-
A God of Love and JusticeThe Pathway to Peace and Happiness
-
-
A God of Love and Justice
“Let me ask you, Sanath and Vasana, when you look at a child, do you often see in him characteristics of his parents?” Buddhika asked.
“Why, yes!” answered Sanath. “I often say that our daughter looks so much like her mother. She even has her mother’s personality.”
“Yes, she really does,” Buddhika replied. “So we can say the same about our Maker, our Father. By looking at ourselves and the things Jehovah has made, we can find out about his qualities, what kind of Person he is.”
“That’s interesting. I never thought about that,” said Sanath.
“This is actually what the Bible tells us,” Buddhika explained. “See what Romans 1:20 says: ‘His invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship.’” Sanath asked how this was the case.
“Well, Sanath, think about the love that a father has for his children. A good father, like you, always cares for his children. Sometimes a child might be disobedient or disrespectful to his father, but the father would still provide for and love the child. Why would a father do this? It is because Jehovah created in parents the capacity for natural affection and love for their children. This love, Sanath, is a reflection of the love that Jehovah has for us.
“Even if we did not know Jehovah, he would still provide for us through the things he has made,” Buddhika continued. “That is why the Bible says at Matthew 5:45: ‘Prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.’ We certainly benefit from rain and sunshine, don’t we? They keep us alive and help us to grow our food. And Jehovah continues to supply us with these essentials whether we show any gratitude or not. Is this not evidence that Jehovah is a God of love? In fact, the Bible says that love is Jehovah’s principal quality; it is the essence of Jehovah God. At 1 John 4:8, we read that ‘God is love.’”
Next, Buddhika asked Sanath to think about the quality of justice. “As a good father, you love and care for your children in a just or fair manner, don’t you? You also teach them to respect others and to live by the standards of behavior that you believe will help them grow up to be responsible people. It is obvious that humans have a yearning for justice, both for themselves and their families. We want to be treated justly, and we want people to respect our need for justice. Why? Again, it is because we are reflecting the qualities of our Creator.”
Buddhika then showed Sanath and Vasana these scriptures about Jehovah God:
“All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice.”—Deuteronomy 32:4.
“He is a lover of righteousness and justice.”—Psalm 33:5.
Yes, we love justice because Jehovah, our Creator, loves justice, and we are created in his image, that is, we are created with many of Jehovah’s qualities, which we can manifest to some degree in our life. (Genesis 1:27) But Jehovah did not leave it to us to determine what is just and what is not. He has established standards and laws by which he wants his earthly children to live. It is when God’s laws are broken that injustice occurs.
“There is another remarkable thing I want you to think about,” Buddhika continued. “Do you know that the laws of most countries are in many ways similar to those that were written in the Bible thousands of years ago?” Sanath and Vasana were surprised.
“For example,” Buddhika went on, “the laws of many lands include prohibitions against murder, stealing, and adultery. These were all written down in the Bible more than 3,500 years ago. When we live by these just standards from Jehovah God, we are reflecting God’s justice, and we can have a happier and more satisfying life.”
After listening to all that Buddhika had said, Sanath and Vasana now appreciated that Jehovah is a loving Person and a God of justice. They had always felt that love and justice were among the most important qualities that people should show in their dealings with others. They had always tried to be loving and just with their children. Now they understood that these deep-seated desires were actually a reflection of the qualities of the Creator, Jehovah God.
Sanath was really excited about getting to know the qualities of Jehovah. It made Jehovah real to him—so much so that he began to think that perhaps he should do something about showing more love to his wife and children. He thought that it would be good to imitate Jehovah by being loving, just, and fair with everyone.
“That is very good, Sanath,” Buddhika responded happily. “The way you are thinking is very much in harmony with what the Bible recommends. In fact, there is a very famous statement in the Bible that I want to show you.” Opening the Bible, Buddhika read the following words to Sanath:
“All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them.”—Matthew 7:12.
Buddhika said that Jehovah has many other fine qualities besides love and justice. Sanath and Vasana wanted Buddhika to show them more about Jehovah’s wonderful qualities.
-
-
A God Full of Wisdom and Great in PowerThe Pathway to Peace and Happiness
-
-
A God Full of Wisdom and Great in Power
Buddhika explained that the things God has made also reveal some of his other qualities. He read to Sanath and Vasana this interesting verse from the Bible.
“How many your works are, O Jehovah! All of them in wisdom you have made. The earth is full of your productions.”—Psalm 104:24.
“Even the tiniest insects can show us something about the wisdom of Jehovah,” Buddhika said. “For example, the Bible talks about the instinctive wisdom of the ant.”
Buddhika reminded Sanath that they had often seen ants busily nipping off pieces of leaves to carry to their nests. How do they know to do this? One of the Bible writers explained that the ant is “instinctively wise.” Who, though, made it that way? Who put this instinctive wisdom in the ant? The Bible answers that it was Jehovah, the Producer of heaven and earth.—Proverbs 30:24, 25.
“I have to agree that creatures with such instinctive wisdom must have had a Designer and Creator,” replied Sanath.
Buddhika then said something that made a deep impression on Sanath and Vasana: “Do you realize that our very existence depends on Jehovah’s wisdom?” They wondered how that could be.
Buddhika explained that it was absolutely amazing to him that conditions on the earth are just right for life to flourish. The speed of the earth’s rotation on its axis and the speed of its movement in its orbit around the sun are such that solar energy is distributed to the planet’s surface in the best way possible. Gravity keeps earth’s vital atmosphere—consisting of just the right mixture of gases—from escaping. Yet, the gravitational pull is not so strong as to hamper our freedom of movement. There is also a vast supply of water, which is absolutely essential for life to continue. Even the soil is filled with nourishment that readily combines with water to be absorbed and used by plants.
“I strongly believe that it could not be by blind chance that all these things are the way they are,” said Buddhika. “I am convinced that it is the Source of unlimited wisdom, Jehovah God, who puts into operation all that is necessary for life to exist.”
Sanath and Vasana nodded in silent agreement.
Buddhika mentioned another quality of God that impressed them—power. Sanath wanted to see what the Bible has to say about Jehovah’s power. Buddhika opened the Bible and read this verse to him:
“O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! Here you yourself have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”—Jeremiah 32:17.
“We can get some idea of Jehovah’s great power by considering the power of the sun,” said Buddhika. “When you stand outside on a bright, sunny day, you feel the warmth of the sun, don’t you? Have you any idea how powerful the sun is?”
“I know it can get very hot around here before the monsoon season,” answered Sanath, and Vasana agreed.
Buddhika told them that he had read that at the sun’s core, the temperature is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). If you could take a pinhead-sized piece of the sun’s core and put it here on the earth, you could not safely stand within about 100 miles (150 km) of that tiny heat source! Every second, the sun emits energy equivalent to the explosion of many hundreds of millions of nuclear bombs.
“If the sun has such tremendous power, what power must the Maker of the sun have?” Buddhika asked. “We cannot even imagine his power. When we observe the sun, we see just a tiny evidence of the boundless power of its Creator, Jehovah.”
Sanath and Vasana had to agree with Buddhika that all these wonderful things could not have happened by chance. There had to be a Creator. They began to understand that although the Creator, Jehovah, is an invisible Spirit, he is a real Person who displays perfect love, justice, wisdom, and power in all the things he has made.
-