When Justice is More Amazing Than Grace

God’s grace is indeed amazing, yet it’s often His justice that gets our attention. When we read biblical accounts like God striking Uzzah dead for touching the Ark; or taking the lives of Ananias and Sapphira for lying; or consuming the sons of Aaron for offering strange fire before the Lord; we wonder at His wrath. We’re born with the assumption that we are the center of the universe, and that our personal interests are the measure of all things. And so we are perplexed at those Bible passages where He exacts His justice. But we should never be astonished at suffering and judgment. Rather, given our rebellion against a holy God, we should be astonished that we don’t see more if it. The most perplexing passage in the Scriptures, the instance of His justice that should truly shock us, is where God pours out His wrath on His own sinless Son for the sake of ruined sinners who hate Him. And the most perplexing question of all is how such a holy God could forgive people like us.