When I think about justice, my mind reels with battle scenes and images of clear destruction.
I see wars and chariots mixed with victories and chaos, somehow paired with scenes from the movie Gladiator. I don’t think I’m alone in hearing a word like “justice” and immediately imagining gruesome fight scenes of the Old Testament.
Justice is one of those words we often misinterpret in the Scriptures or filter through too narrow a lens. Yes, the Old Testament definitely contains some battle scenes, but if that’s all we imagine when we think of God’s justice, then we’re downplaying the best aspects of His character. We’re missing out entirely on a definition of justice that has always been deeply intertwined with overflowing mercy– from the very beginning.
FROM THE VERY BEGINNING
We can choose to carry this truth in our daily walks with God: even in judgment—even when God is leading us to repentance—he will always provide a hopeful path forward for us.
If you trace the origins of this idea – judgment leading to a better way – you’ll find it throughout the Old Testament. In many of these stories, at a surface level, we may see destruction. But digging deeper, we see God demonstrating great patience with a people who remain unrepentant, a people who prove, in spades, that they are evil and unwilling to turn from their wicked ways.
We see God showing mercy where it isn’t even deserved.
We see God long-suffering (having self-restraint when stirred to anger; not immediately retaliating) in the waiting.
All these motions, woven throughout these complex stories, suggest that God does not act justly because He takes pleasure in punishing people. Quite the opposite. He wants to set things right and usher in the kind of healing that can only come through weeding out evil. It’s a master plan of restoration, and it has always been God’s Plan A from the start.
HE HAS SHOWN YOU
There’s a familiar, oft-quoted verse in Micah that many of us know:
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
I’ve always loved this verse as a guidebook, as an instruction manual within a world that often feels like it is on fire. God shows us how to act:
Be just: Act fairly with people. Exercise the golden rule that Jesus laid out for his followers: treat others as you would want to be treated. To accomplish this, we need to be merciful.
Love mercy: As theologian David Guzik writes in his Micah commentary, “Don’t just show mercy, love to show it.” Give others the same measure of mercy you would want to receive from God. To accomplish this, we need to be placing our gaze on God constantly.
Walk humbly: Live your life in a posture of dependence, consistently keeping your vision set on God– the one who sculpts you, transforms you, and sets your paths straight as you seek Him.
Here it is: God pairs justice with mercy. The two are never without one another.
This isn’t just a command to tolerate mercy or accept mercy. No, we are to love mercy in the same way God loves mercy. That means we put aside our human desire for vengeance. This often means we must humble ourselves and invite God to expand our vision of justice.
But here’s another thing I missed at the start of that verse, the line right before the instruction manual, where the prophet Micah declares: “He has shown you, O man, what is good.” I think this is one of the most beautiful parts about the God we love and serve: He never requires something of us that He hasn’t first acted out Himself.
He is not just saying love mercy and be just. He is taking it a step further to say, “Love and do these things in the way that I have modeled them. I went before you. I put it on display first.”
He has shown us how to embrace the kind of justice that leads to mercy and healing. He first modeled this through the law, but his ultimate execution of the divine pairing came when Jesus walked the earth.
A NEW PATH
At the beginning of his ministry, standing in the temple, Jesus confirms the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 61:1,
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.
God echoes through these words of old: I see you. I fight for you. I uphold what is right. I heal you. And Jesus steps in to embody these words fully.
Jesus is the living, breathing, flesh-and-bone character of God. All throughout his ministry, he gave us a path towards justice that was so countercultural to its time:
Don’t seek vengeance.
Turn the other cheek.
Love your neighbor.
Forgive, forgive, forgive again.
It wasn’t the kind of justice anyone expected, but it always led to redemption and healing.
To the woman caught in adultery, Jesus says to the crowds ready to cast her out with stones, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
When no one is qualified to throw a stone after he speaks, he says to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The people want revenge without grace, but Jesus’ words are saturated with forgiveness and restoration. He extends to her a chance to go in a new direction and experience healing at the intersection of justice and mercy.
That same direction is offered to us through the ultimate act of justice meeting mercy: Jesus' tired, broken body extended on the cross.
God used the cross to demonstrate His righteousness and, through Jesus, justified all who have faith. His Plan A was completed—a plan that was always meant to lead us to wholeness.
The slate is cleared. The battle scenes dissipate. A new path out of the woods emerges. And through this final act, we are called to live under this model of expansive, merciful justice.
The justice we’ve seen throughout the law.
The example we’ve witnessed through the life of Jesus.
The clear invitation tucked into the Scriptures beckons us into a better story: 'Do justice, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.'
This call to action is tough in today’s culture because it leads us down a path with far less foot traffic. When the world talks loudly about “an eye for an eye,” we are called not to judge but extend mercy and treat others with the oversized portions of grace we’d want to receive. When popular culture boasts about bigness and the importance of being seen, we’re given the example of Jesus to follow closely— a man who chose humility at every turn and walked daily (consistently in tandem) with God, never straying from the wisdom and guidance coming from above.
It’s a narrower path. It’s a quieter anthem. But it leads to a peace and love that go beyond our understanding.
May this be the anthem we hum beneath our breath as we keep fighting into each new day.
