A Just Judge

1 John 1:9
If we con­fess our sins, he is faith­ful and just to for­give us our sins and to cleanse us from all unright­eous­ness.

How can God be "just" to forgive us our sins? I mean, if a man who is convicted of murder, is pardoned by a judge without any restitution, penalty, or jail time; how can that judge be a just and good judge? The answer is the he wouldn't be a good and just judge if he forgave us our sins, without any penalty. 

This ties into my post yesterday about Jesus being our propitiation. Jesus steps into the court room and takes our our guilty sentence. He becomes our wrath bearer and he is punished for a crime he did not commit. Then we (the criminal) are not only declared "not guilty" in the courtroom (justification), but the perfect life that Jesus lived is placed on our account as though we were him (substitutionary atonement). This is sometimes called "the great exchange." 

Thus if we confess our sins, he is faithful AND JUST to forgive us our sins AND cleanse us from all our unrighteousness (sanctification). Justice has been served at the cross of Calvary. PRAISE BE TO GOD!