“For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery for burnt offering;
I will direct their work in truth,
And will make with them an everlasting covenant.
Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles,
And their offspring among the people.
All who see them shall acknowledge them,
That they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. (Isaiah 61:8-11)

God loves justice. But how does that work with the fact that he keeps offering—and giving—mercy to the evil? God often forgives, often spares, often offers hope to those who most deserve to be squashed like bugs.

So how can God say he loves justice? Because he loves it when the good get what they deserve. But wait, God said there are no good people, only evil people. So how does that work? God transforms the evil into the good. He destroys the wicked when he makes them righteous. Justice comes to the bad guys in their transformation into good guys. Rather than explosions and body parts sent flying, God blows up their sins, he destroys the wickedness in their hearts. He delivers justice to the wicked heart when he replaces it with his own heart of righteousness.

God’s justice against the wicked happened when Jesus took their sins and died with them. Justice was served more thoroughly in that moment than any explosion sending bad guys to oblivion at the end of any movie. Human justice, the justice we think of, results in the destruction of sinners. God’s justice results in the destruction of sin and the rescue of sinners.

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