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Welcome HOME – to Righteousness (3)
Here’s a question people have asked for ages – what is “right”? In other words, what ought happen and what ought to be? The answer is straightforward – IF you believe in God, the God of the Bible – and that is: whatever conforms to God’s moral character is ‘right.’ And why is whatever conforms to God’s moral character ‘right’? It is ‘right’ because it conforms to His moral character!
What I’m saying is that GOD is the final standard of righteousness. There can be no standard outside of God by which we measure righteousness or justice. He himself is the Final Standard. This is similar to the situation we encounter with respect to truth and God being the ultimate standard of truth.
Whenever scripture confronts the question of whether God Himself is righteous or not, the ultimate answer is always that we, as God’s creatures, have no right to say that God is unrighteous or unjust. The creature simply cannot say that of the creator. Romans 9:20–21.
Also Job 40:2,8. “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it.” and “Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?” In this chapter from Job, God answers not in terms of an explanation that would allow Job to understand why God’s actions were right, but rather in terms of a statement of God’s own majesty and power! God does not need to explain the rightness of His actions to Job, for God is the creator and Job is the creature.
It should be a cause for thanksgiving and gratitude when we realize that righteousness and omnipotence are both possessed by God. If He were a God of perfect righteousness without power to carry out that righteousness, He would not be worthy of worship and we would have no guarantee that justice will ultimately prevail in the universe.
If however He were a God of unlimited power, yet without righteousness in His character, how unthinkably horrible the universe would be! There would be unrighteousness at the center of all existence and there would be nothing anyone could do to change it. Existence would become meaningless, and we would be driven to the most utter despair. Like those Danish philosophers who denied God’s existence and concluded there was no meaning to life.
We ought therefore continually to thank and praise God for who He is,”for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He.” Deuteronomy 32:4. Yes, praise our glorious and JUST GOD — and COME ALIVE!
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