Amos 5
 18 Woe to you who long
      for the day of the LORD!
      Why do you long for the day of the LORD ?
      That day will be darkness, not light. 19 It will be as though a man fled from a lion
      only to meet a bear,
      as though he entered his house
      and rested his hand on the wall
      only to have a snake bite him. 20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
      pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? 21 “I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
      I cannot stand your assemblies. 22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
      I will not accept them.
      Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
      I will have no regard for them. 23 Away with the noise of your songs!
      I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice roll on like a river,
      righteousness like a never-failing stream! 25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
      forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
      the pedestal of your idols,
      the star of your god —
      which you made for yourselves. 27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
      says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
The last several verses on righteousness have been a lesson on the violent side of righteousness and justice, and as you can see in the versus above, it can be quite violent. However, as the scripture often does, these examples were not until after a lesson in this aspect; definitions and rules on what God does and why. There is wickedness in the world, and people can choose it. If one sees God as the deification of righteousness, then any rejection of God constitutes a choice for wickedness.Â
When I started my study on righteousness, it was to learn what I could about God’s nature, to learn about His violent side. As Christians, we tend to see Christ as this docile lamb, to the point where anything that is not docile must not be of God in any way, let alone Christ. But if that’s the case, then what did Christ mean when He said that he who has seen Him has seen Father? the Father God who is speaking Amos 5 above?
No, there is a violent side of Got, but it is not really a second side. To impose the two sides of docility and violence upon God is to impose a false dichotomy. God has, and has always had, only one side (in this regard, Trinity notwithstanding). That side is His, and His side is that of righteousness, which manifests in justice. And justice requires a balance of love and punishment, a combination of positive reinforcement, correction, and punishment. When I discipline my own son, it is from the same part of my heart that gives him allowance and kisses him on the cheek when he’s done well. These aren’t two sides of me, but two aspects of my only love for him. Had I a son who gave up on me, I would still love him, but would put my energy into my children who did not give up on me… but I would always be ready to welcome my prodigal son back home, should he ever choose to come. And should he not come, I would mourn, as does God.
I would suggest that a Christian who does not understand God’s correction does not understand God’s love. A Christian who does not understand God’s violent reaction to wickedness does not understand his loving reaction to righteousness. These were two sides of God before Adam and Eve ever bit into the apple. Adam and Eve may have brought sin upon humanity, but they do not invent wickedness. How do I know? Because God’s justice, coming from His very nature, is eternal.