Exodus 34:7

Clear the guilty. God is gracious to repentant sinners, but He cannot afford to weaken His government by failing to uphold its righteousness and justice (Ps. 85:10; 89:14). God’s justice is an essential part of His nature no less than His mercy; without it God could not be God. Justice is, as has been argued, a necessary consequence of His true love, for “a God all mercy is a God unjust.” Without justice there could be no mercy. Although we read in the Bible that God delights in mercy (Micah 7:18), we never read in the Scriptures that God delights in bringing His judgments upon men. On the contrary, His judgments are said to be a “strange work” (Isa. 28:21). His loving-kindness is abundant (Isa. 55:7; Rom. 5:20). It is God’s mercy that moderates His judgments and makes Him “longsuffering” (Lam. 3:22; Rom. 2:4).

That divine love determines the attitude of God toward His children is clear from the greater space here allotted it in the description of His character and by the fact that the attributes of mercy precede the attributes of justice. Not only is God loving; “God is love” (1 John 4:16). The attribute of love is a veritable part of His essential nature; without it He would not be “God.” When the Lord must punish us for our sins, He does it in love, for our own good — not in anger. Like the surgeon, God may use the cutting knife of sorrow to effect the healing of the soul’s disease or injury that has resulted from sin (Heb. 12:5-11; Rev. 3:19).