LET US EXAMINE INJUSTICE IN THE WORLD - AND THEN GOD’S PERSPECTIVE ON IT
INTRODUCTION TO THE SUBJECT
In the KJV of the bible, {{1 John 1 v 9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In the Holman version it says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”}} The only difference between those two translations is one word, the one the KJV uses, “just”, and the one Holman uses, which is “righteous.” The NASB also uses “righteous” while the NIV and ESV use “just”.
The Greek word is “righteous” but can also be translated as just. It means “judicially approved by God.” God can accept the sinner, because in His eyes, the sinner is righteous. The word relates to the standard of “rightness” which is what God is, so all His evaluation is according to the standard of rightness. That is the biblical position of what is just and righteous. From that we get righteousness and justice. Justice stems from being in a state of rightness; made right with God.
Justice is a word used so often in the scriptures. People cry out for justice when they are oppressed, otherwise they go about their sinful lives oppressing others, or are happy to disregard the injustice done to others, if it is not affecting them. Injustice and disregard are first cousins.
The bible contains many descriptions of God and the best known of these are, “God is love”, and “God is holy”, but there are some others that people like to dismiss. They are, “God is Just” and “God is a righteous God”. The moment we mention those two, we draw the net in and touch on the accountability of man, and the responsibility of man before a holy and righteous God. That now is a serious issue, for each person is accountable before God for his and her actions. That leads into this next description of God – “God is a consuming fire” – James. We then move into the area of judgement because justice, holiness and righteousness will all have their day.
INVESTIGATING JUSTICE AND INJUSTICE
There are two great days for God’s justice, holiness and righteousness; one that’s past and one that’s to come. The one that’s past is the greatest of all. It was Calvary where the justice or righteousness of God met sin face on. God’s judgement was poured out on sin and it hit the Saviour full on when He became sin for us. The wonderful thing for us is that the wrath stemming from God’s just and righteous judgement, was fully satisfied, but only through the sacrificial Lamb who took my sin. Paul states it this way in a verse we all know very well: {{2Corinthians 5 v 21 “He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”}} We have been made righteous. We are justified. We probably know this, but it has remained with me over the years when I heard it in my teens, “Justified means ‘just as if I’d never sinned.’”
He was made sin for me. The depth of that is immense and Christian poets took it up more in the past than now, for some church singing has degenerated into repetitive ditties of meaninglessness, and phrases just jumbled together without any proper theme, sometimes with the cacophony of clashing cymbals and banging drums. Around 1865 Anne Ross Cousins wrote a poem that became a hymn that is still popular in places. I want to read it for it suits this subject very well but I will change most of the older pronoun forms and a few other expressions:
1 O CHRIST, what burdens bowed Your head!
Our load was laid on You;
You stood there in the sinner's stead -
To bear all ill for me.
A victim led, Your blood was shed;
Now there's no load for me.
2 Death and the curse were in our cup -
O Christ, 'twas full for You!
But You have drained the last dark drop,
'Tis empty now for me.
That bitter cup - love drank it up;
Left but the love for me.
3 Jehovah lifted up His rod -
O Christ, it fell on You!
You were forsaken of Your God;
No distance now for me.
Your blood beneath that rod has flowed:
Your bruising has healed me.
4 The tempest's awful voice was heard,
O Christ, it broke on You;
Your open bosom was my ward;
It bore the storm for me.
Your form was scarred, Your visage marred;
Now cloudless peace for me.
5 For me, Lord Jesus, You have died,
And I have died in You;
You’ve risen: my bands are all untied;
And now You live in me.
The Father's face of radiant grace
Shines now in light on me.
THIS IS GRACE, GRACE, GRACE!
We have been declared righteous by God, holy and sinless in the judicial account kept by God, but the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was punished for that to happen. He was the Substitute who went through the greatest of terrors and stood in the place of no standing as Psalm 22 and 69 declare. The Spotless One became the guilty One. How do we explain that? Where is the justice in that? Why should God’s justice punish the Innocent? Surely that is injustice?
