Justice and mercy. We long for both, yet we struggle when they collide. We celebrate when justice is served—when the guilty are punished, when wrongs are made right. But when it comes to our own failures, we plead for mercy. We don’t want what we deserve; we want grace.
This tension lies at the heart of Scripture, nowhere more clearly than in two of the shortest yet most powerful books in the Old Testament: Obadiah and Jonah. One declares the certainty of judgment, the other reveals the scandal of grace. And together, they lead us to the greatest mystery of all—how can a holy God be both just and merciful?
Obadiah: The Justice of God
The book of Obadiah is only 21 verses long, but it thunders with the voice of divine justice. It is a prophecy against Edom, a nation that should have stood with Israel but instead stood against them. Edom was family—descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob—but when Babylon invaded Jerusalem, Edom didn’t help. They didn’t mourn. Instead, they celebrated. They stood back and watched as their brother suffered, and when the dust settled, they rushed in—not to rescue, but to plunder.
God saw. And He responded.
"The pride of your heart has deceived you… Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD. (Obadiah 1:3-4, NIV)
Edom thought they were untouchable. Their cities were built high in the mountains, their fortresses carved into the rocks. They assumed their power, their position, their security would last forever. But pride always blinds. They were standing on the edge of destruction and didn’t even know it.
God’s verdict was clear:
"The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head." (Obadiah 1:15, NIV)
Edom had sown cruelty; they would reap destruction. Unlike Israel—who would one day be restored—Edom would be wiped from history. And they were. Today, there is no nation called Edom. They are gone, just as God said.
Obadiah is a reminder of divine justice. God will not ignore sin. No one gets away with evil forever. The guilty will face judgment.
Sin carries a price, and justice demands it be paid.
But what happens when the guilty repent?
What happens when those who deserve judgment cry out for mercy?
That’s where Jonah comes in.
Jonah: The Mercy of God
If Obadiah is a thunderclap of justice, Jonah is a whirlwind of grace.
We think we know the story—Jonah, the runaway prophet, swallowed by a great fish, spit out on the shore, finally obeying God. But if we stop there, we miss the real struggle, the deeper battle raging in Jonah’s heart.
Jonah didn’t just run from his mission—he ran from who God is.
When God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, he didn’t just hesitate—he ran the other way. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the most feared empire of the day. The Assyrians didn’t just conquer nations; they terrorized them. They skinned people alive, impaled their enemies on stakes, and left them to die in the sun. They were hated, feared, and despised.
And God wanted to give them a chance to repent?
Jonah wanted nothing to do with that. So he fled. But running from God never works. A storm, a desperate crew, and one great fish later, Jonah finds himself vomited onto dry land, given a second chance. This time, he obeys.
He preaches to Nineveh, but his sermon is shockingly short: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown." (Jonah 3:4, NIV)
No call to repentance. No offer of mercy. Just judgment. It’s as if Jonah is hoping they won’t respond.
But they do.
From the king to the commoner, the entire city repents. They fast, they mourn, they cry out for mercy. And God—who had promised judgment—relents.
Jonah should have been overjoyed. An entire city just turned to God! This is every prophet’s dream—except Jonah’s.
He storms out of the city, furious: "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." (Jonah 4:2, NIV)
That’s why he ran. He knew God would forgive them, and he didn’t want that.
Jonah wanted justice for his enemies but mercy for himself. He wanted a God who punished the wicked but ignored his own rebellion.
And that’s the tension, isn’t it?
We love God’s mercy when it’s for us, but we struggle when He extends it to those we think don’t deserve it.
We want justice for others.
We want mercy for ourselves.
But here’s the truth—without God’s mercy, we’d all be Ninevites. We’d all be under judgment.
The Mystery of God's Justice—Resolved at the Cross
The same God who judged Edom and forgave Nineveh is the same God we stand before today.
Justice and mercy—how can they both be true? How can God be both perfectly just and perfectly merciful?
The answer is the Cross.
Justice demands that sin be paid for. God cannot overlook evil and still be righteous. But mercy desires to forgive sinners and bring them into grace.
So God did the unthinkable.
Instead of pouring out His wrath on us, He poured it out on Jesus.
"While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8, NIV)
On the Cross, Jesus took the full weight of God's justice. The punishment that should have been ours fell on Him. Justice was served. But in that very act, mercy was unleashed.
"But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners." (Romans 4:5, NLT)
That’s the scandal of grace.
God justifies the wicked.
He takes guilty people—people like Nineveh, Jonah, and us—and declares them righteous, not because they deserve it, but because Jesus took their place.
The judgment that should have fallen on us fell on Him,
And in exchange, we receive His righteousness.
Justice was satisfied.
Mercy was poured out.
And we stand forgiven.
Your Response
Nineveh repented and was spared.
Edom refused and was destroyed.
The same choice stands before you today.
Will you accept His mercy?
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