Re-Thinking God: God is Just

Justice - the quality of being just, impartial and fair.

God's justice comes into play because of the other two qualities of God's character - love and holiness. Justice balances the two factors of both - mercy (a product on his love) and righteousness (a product of his holiness).

When God looks at a person through love He stretches his hand of mercy, but His holiness demands righteous action and violation of the Law of God (sin) means that He must punish the sinner. God's justice is what balances the two and allows him to act in both simultaneously.

Probably the greatest thing I learned from my chronological journey through Scripture is that God wrestles with justice. That He too, struggles with how to act so that action is both holy and loving. This is greatly seen the best in Hosea where God, in conversation with himself, wrestles with what to do with his unfaithful wife Israel. He on the one hand feels that he has every right to divorce her and throw her to the wolves (Holiness), but on the other hand He loves her and wants to extend his hand of mercy (Love). It is this wrestling that God must do to achieve a just decision -- he will punish her but then extend his hand of restoration to her afterwards.

What troubles most people is by God wrestling with these decisions, it makes him seem all to human. I say it has nothing to do with with humanity or divinity, but is simply a matter of person hood and relationships. It is simply necessary in the relationship God has with his creatures that he has created with the power of choice. Because of this the God to Mankind relationship is a messy affair that means God must balance his holiness and love in the context of what is right for both. It is not easy for anyone, even God to do this. Even God struggles with what is 'fair'.

Next: How God's Will Relates to Man.

Marriage and the Bible - Part 29 - Hosea's Marriages

Now here is where marriage and God's message to his people really get intertwined. I want you to put yourself in Hosea's shoes for a minute. In today's terms God is asking Hosea to go down to the red light district and find a prostitute who is herself a product of prostitution and then marry her. Why? So God can use Hosea's marriage as an illustration of what God's relationship is to his people. Hosea playing the role of God and Gomer playing the part of Israel. Hosea is further instructed to have children with this woman and each of them is given interesting names to illustrate the situation completely.

In chapter three, the situation gets even more interesting when Hosea is asked to enter into a second marriage with a woman who is loved by her husband and yet an adulteress herself.

Both marriages are symbolic of how a covenant relationship can go completely wrong. How faithfulness in marriage and the relationship God people have with Him is so very important. God loves his people but they play the harlot and commit adultery with other gods.

What follows is God yearning for Israel's return much like Hosea will for his wife. Love that is unconditional is illustrated here because both God and Hosea have every reason to divorce their wives, but both refuse to do so. There is a powerful image of sadness, longing and love that refuses to look at the situation but transcends it.

Next: Malachi and Marriage Treachery

The Bible and Nakedness -- Part 10 -- Nakedness and the Rest of the Prophets

The next of the prophets to talk of nakedness is Hosea. Poor Hosea, God uses his life and marriage to illustrate the nature of God's relationship to Israel -- God tells him to marry a harlot who herself is the product of harlotry. Telling isn't it.

The early part of chapter 2 also speaks of both nakedness and breasts in a sexual connotation -- Israel need to stop playing the harlot after other gods. God uses the image of breast to convey sex -- remove her adulteries from between her breasts. Sorry i get the image of a foreign god laying on top of her. Because of this god says he will strip Israel naked and expose her to shame. Hosea 9:14 is a threat by God to dry up women's breasts -- in short remove their power to nurture their infants in response to Israel's sin.

Amos 2 -- God promises doom to Moab and as a part of that pronouncement he promises ultimate shame by saying that their warriors will be turned away naked -- exposed to both ultimate disgrace and vulnerability.

Micah 1 -- Micah talks about lamenting over Jerusalem and Samaria by walking naked and barefoot in chapter 1, symbolic of how both countries have been made naked and vulnerable.

Nahum 3 -- God promises to disgrace to Nineveh and uses nakedness as a way of illustrating how much He is going to expose them.

Habakkuk 2:15-16 -- Avery telling story of lust for other peoples nakedness by God pronouncing judgement to those who willfully expose others to nakedness through debauchery. god promises that those that do such thing will themselves be exposed to nakedness.

Next: The Gospels and Acts