“But Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.’” (Joshua 24:19)
God is perfectly loving, good, and forgiving. He is also perfectly righteous, just, and holy. Further, there is no discrepancy between God’s justice and His forgiveness, which is why God’s provision for forgiveness is the only provision that both honors and satisfies His holiness and justice. “He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins,” as Joshua says, unless you submit to His divine will and plan for seeking such forgiveness. Sin is a serious matter with God. He will not overlook it, forget about it, dismiss it, or let it slide in any form or fashion because God is a just God. His Law is equally just and righteous and true. And when His Law is transgressed, His justice requires punishment. There is no other way. David Clarkson rightly said, “the honor of God’s divine perfections cannot be secured or vindicated unless sin is punished; therefore, it is highly necessary that sin should not escape without punishment.” By His very nature, God is required to jealously guard His holiness and excellence and perfections by upholding His Law. In other words, the Lord is obliged by His holiness and His justice, as well as His truth, His immutability, and His wisdom to punish sin. His holiness requires it. Sin is contrary to and disallowed by His nature. He hates it. If God shows Himself to be who He is, “a holy God, of purer eyes than to behold evil, and who cannot look on iniquity,” (Hab. 1:13) then it is necessary to show His hatred of sin by punishing it. Joshua 24:19 affirms, “He will not forgive,” that is, sin will not go unpunished because He is holy. His justice obliges God to punish sin because the sinner justly deserves it. Justice requires that everyone should have his due, that every disobedience receives a just compensation (Heb. 2:21; Rom. 1:32; 2 Thess. 1:10). A just God upholds His Law and punishes those who break it.God’s truth engages Him to it. If He establishes His government on His Law, then His truth obliges Him to fulfill the requirements of that Law and to execute judgment accordingly. God’s immutability makes it necessary. He determined from eternity to punish sin. If from eternity He purposed to do so, the counsel of the Lord must stand. Finally, His wisdom deems it so. The end and designs of His Law and government would be lost otherwise. His Law would be rendered powerless and insignificant, and His government would be made contemptible. The authority of the one and the honor of the other would be defaced if sin were not punished. God makes it blatantly clear that He hates sin. He hates your sin and my sin. And yet, He willed to fulfill the necessity of sin’s punishment for all believers through the death of His Only Begotten Son. His justice, holiness, and truth demanded it. And His love, goodness, and forgiveness fulfilled it.- If Your name, Lord, must be sanctified by You in all things, and You cannot let sin go unpunished, I am happy that I have Christ Jesus covering me from Your infinite wrath. I know I cannot perform the duties of worship or serve You acceptably with reverence and godly fear without being covered in the blood of Christ. He makes all my works acceptable to You.
- Father, I know that You seek people to worship You in spirit and truth, and that the only way this is possible is through the new birth. My sin is ever before me, and You are jealous against sin. So I also realize that worshipping You rightly involves much more than just praying a prayer or singing a song or going to church. Much more is required in my duty to worship You than that, for there is a power of godliness in it.
- Lord, Your Word teaches me that proper worship of You should not be entered into flippantly. In Joshua 24:16-19, Joshua calls the people to worship You, and they seem to respond favorably. But then I consider what is said in verse 19. “And Joshua said to the people, ‘Ye cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God, He is a jealous God, and He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.’” It is as if Joshua said, until you understand God, and His ways and worship, you cannot serve the Lord. This shows me that worship is a hard and difficult work, and I need to be very diligent to worship You in the right way.
