Justice Awakened

“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Thomas Jefferson

These words were spoken by Thomas Jefferson specifically in regards to slavery in the early years of our country, but his statement can most definitely be applied to every sin we, as a country, commit or allow.

Today we are seeing an influx of wicked acts being performed in our country. Not just acts that WE think are bad, but those that God Himself has declared an abomination. Yet these acts are being applauded by the people of this nation and, sadly, even by those in the church.

While there are many that I could talk about, for the purpose of this article I am going to be focusing on one in particular:

The lives of millions of children are being snuffed out before they are even allowed to take their first breath. Because they are an inconvenience, or a consequence of past actions for which someone doesn’t want to take the responsibility.

Christians, we, of course, preach the evils of this from the pulpits, we condemn it with our words and our thoughts, we steadfastly proclaim that we would never do that; but what do we do beyond that? Do we put our belief into practice? Do we do all we can to take a bold stand against it and to eradicate this evil as our forefathers did with the evils of slavery? Do we look for ways we can get involved in the fight against this genocide? Vote in politicians and leaders who share our value for the unborn child? I would love to believe that the vast majority of Christians do; that they are on the front lines of this battle…but I am grieved to think that there are many Christians who do not. Who will not come out of their corner, who will not vote for those who value life, but for those who disregard it.

We are behaving as many of the Christians back in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds did about slavery. Who heard a lie long enough they started to believe it was true: “It is for the good of all,” “They aren’t really human,” or who bought into the lie that they could do nothing. Their voice meant nothing and couldn’t make a difference…or this was just the way things were.

(Do you know why that is pushed so much? Why they try so hard to get us to believe it? Because you CAN make a difference. Your voice DOES matter. It is not just one person believing this…many have fallen for this lie. How much noise do you think a million voices could make? If the individual remains silent…there is no mass. You get the individual believing their voice doesn’t make a difference…but in that one blow, you’ve silenced thousands of individuals. Think of the force that would be!)

Justice For All

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

I think most of us can quote this by heart. Many of us probably do it without thinking too much on the words themselves because they are so familiar. But this time, I want to really focus on those last three words. What does “justice for all” mean? I’m pretty sure we all have our own idea about what that means or how that looks in our eyes…but what is the true intent? What do those three words TRULY mean? To understand that, and to make sure we are all starting out on the same page, we first need to look at a definition:

Justice – “The principle of moral rightness; The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; Impartiality; Vindictive retribution.”

Justice, giving to each individual what he is due. That means good or bad. We have taken this phrase to mean every one of us gets what WE think is justice for ourselves and others. We tend to look at it as we get the good side of justice and those we don’t like get the bad side. We always look at the positive side of justice because that sounds good to us and we don’t have to worry about anything…but we forget the whole definition and purpose for justice.

I am not saying that we cannot ever view justice in a positive light. When we live rightly, follow the dictates of our conscience and of God, obeying the law, we have no need to dread justice…but we must not forget that justice is a double edged sword. It has two purposes and we need to look at both. And the verdict may not be what we think it should.

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:14

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face.” Psalm 89:14

What is justice for all? Punishing wrongdoers; rewarding those who do good; judging rightly, according to the laws of the land and of God, not showing partiality nor taking bribes or giving in to fear or emotions. THIS is what justice for all means. Is this the justice we see in our country today? Is this the justice we see among ourselves?

Lady Justice

“You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” Deuteronomy 16:19

I bet, at some point, you have all seen the Lady Justice statue, or at least some version of her in a picture. Or perhaps you have seen justice portrayed sometimes by scales and balances. But why? Why is justice portrayed this way? Let’s take a look at the instruments Lady Justice carries, and what they are supposed to mean:

Scales: They represent the weighing of evidence, and the scales lack a foundation in order to signify that evidence should stand on its own.

“Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” Proverbs 11:1

Blindfold: This represents impartiality, the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power, or other status.

“It is not good to show partiality in judgment. He who says to the wicked, ‘you are righteous,’ him the people will curse; nations will abhor him. But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.” Proverbs 24:23-25

Sword: This represented authority in ancient times, and conveys the idea that justice can be swift and final.

“For the Lord is a God of justice…” Isaiah 30:18

“You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you say, ‘In what way have we wearied Him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?'” Malachi 2:17

Where is the God of justice? Does He sleep? Does He see what is going on, or has He turned away from our country’s evil deeds? Does He even care about justice?

Today we see a lot of people “fighting for justice”, people demanding that those who did wrong pay for their deeds. We hear a lot of complaints that justice does not win in our system. But they have placed the blame in the wrong direction. It is not our system that is unjust, but the people. Our founders understood the nature of man. Man is desperately wicked, and with God out of the picture, will seek only his own ends. So they set out to create a system that would help rein in those schemes.

They knew this: God, Himself, is the perfect executor of justice. Man will fail every time. And while men will allow evil to go unchecked, they will show partiality and they will use dishonest scales…God never will. When He revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 34, He described Himself this way:

“‘The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty…’ ” Exodus 34:6-7a

Conclusion

“Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

These words should be a warning to us…but also a hope and comforting reminder.

Justice can be viewed in both a negative and a positive light. Thomas Jefferson was using it in the negative form in this case. God is just and He will not allow His justice to be stayed forever. We will be judged for the sin we commit and for the wickedness we allow to prosper. Thomas Jefferson believed God would judge America for the sin of slavery if it was allowed to continue and prosper. Indeed, by 1865, we had paid a steep and bloody price for it.

Today, we have abominations that are being cheered on by this nation and condoned and ignored by the church. We have blood on our hands…we have allowed an abomination that has taken more innocent lives than that of slavery. And just like Thomas Jefferson said with the sin of slavery, God will not ignore it. God is a God of mercy, but He is also a God of justice…and it WILL be awakened.

And Christians will not be let off the hook and allowed to reject responsibility. We also will be held accountable for the actions we take, or don’t take, in this battle.

James commands us to be “doers of the word” and not just “hearers” or “speakers”:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” James 1:22

How can we be true doers, putting our faith into practice, when we allow evil to rule unconfronted? How can we claim to hate this sin and be for Scripture if we vote for, support or condone the people who commit or promote the sin? Or if we just remain silent in the background and allow it to happen unhindered? That is not being a doer of the word. Our actions are not following our beliefs and there is not excuse for that…and none will be accepted.

All true Christians have been forgiven and their sins have been washed by the blood of Christ. We are saved from eternal judgment…but we are not off the hook. Actions have consequences and we have an even greater responsibility to fight against sin and evil and to live justly and rightly in all ways. And we each will be held accountable to God for our actions and the job we have done.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13

“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12

Christians, we have even more of a responsibility on us…for we KNOW what is right! (Luke 12:42-48)

“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

But on the flip side of the same coin, for those Christians watching all of this play out, for those trying to fight this battle and grieving over the sinful acts of this country, for those almost depressed, watching evil triumph despite our best efforts…this same statement should also bring us comfort. This statement should bring us HOPE.

“…His justice CANNOT sleep forever.”

I had to read this part many times before the positive side of this hit me like a lightning bolt: God is JUST. He loves justice and He WILL serve justice to ALL. The wicked may prosper for a time, but they will be be cut down. Their plans will be abolished and their evil deeds repaid.

Because God’s justice WILL NOT sleep forever!

“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.” Psalm 1:6