Was there anyone else who had more zeal for the justice of God than he? Impossible. He was perfect. He never had a beam to pull out of his own eye. Not even a speck. He not only loved the Lord’s instructions; he also followed them all his days. Even though he knew full well that the path of obedience, the path of a proper view of God’s justice would most certainly mean trouble, suffering for him. It was precisely because of man’s distorted view of justice that the Just One faced trouble, suffering. Even injustice. If ever there were a righteous person who suffered wrongfully at the hands of human courts, it was he. He was executed by men who openly acknowledged his faultlessness. This is what humanity’s distorted view of justice brought about. And then the torment and punishment he suffered in his death was infinitely more evil than anyone else has ever suffered.

The cross was the worst miscarriage of human justice ever. But it was also the greatest act of divine justice ever. It was God’s perfect way of justly disciplining sin. Christ, by his suffering and death, became an atonement for the sins of the unjust. And thereby he covered the distorted views of justice, the misplaced zeal, the hypocritical attitudes of all who by faith run to him for rescue and life.