When you hear the word “justice” as it relates to God, what do you think of?
Guilt? Sin? Wrath? A judge ready to sentence?
I recently heard someone on a podcast make a powerful analogy around God’s justice. They were talking about real, unspeakable evil that demands consequences. The speaker said something along the lines of, “If someone committed a treacherous crime, we wouldn’t want them to get off easily with a warning and some ice cream. We’d want justice...we’d want consequences.”
At some level, we all want justice. Something in us cries out when we see someone wounded, exploited, abused, or oppressed. We ache for the poor and defenseless to have a voice. We feel the weight of this broken world, and we want someone to set it right.
I believe we also want mercy. We need it. Deeply. Desperately. Without it for ourselves, we’d be separated from God forever. We’d be guilty, accused, worthless, condemned. But God.
God’s justice isn’t about fear; it’s about lifting the lowly and restoring what has been broken. It’s not an apathetic system of right and wrong. It’s a holy, compassionate movement toward restoration. His justice isn’t the opposite of mercy; rather, they meet in Christ for the sake of the hurting.
We long for a God who is both just and merciful–and that’s exactly who He is.
The Cry for Justice
The cry for justice is loud in our world, and rightly so. There are wounds too deep, wrongs too rooted in evil, and systems too broken to repair with our human strength, wisdom, and ingenuity.
But God doesn’t ignore injustice. In fact, He’s the only one who sees it fully and responds rightfully.
Hebrews 4:16 invites us: “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Not fear. Not shame. CONFIDENCE. Why? Because His throne, though fully just, is also full of grace.
Exodus 34:6–7 shows us this beautiful tension:
“...“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty...”
And Isaiah 30:18 reminds us:
“The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice.”
Justice and compassion. Righteousness and mercy. Although they seem to contradict each other, they actually complement each other.
Nowhere is this convergence clearer than the cross.
God Behind Bars
My husband Isaac works in prison ministry, and we’ve wept and wept after hearing and seeing story after story of transformation behind bars. Men and women who committed horrific crimes have found full freedom and mercy in Christ. They’re spiritually free—full of peace, full of purpose. And yet, they are still serving out life sentences. Why?
Because mercy doesn’t erase consequences, there are real consequences to injustice and to sin. What we see in the cross is this: Jesus took on the eternal judgment that justice demands, so that mercy can be extended without compromising the righteousness of God.
He is a God of justice. So if you’ve been abused, forgotten, mistreated, or cast aside, God’s justice means your pain is not overlooked. It will not be ignored. Every act of evil will stand before the throne. He will defend, heal, and restore the wounded. There will be justice, and it will flow in abundance.
And if you’ve done harm, know that you are not outside the reach of mercy. The Lord longs to be gracious to you. But to receive that mercy, you must walk through the doorway of repentance; we all need the cross to find full freedom.
On the cross, the One who was perfectly righteous bore the weight of eternal justice so we could receive eternal mercy. That’s why the gospel is still good news for the guilty and the oppressed—the hurting, hardened, and hopeful. They all have a place in the story of God.
God didn’t overlook evil; He overcame it. This is what makes the grace found at God's throne so powerful.
A Justice We Live Out
Micah 6:8 calls us to: “Act justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly.”
It’s not either/or. Justice and mercy. Truth and grace. Conviction and compassion. We live this out by refusing to ignore the suffering around us.
By standing with the vulnerable, not just the seemingly powerful.
By believing that no one is ever too far gone for redemption.
By trusting that God is both able and willing to restore what’s been broken.
We are not the final judge, but we can wait on God’s work and His ways. We can be faithful witnesses and trust “The Judge of all the earth will do what is right.” (Genesis 18:25).
I love what Jon Tyson shares in his book The Burden is Light: “Judgement sees the issue. Mercy sees the person. This is how mercy triumphs over judgment.” He also shares this Brennan Manning quote:
“Our hearts of stone become hearts of flesh when we learn where the outcast weeps...the tragedy is that our attention centers on what people are not, rather than on what they are and who they might become.”
Praise God that His mercy sees the person.
So, although we don’t celebrate or reward the unrepentant, we also don’t withhold mercy from the broken. Because God is both just and merciful, and we can cling to that hope today–knowing they don’t contradict each other, rather they complement each other.
I leave you with this sobering quote from A. W. Tozer from his devotional, On the Almighty God:
“‘If any man will . . . let him follow me,’ He says, and some will rise and go after Him, but others give no heed to His voice. So the gulf opens between man and man, between those who will and those who will not. Silently, terribly the work goes on, as each one decides whether he will hear or ignore the voice of invitation. He will not put Himself again on trial; He will not argue, but the morning of the judgment will confirm what men in the twilight have decided...Christ will be Lord, or He will be Judge. Every man must decide whether he will take Him as Lord now or face Him as Judge then.”
