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Just and Justifier

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Rom 3:19-20)

As many of you know, we just recently began our study of the book of Amos on Wednesday nights. Amos is a prophetic book proclaiming destruction to the nations surrounding Israel and Israel alike. The book begins with the striking image of the Lord “roaring from Jerusalem” as hilltop and valley alike wither under his thundering roar. The opening is ominous and for eight and a half chapters the lion is on the prowl as he confronts and condemns the evil practices of Jew and gentile alike. It is a striking poetic picture of a righteous God justly proclaiming judgement on human beings that had failed to keep his law. Fire, fear, destruction, and woe fill every scene as transgression after transgression is brought to light. It is hard to read.

Yet sometimes the justice of God is exactly what we need to witness in order to properly recognize the ugliness of our own sin and the contrasting righteousness of God. When we read of the injustice and exploitation of the poor and how many Israelites perversely justified sin throughout Amos, we want to applaud when the judgement is proclaimed. And we would be right to do so. Yet at the same time, if we properly read a book like Amos, the sins revealed throughout the book remind us of our own fallen state, of our own falling short and we hear the roar of the lion in our own ears. Romans 3 gets it right, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:21b-22a).

When our own righteousness withers as it is exposed by God for what it really is – filthy rags – and we recognize the right recompense due to falling short, we know we need a foreign righteousness; ours doesn’t stand against God’s scorching, holy heat.

When we look at Israel through the eyes of the prophet as we near the end of his writing, Israel lies in ruin. The picture is painted so clearly: so many sinners rightly destroyed and those that remain cower in silence.

Yet amazingly, undeserved mercy comes. The roaring Lion has not forgotten his promise to Abraham. The same devastatingly righteous God prophesies through the mouth of a shepherd,

“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and rebuild it as in the days of old,
that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are called by my name,”
declares the Lord who does this.

What is vividly pictured throughout the first 8 ½ chapters of Amos is unjust man withering under the sovereign hand of a just God. What is foretold in the final half of chapter 9 is that the Lord himself would restore. God himself would make the righteousness of God manifest apart from the law in the person of Jesus Christ, raised up from the fallen booth of David. God puts forward Jesus, his own son, as a propitiation by his own blood. (Rom 3:21-25) God himself redeemed what was broken by his own righteous sacrifice!

“It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Rom 3:26)

The book of Amos loudly roars the justice of God…he indeed is just. But praise be to God that it also prophesies of a justifier to come. Through faith know that in the person of Jesus, this prophecy has become reality!

Hundreds of years later another vision was given to John; a vision filled with devastating destruction at the hand of a righteous and just God where the entire world will be judged. It overwhelmed John who wept until he saw the Just and Justifier meet,

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain,…(Rev 5:1-6a)

And the angels will cry,
“Hail the Lamb!”
Who was slain for the world!
Rule in power!
And the earth will reply
“You shall reign!”
As the King of all Kings
And the Lord of All Lords!

Pastor Brad