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You've seen the signs, I'm sure. You know the situations, I'm sure. "We're outraged because bad things have happened and we don't think we've received justice!" Well, I'm not going to talk about those situations. I'm going to talk about a different one.

It isn't really hard to go through Scripture and find a host of reasons to complain about justice. I mean, just start with the concept of Hell. Hey, what's up with that? We're looking at some not-too-bad people who just don't "accept Christ as their personal savior" and, boom, they're going to eternal damnation? Hey! Some of them never heard about Jesus. What's up with that? At church we looked recently at the Ananias and Sapphira story (Acts 5:1-13). They sold some property, kept some of the price back, and told the Apostles, "This is what we sold it for." Struck dead. On the spot. For what? Not for keeping money back. That was fine. No, it was for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3). Really? I mean, wouldn't we classify this as a "little white lie"? Or how about the mysterious story of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-3). These were Aaron's sons, the high priests at the time. They suffered the ignominious death of being consumed by fire before the Lord. Wow. Their sin? They "offered unauthorized fire." (Leviticus 10:1) Wait ... what? In what sense was fire authorized or not? What distinguished between authorized and unauthorized fire? From all appearances they didn't actually do anything wrong; they just did something that was not commanded. And that gave them an up-close-and-personal demonstration of "Our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:29) Seems harsh. Another disturbing incident is the great Uzzah incident. Well, maybe not so great. I wouldn't doubt that some of you never heard about it. But right there in 2Samuel we find the story of Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:1-10). The Ark of God, stolen earlier, was being returned to Israel. So David got a couple of brothers to help him get it back to Jerusalem. One brother was in front and the other alongside the cart with the ark on it when it started to tip. Uzzah, out of sheer reverence, put his hand up to keep God's Ark from falling into the mud and instantly God struck him down (2 Samuel 6:7). How is that justice? So upset was David (2 Samuel 6:8) that he didn't even take the Ark back (2 Samuel 6:9-10). Oh, and who doesn't remember that quaint little story when Elisha was walking along and was insulted by a gang of boys (the text says "small boys") (2 Kings 2:23-25). That's right, insulted. They called him "baldhead". For that he cursed them in the name of the Lord ... and "two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys." Whoa, now, hold on! That's a bit of an overkill isn't it? (And a bad pun, I suppose.) Now, some have argued that it wasn't "small boys", but possibly adolescents or even servants (a possible translation of the word used for "children") and "little" refers to their character, not their size. Big deal. Insults produced ... death. "Sticks and stones my break my bones but words will never hurt me. On the other hand, you might be in a lot of trouble."

We, of course, could go on and on. The Flood (killed all but 8 humans on the planet), the capture of both Israel and Judah, or how about the classic "kill 'em all" edict from God against the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3)? Lots of examples. We get it. Looks tough for God. To Abraham's question, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Genesis 18:25), some might be tempted to suggest, "Good question" or, worse, "No, apparently not." Many have come to the "aid of God" by simply assuring us that "That stuff never actually happened and you who take the Bible as true and, worse, infallible will have to admit that your God is a moral monster." I mean, seriously, when God strikes dead a man whose name means "God is gracious" for a little white lie, what else can you conclude? ("Ananias" means "God is gracious".)

Looks tough for God. Or, does it? We have two possible approaches here. One is the ever-popular "plausible deniability" approach. "Never happened. You guys are reading as history things that were never meant to be historical. They may have been myth or legend or parable or allegory or maybe even pure twaddle, but it never actually happened." Or there is the "Okay, it happened" approach where you, you know, go with what the Bible says. Is it necessary to conclude that, if the Bible is accurate on these things, God is a moral monster? I don't think so.

Let's try it from another direction. Assuming that God did strike Nadab and Abihu dead for "strange fire" and Uzzah for touching the ark and Ananias and Sapphira for a "white lie", here's the question. Was He just in doing so? Your answer is determined by your view of God (not vice versa). You might answer, "No, He was not just" and your viewstarts with a diminished "God" who is subject -- subject to you and your personal code of justice. You might answer, "Yes, He was just in doing so" even if you're having trouble with it, because your view begins with "God is right." I would answer, "How can we even ask such a question?" because my view begins with a Holy God who is above our evaluations, values, and standards and is always right. (That, of course, is a "Yes" answer -- God is always perfectly just.)

It puts a new twist on "No justice, no peace." If God is not just -- if He is not just in the way He has responded to His creation as Lord and Master -- then He is not God and we are without peace. If God is unjust in giving eternal torment to those who have earned it, we are without peace. On the other hand, if God is just in all of this, then we who squirm at stories and concepts like these have some readjustment to do in our thinking. Either He is the Righteous Lord and His Word is reliable ... or not.

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

A Great House Falls