through the Old Testament God demonstrates that He is just. This means that he can be counted on, for what He says, it will be done.

In the New Testament, Paul sets forth God, Who is just. In the Book of Romans, he writes, “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; . . . For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.” (Romans 2:9, 11-12) Everyone who sins will be judged by the One who is just, God Himself. “Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.” (Colossians 3:25)

Being just, God comes to the cross. The covenants of the Old Testaments from Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Moses, and to David all set the stage for a just God displayed on the cross as God fulfills the covenants. Now He can offer a new covenant. Jeremiah looked to this new covenant, “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” (Jeremiah 31:31) Jesus announced the new covenant at the celebration of the Passover with the disciples; “after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’ ” (Luke 22:20) Paul proclaimed the establishment of the new covenant, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) All accomplished because God is just.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block