As we covered previously, Psalm 89:14-15 states one of the most basic truths that we must understand about the Lord and His ways if we are going to be His followers:
How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
As we proceed toward the end of this age, and the ultimate conflict between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God, these basic truths about God and His ways will be increasingly illuminated, and increasingly attacked by those who serve the evil one. To stand in these times, we must sink our roots deeper and deeper into these fundamental truths, both understanding them more and more, and walking in them more and more.
The first point is that righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. His throne is His seat of authority. It is the place where the kingdom is established and ruled from. His throne rests on two great pillars, righteousness and justice. Without both of these being woven together in our lives we will be imbalanced, and therefore easily knocked over. If we are going to know Him, and represent Him as He is, we must also have our lives built upon these two great pillars of His authority.
To walk in God’s righteousness is to do what is right before Him. The famous “What Would Jesus Do” (WWJD) should be a guiding rule in our lives. We should mature beyond this to WIJD, or “What Is Jesus Doing,” which means to walk in the light of His countenance, or His face. The ultimate goal of our lives should be to do all things in His presence, in fellowship with Him. However, this can begin with the pondering of all of our decisions with WWJD. If there is any question about what He would do, we should inquire of Him so that He might teach us His ways.
If we do walk rightly before Him, we will also begin to understand His justice. I have often heard Christians say that they do not want God’s justice, but His mercy. In the sense in which they are speaking I would fully agree with this. I pray continually not to receive what I deserve, but what was purchased for me by the cross of Jesus—the mercy, the repentance that leads to redemption, the reconciliation, the restoration, and all of the benefits including now being a son of God.
In the above paragraph I say “the repentance that leads to redemption” because the two are always linked together. This does not mean we must be perfect before we are redeemed, as which of us ever perfectly repented? We usually start by just wanting to repent, and need His help to even do this. Even so, we should be maturing in all things, including repentance. The Scriptures are clear that true redemption is preceded by a true repentance.
God’s grace is not just the forgiveness of our sins, but it is the power to overcome the sin as well. Though the redemption is instant, the moment we trust in the cross of Jesus, the repentance, reconciliation, and restoration can take a lot longer, even a lifetime. All of this includes the renewing of our minds so that we think like He thinks—hating sin and loving righteousness. One of the most powerful articulations of this basic truth in the Scripture which was covered previously, but is worthy of repeating again, is II Peter 1:2-11:
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge;
and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness;
and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;
for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
Because His grace includes “His divine power (which) has (past tense) granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,” if we are walking in His grace, His grace will be changing us in the step by step manner that Peter outlines. This is how the entrance to His kingdom is supplied to us.
Walking in His kingdom, and preaching the gospel of His kingdom, is our primary job at the end of the age. If we are doing this, we will represent both His righteousness and His justice accurately.
Now in all of these things we have discussed much more about His righteousness than His justice, for which we are still laying the foundation. Even so, they cannot be separated, as they are both foundations of His throne. And we clearly see that just as the devil has done his best to confuse the matter of holiness and righteousness, he has done the same with God’s justice, which we began to address last week. So, we must understand that God cares very deeply when people are treated fairly.
To bring redemption and reconciliation the Lord went far beyond justice to reveal His mercy, and to extend mercy. We too began our life in Him because of His mercy. However, if we do not proceed from embracing His mercy to also embracing His righteousness and justice, we will pervert His mercy and His justice, and go on living in unrighteousness and presumption. Likewise, the Lord has extended His mercy to the world for nearly two thousand years, but it is about to experience His justice.
Again, His grace is not just the forgiveness of our sins, but the power to overcome the sin. We “have been given everything pertaining to life and godliness,” which is God-like-ness. In His grace and His mercy, He knows our weaknesses, and gives us time to change. Even so, we must always keep in mind that these are given to change us, not just overlook our shortcomings and leave us in our present state. Such a belief, which theologians have called “cheap grace,” is a diabolical perversion of the truth and is meant to lead to further depravity, not the righteousness and justice, the foundation of His throne, and therefore His kingdom.
As we are told in Romans 2:4, “...the kindness of God leads you to repentance...” It is actually His kindness that leads to repentance more than fear of judgment, but if we are really experiencing His kindness it will lead to repentance. Who can experience His great mercy and grace and not be convicted of doing the things that displease Him?
Therefore, to live in His kingdom, and represent it accurately to the world, we must fully embrace both His righteousness and justice, growing in the knowledge of both. This will mean for many, deliverance from some of the Dark Age doctrines concerning His judgment, and for others deliverance of the “cheap grace” others have promoted in an over-reaction to these extremes. These matters are not only worthy of a patient examination, they are essential for us to understand if we are going to have an accurate understanding of the Lord, and what He is doing in our times.