“But that’s not fair!”—it’s one of the most common objections to hear from children when they don’t like how a situation or decision affects them and their interests. Despite the fact that our sense of justice and fairness is often obstructed or perverted by our own selfishness and pride, we are all nevertheless born with some sense of justice. Even though our actions do not always reflect what we know to be just, righteous, and fair, we nonetheless recognize the existence of such standards that are higher than our own personal preferences. The fact that we have such an innate sense for right and wrong is to be expected, given that we were created in the image of a just and righteous God. God reveals himself to us in his word as a God of justice and of mercy. He is in the right to bring justice upon the heads of the wicked, and he is in the right to show mercy to sinners when the demands of justice have been met (through the sacrifice of a substitute). In all his ways, he perfectly exhibits justice and righteousness. “The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17). We see this righteousness of God exhibited even in the way he administers justice to the wicked. Because he is omniscient, the Lord can give perfect justice. The Bible teaches that even in his judgment against the wicked, God gives punishments that take into account the culpability of the one punished. Consider Jesus’ teachings in Luke 10, in the context of his limited commission to the disciples:

“Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgement for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.” (Luke 10:10–15).

This passage shows us that those cities which rejected Jesus would be worthy of greater punishment on the day of judgement than Sodom and Tyre and Sidon, ancient cities from the time of the Old Testament that were notoriously wicked. His perfect knowledge—knowing that Tyre and Sidon would have repented if they had seen Jesus’ mighty works—means that he perfectly administers the justice that is deserved. Our God, the judge of all the earth, will always do what is right. Let us praise God for both his mercy and his justice.