The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Kayla M. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Research on "Justice"
God's justice is an essential, fundamental attribute of His character. Throughout the Bible He reveals the different ways He works out His justice in our world. He also commands us, as His people reflecting His character, to be just and fair in our relations to those around us.
As the Holy One of the universe, God is always just. According to the book of Job, justice is so rooted in God's nature that it would be "unthinkable" for Him to go against it (Job 34:12). If God were unjust, no ethical standard would exist in the universe. We would have no plumb line by which to judge human actions if God were not the supreme and impeccable Judge of the universe. As Moses writes in Deuteronomy, "all His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He" (Deut. 32:4). Because God's justice never changes, we can trust that His commandments to us will not change. He is faithful to His creation by staying true to His upright moral character.
God demonstrates His justice to mankind in several ways. First, in His judgment He shows no partiality. In the book of Acts Peter proclaims, "God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right" (Acts 10:34-35). This is good news because it means that Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free can all come to know Him (Col. 3:11). Another way God expresses His justice is in His provisions for the weak and defenseless. "He works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed" (Ps. 103:6). God intervenes on behalf of those with no human defense to ensure that His justice is enacted on this earth. A third way God has revealed His justice is in the laws He has given us to follow. God founded the nation of Israel on just laws and righteous guidelines that expressed His will for the Israelites and for believers today.
Because God is just, He commands His children to "do justly" (Micah 6:8) as well. Justice is such a necessary quality of God's people that "to do what is…just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice" (Pro. 21:3). If God values just actions from us more than the sacrifices he required from His people, how active we must be in the pursuit of justice in our world! To allow the courts to work out justice on a grand scale is not enough; God has commanded us to actively "follow justice" (Deut. 16:20). We can obey this command on a personal scale by refusing to show partiality among our fellow men. In civil and private matters, God has commanded us to "defend the cause of the weak and fatherless" (Ps. 82:3). By imitating the just character and actions of God, we can influence and better this world for Him.
God's justice cannot permit the sins of mankind to go unpunished. For this reason, He is coming again to "judge the world in righteousness" (Ps. 98:9). Only under the atoning blood of Christ can we escape God's righteous wrath. As His people, saved from judgment, let us join with Him in gratitude by pursuing justice on this earth.
