God the Righteous Judge...Part 1.

The majority of people, many of them claim to be followers of Jesus, who live in the fear-monger's fear that God is out to get them. There is this idea in the Christian community that God is binocular-ing over the balconies of heaven spying on people to catch them in some wrong-doing so He can shoot lightening bolts on them to inflict suffering on them for their wrong-doings!

This is due to Religion primarily seeing seeing God as...Judge...Jury...and Executioner. Since a judge must be impartial, and detached, this judicial image is projected on God and has led us to view the Kingdom of God in in the same way. Many writers of the Scripture picture God in this legalistic medieval way because they relied on their culture, environment and understanding of the way things were in their time and it reflected in their writing and the way they viewed God.

Isn't it ironic that this view of God is directly opposite of what we see reflected in Jesus, who is the "EXPRESS IMAGE" of GOD HIS FATHER and came to show us the heart of our Loving Father God! Was Jesus distant and detached...No. He passionately defended the non-religious, the religious oppressed, the voiceless and the religiously marginalized. He shows us that God is not distant or emotionally detached from people...on the contrary...He showed us that God is here with us...Emanuel, "God with us"...close to the down-and-outer...close to the broken hearted...deeply caring about people. 

Therefore religion, in seeing a believer's life through a religious legalistic framework, removes God's love and the relational aspects of an intimate relationship with the Divine from the cross...without which it is impossible to understand the finished work of Christ on the cross, turning it into a mere legal transaction that is reason-based instead of revelation-based. Rather than viewing God through the lens of Jesus, revealed in scripture to revolutionize our wrong concepts of God, religion because of their legalistic and medieval understanding of justice has applied this man-made image to our loving Father God which in essence, is making God in the image of man rather than man being made in His image.

The problem in religion is that even in its attempt to champion the justice of God it does not present a biblical picture of what God's justice is about...instead...it presents a legalistic medieval, sick sadistic, punitive punishing one. This is a gross misrepresentation of our Loving Father God. The God kind of justice has nothing to do with punishment, rather it is to bring reconciliation and life by making things right. God's justice is indicative of His love and caring for people and is an expression of His mercy, not punitive or  in conflict with His mercy. God's justice is a saving action for an oppressed people:

Learn to do right! Seek justice encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. (Isaiah 1:17).

This is what the Lord Almighty says, "Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed." (Jeremiah 21:12). 
      
The way believers are to 'administer justice" according to the Prophets, is by encouraging and helping the oppressed. Contrary to what religion says, God's justice is not punitive not in conflict with His love mercy and grace...true justice can only come through God's love mercy and grace:

This is what the Lord Almighty says, "Administer true justice: show mercy and compassion to one another." (Zechariah 7:9).

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious unto you: he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. (Isaiah 30:18).

Part 2 to follow.