2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
In the last few days, we have been looking at the question of righteousness vs. self-righteousness. Today, the Lord leads me to look at the question of eternal justice in the face of unrighteousness. I must admit that this is a tough issue, because it demands a real understanding of the need to approach the subject with humility and unwillingness to step over the bounds of God’s sovereignty. It is easy for us to let emotion take over when we feel we have been wronged. That is a good reason why we need to see what God reveals to us in the Scriptures to equip ourselves to be ready for the times when someone commits an unrighteous act that impacts us.
In the early days of Israel’s history, it became a problem for Moses to adjudicate all the disagreements that arose between the Hebrew people. In EX 18:13-27, Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, a priest of Midian, came to the camp to find Moses worn out. Jethro must have been prompted by God when he suggested that Moses delegate some of his judicial authority to trusted men (judges) and only deal with the more important cases himself. Moses wisely took that advice, thus being better able to carry out the commission God had given him. The question of appointing judges came up again in DT 16: 18-19, revealing some of the criteria needed for who to choose. “Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the Lord your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially. They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes for gifts which blind the eyes of wise and honest men, causing them to give wrong decisions.” From these citations, we can see that the need to decide in the disputes of human affairs required that some people carefully chosen needed to be given authority to do that. However, in the larger matters of ethical nature, God has assigned the right to judge to the Son. God is always the final Arbiter of what is just, but delegates authority to human judges to settle smaller matters in accordance with His will.
Some of the prayers of the Psalms make clear God’s will. PS 5: 12, “You bless those who obey you, Lord; Your love protects them like a shield.” PS 1: 5-6, “Sinners will be condemned by God and kept apart from God’s own people. The righteous are guided and protected by the Lord, but the evil are on their way to their doom. “ PS 146: 8 [In Praise of God the Savior] “The Lord sets prisoners free and give sight to the blind. He lifts those who have fallen; He loves His righteous people.” We see more of this in Proverbs. PR 21: 12, “God, the righteous One, knows what goes on in the homes of the wicked, and He will bring the wicked down to ruin.” PR 21: 18, “ The wicked bring on themselves the suffering they try to cause good people.” PR 28: 10, “If you trick an honest person into doing evil, you will fall into your own trap.” When we get back to the question of justice for those who do wrong against us, it is necessary for us to believe what the Scriptures say, i.e. to trust God to deal with it. He may not deal out the punishment we think the wrongdoer should have and/or He may choose to adjudicate the wrongdoer’s case at a different time than we think it should be handled. If that happens, we need to trust that in His magnificent omniscience He knows how and when is best.
When we look back over the course of human history, we can see God’s extraordinary compassion and love for mankind. That is why the prophesies of IS 53: 11 and JER 23: 5-6 come true. “After a life of suffering He [Christ, the suffering Servant] He will again have joy; He will know that He did not suffer in vain. My devoted Servant with Whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for His sake I will forgive them.” JER 23: 5-6, “The Lord says, ‘ The time is coming when I will choose as King a righteous descendant of David. That King will rule wisely and do what is right and just throughout the land. When He is King, the people of Judah will be safe, and the people of Israel will live in peace. He will be called the Lord of Our Salvation.’ “ Christ’s blood shed on the cross gives the believer a way out from under the consequence of his sins. If it is God’s will that a wrongdoer should be forgiven and have the opportunity to be a person of faith, what right do we have to interfere with that? Because God appointed Christ as the final Judge, the pressure of that responsibility has been taken off of our shoulders and placed on shoulders designed to handle it with His perspective.
We can learn something about the humility God wants us to have from the intercessory prayers of Daniel, a man God held is “high esteem.” Daniel was an obedient and faithful person throughout his whole life. He lived all but his first 15 years as a captive serving in the royal court of Babylon. DN 9: 14, “You, O Lord our God, were prepared to punish us [the Jewish people], and You did, because You always do what is right, and we did not listen to you.” When we look at this statement, we need to put it in context. Daniel had the humility to include himself as in the group that didn’t listen to God. He was also praying after not hearing from God for almost three weeks. It was also getting close to the end of the seventy years that God had decreed for the Jews to be in Babylonian captivity. We know that later God revealed that to Daniel, but he didn’t yet have that revelation when this prayer was uttered. An unrighteous man would have never reached the respected position that Daniel held in the royal court or with God. So, as difficult as this may seem, we need to spend less time railing at the injustices done to us and more time in prayer that God will exact justice with mercy on the wrongdoers in our lives.
God’s perspective on eternal justice is made clear in MT 25: 46, “these [the goats signifying the unrighteous] will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life. “ I have often mentioned RO 3: 26 and will do so again, because I believe it to be so important. “God [offered Christ as a sin sacrifice on the cross] in order to demonstrate He is righteous. In the past, He was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time, He deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God show that He Himself is righteous and justified everyone who believes in Jesus.” God through Paul teaches in RO 2: 1, “…For when you judge others and then do the same thing which they do, you condemn yourself.” When we jump to judgment, how do we know that we are not condemning the other person for doing the same thing we do ourselves? It’s not always so clear. But, by allowing Christ to be the judge, we can avoid this trap. Only God knows whether the wrongdoer in your life is to be called to faith at a later date.
PRAYER: O Lord, the fleshly part of ourselves often wants to judge those we perceive to be wrongdoers in our lives. Only Your perspective is right, not our limited human one. In Your infinite wisdom, You appointed Christ to be the final Judge. Help us to remember this when we are faced with the consequences of another person’s unrighteous acts against us. Let us approach the situation with the humility Your Son modeled for us to follow. Lead us to learn the value of putting our trust in You. In Christ’s name, amen.
Be encouraged to know that the Trinity is on the job working for us every day all day long. When we have faith and share it, we can take great comfort in knowing that we don’t have to shoulder our problems alone. Peter and I send you our love today and always.
Bask in the Warm Glow of God’s Love,
Lynn