Lords Day 4

Lords Day 4, from the Heidelberg Catechism Poetry by David L. Croft, is entitled, "Is God In Any Way Unjust?"

Lords Day 4

Is God In Any Way Unjust?

Is God in any way unjust
Pursuing men with legal claims
For what they cannot, though they must,
Perform or bear eternal flames?
The murder of our fallen race
A crime which suffers no defense
Belongs to Adam's old disgrace
His reckless disobedience

Our parent's perfect paradise
Seduced by Satan's subtle slight
Was sold without a pauper's price
The world destroyed without a fight
And they who had been holy friends
Of God in their integrity
Became the plunderers of men
The authors of iniquity

Will God permit our rebel race,
And suffer not their punishment,
To marry sin before His face
Despite His holy covenant?
His indignation slumbers not
With pregnant wrath His anger burns
Before our birth He weighs our lot
He calculates our wayward turns

Before His bar of justice, God,
To our deservèd misery
Repays all evil with His rod
Both now and in eternity
Declaring from His timeless law
That cursed is everyone who does
Not perfectly, in deed and awe,
Continue without halt or pause

But isn't God then merciful?
Yes, certainly, but also just
His justice is not changeable
But, by His very nature, must
Inflict the awful penalty
Eternal punishment of soul
For sins against His majesty
And pains of body, manifold

April 12, 1996
Lord's Day 4 Heidelberg Catechism Question & Answers 9-11
© Copyright 1996 David L. Croft

Lords Day 4 expands on some earlier thoughts by asking, "Is God in any way unjust?" In other words, is He right in requiring perfection of man?

When understanding the perfect paradise God originally created, how can we even ask such a question? If perfection is truly possible, do we really want to continue eternally in an imperfect world?

God shows, as always, His righteousness and holiness. He can, indeed, require perfection of man because He has made that perfection possible through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is truly an awful punishment for man who rejects God, but that is the choice that he makes. No one forces his hand.

No sin against the majesty of God can go unpunished, but through Christ all sins can be forgiven, and a bright and perfect future is promised!

What an amazing God we serve!

Lords Day 4

Lords Day 5

Lords Day 3

Heidelberg Catechism Poetry

Poetry by David

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