Exodus 34:7 NLT
“I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations.
I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.
But I do not excuse the guilty.
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;
the entire family is affected—
even children in the third and fourth generations.”
Today I’ll be talking about ways we see the justice of God’s love in the Old Testament and how it is intertwined with His faithfulness. If you recall, I opened my last post with Exodus 34:6, where God described Himself as compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I did not touch on the context of that passage in my discussion on the faithfulness of God’s love, but I think it’s important to consider now as we jump into a discussion on the justice of God’s love. I want to use this passage to help us see the beauty and wonder of God’s just and faithful love demonstrated throughout Scripture.
Exodus 34:7, which I opened with today, is the continuation of God’s speech to Moses on Mt. Sinai, after He called Moses to return with two new stone tablets. In it, God continues to describe Himself in this way: lavishing unfailing love to a thousand generations; forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin; but not excusing the guilty. God tells Moses about His unfailing love for His people involves the punishment of sins. You see, Moses had broken the first two stone tablets of God’s commandments in anger when he discovered the Israelite people had so quickly made a golden calf statue to worship, all because Moses took “too long” on the mountain with God. While God did punish the people for their idolatry and many died, He did not completely destroy them because Moses pleaded with God on their behalf.
In Exodus 34, both the faithfulness and justice of God’s love are displayed: He lavishes love “to a thousand generations” while also punishing the sins of someone who is unrepentant to “the third and fourth generations.” God destroyed many of the Israelites because of their idolatry, but He also chose to “go with” the people to the Promised Land even after their sin. We see other pictures of this balance in God’s love throughout the rest of the Old Testament:
When Adam and Eve chose to sin in the Garden of Eden, God sent them away but provided clothes for them.
When God decided to destroy the world by a flood to punish sin, He chose to preserve Noah and his family.
When Abraham and Sarah decided to use Hagar to try and get their promised son, God still blessed them with Isaac even though they had sinned and not trusted.
When the Israelites got to the Promised Land and were afraid, God made them wander for 40 years but still brought their descendants to it.
Once in the Promised Land, God used judges to repeatedly rescue and turn the people back to Himself after committing idolatry again and again.
In the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, God continued to show His just discipline towards the people’s sin by allowing enemies to defeat them when they strayed from following Him, and then He faithfully restored them when they and their kings chose to repent.
Because of the kings’ and people’s continued unfaithfulness to God’s commands, eventually Israel and Judah were conquered by evil nations, but even in those times of discipline God preserved His people and restored Jerusalem and its Temple.
Time after time in the Old Testament, God demonstrated that His love for His people is both faithful and just, and that while He does not abandon those who love Him, He also cannot ignore sin. Listen to another passage where God describes Himself:
Isaiah 61:8
“For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.”
God is faithful, and His justice proves His righteous love and ways. Here are a few other beautiful passages describing our good and loving God for you to reflect on:
Psalm 33:5
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
love and faithfulness go before you.
Many people have criticized God’s character in the Old Testament because of the way He punishes whole groups of people for sin. But our God proves Himself completely righteous and good through demonstrating both His faithful pursuing of those who choose to obey Him and His consistent discipline and justice exercised against those who hate His commands. True, pure, perfect love does not ignore sin and evil. God’s love is made known to us in that He chooses to be faithful to us at all. We completely deserve the just punishment of our sins—what we don’t deserve is His wonderful faithfulness to His people and the grace He shows the world.
1 Corinthians 5:21
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The mind-blowing truth of this is that God did this for everyone, even those who will never trust in and follow Him. In Jesus Christ’s life and death, God’s faithful, just love was perfectly displayed. And for those of us in Christ, we have such beautiful hope that “it is finished.” God’s just love has been made complete for all who would turn to Him. Hallelujah for that reality!
I have absolutely loved looking at the faithfulness and justice of God’s love found in the Old Testament, as that helps me understand how much greater Christ’s sacrifice for my sins means. In my next posts on this series on God’s love, I want to dive into more ways we see God’s love in the New Testament. I can’t wait to study more examples of what God’s love means for us, and until then, thank you again for reading or listening to Speaking Truth.
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