Justice for All

Psalm 137:4 “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”

We all want justice for injustices against us. Justice is defined in the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary as: The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men with each other; honesty; integrity in commerce or mutual intercourse with impartiality; equal distribution of right in expressing opinions; fair representation of facts respecting merit or demerit. It is a duty to do justice to every man, whether friend or foe. Equity should, in strictness, be justness with vindictive retribution; merited punishment. When there is no law, unjust (bad or immoral) laws or two conflicting laws, there is no order or justice; just relativism (what right for you may not be right for me). Where are the boundaries? What are the standards to follow and, since justice includes: honesty, integrity, fairness, righteousness, truthfulness, reasonability, merit, impartiality, and equity, who made them? Lady Justice is blindfolded and weights the facts and the truth in her scales for a fair and just verdict. I read how unbearable it is for us to wait for justice to be served, because we wait for vindication. This applies with man’s justice in terms of the dealings with humans, residing here and now, this side of heaven. There is also Almighty God’s justice.

Hebrews 11:16 “But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

The psalmist reflects on the covenant community’s experience during the Babylonian exile, but also pertains to the pilgrims and sojourners of the Judeo/Christian covenant community today. We await the manifestation of the Lord’s justice of which all of mankind stands in holy judgment by His just standards. The article clarifies: it is not that the exiles were unable to worship God at all; rather, they could not praise Him in His fullness because they were outside the Promised Land. The picture is one of pilgrimage, of a people who were out of sorts because they were not in their true home; Ambassadors for Christ temporarily representing His kingdom to this foreign land. And to the Christian, the child of God, the citizen of heaven, our true home is the kingdom of God and we are here on mission, but just passing through this fallen world. We will at times feel disconcerted and discomforted as we long for the day on which God will judge all people and bring in the new creation (Revelation 20:11-21:1-2). We will not forget the city of God as we go about as strangers, set apart from sin in the world. This is the eternal perspective of Christianity. By God’s just and holy standards, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God in the scales of justice. If God’s just judgment and rightful justice were applied to the world, nobody would be innocent.

Daniel 5:26-27 This is the interpretation of each word. God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting (have not measured up to God’s standard).

God is just and holy, so must punish sin, but God is love and mercy. The Lord Jesus said in John 3:14-18 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” We must always remember the truth told to us in Ephesians 2:1-10, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works. Forgiveness of sin and salvation is not, deserved, earned or purchased by us. Jesus saves. It is not inappropriate to long for justice, but in doing so, let us pray that our enemies receive justice in the same manner we have – through the cross of Jesus Christ that paid for our sins and freed us from God’s wrath. 

John 3:33-36 “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Praise be to God for our Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ – Justice for all.

In Christ, Brian