That thought is touched on by Stuart Townend in his hymn, “How Deep the Father’s Love”. Here are a few lines related to what we are saying:
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure. (That was substitution.)
It was my sin that held His there
Until it was accomplished. (That was completion.)
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom. (That was justification.)
The resolution the bible gives for this is that the love of God was fully giving, and stands at the pinnacle of all God’s dealings with us. Love deals with injustice; love works through injustice. The injustice the Lord underwent for us is in fact love at work. I know that seems hard for us to grasp. I think Stuart Townend was thinking along those lines and He wrote the pinnacle in the first two lines – “How great the Father’s love for us; how vast beyond all measure.” It was at Calvary that God’s justice was satisfied by God’s love, and along the way it meant that injustice was done, BUT according to the intent and will of God. Love and justice met at Calvary and kissed each other.
That was the first great day of God’s justice. The second will be a terrible one, and that is wrath and judgement. The justice of God must have its penalty or there is no justice at all. Sin will always have penalty and will never be excused. The sin of this world will have its day of reckoning in two parts. It will not be overlooked. We believe the day of reckoning is fast approaching; it is the time of the wrath of God we know as the Tribulation. That is the first part. The second is the great white throne. I will do no more on that as it will all be covered in the Revelation studies.
INJUSTICE IN THE WORLD
For those who say mankind is basically good, but some need their behaviour modifying, have their heads in the clouds. Anyone who looks into this matter will know that injustice is pandemic in the world. Corruption is much fouler than a cat that’s been dead for a week. Human nature is corrupt and there is injustice, one person to another, one institution to another. You can check Romans 3. Injustice proceeds from corruption. Our State Government is corrupt. All Australian Governments are corrupt. If you don’t believe me, look at their records on abortion, homosexuality, marriage, the gender mutilation of children, WOKE sexuality, the regulations increasing against Christians, the way people in power behave. Because we have that standard in society, then we see injustice everywhere. Corruption and injustice are bedfellows.
In my State, homosexuals in “Gay Pride” can take to the streets with placards decrying and mocking Christians and my Lord, and they are cheered. If I took to the streets with a placard speaking against homosexuality, I’d be arrested under the Anti-discrimination Act.
Some of us may suffer injustice and some, badly. In other countries it is worse. Christians are the off-scouring of the world, the ones who receive the hate and decisions taken against them. We know that from mission organisations we support, and from other Christian sources. Who suffers at the hand of injustice? Who do you think? Just forget about Christians for a moment and think, “Who are the ones who suffer injustice?” The answer is, “The weak, the defenceless, the poor and the innocent.”
In the Old Testament it was the weak, the defenceless and the innocent (and widows and orphans) who suffered unjustly. They had their land and goods confiscated; they were thrown in jail; they had unjust decisions made against them by unjust judges. They suffered while their persecutors became richer, more influential, and more prominent. What could the ones who had been deprived of their rights, do? They had little or no recourse to any legal system, because the whole fabric of society was unjust.
All they could do was to cry to God and appeal to the Lord God. While He may be the Defence of the defenceless and the Supporter of the unsupported, God did not always deliver the ones hurting or deprived. That caused a problem for some and they gave up their trust in God. If the Lord does not miraculously deliver us, it does not mean He has abandoned us. Those who depart from God because they think the Lord has let them down or departed from them, are inward looking and not properly established in faith.
Did you know that nearly every prophet addressed the matter of injustice? Israel and Judah always had problems with injustice because they were given over to the evils of human nature when they departed from God. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” When man withdraws from God, then the heart takes over. Jeremiah continued in the verse, “Who can know it?” The answer came from God, “I the Lord know the heart and will give every man according to his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17 v 9-10). The NASB translates that verse as, {{“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.”}} There is an important principle there. God knows all about it, and if you are suffering injustice, especially when it will not be righted, then God, and God alone, will be the One who makes it right with you. This world is not your home. You are just passing through.
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES - HOW GOD VIEWS INJUSTICE
Without labouring the point because there are so many examples, I have chosen four examples from the Old Testament showing the standing of justice in God’s reckoning.
{{Isaiah 10 v 1-2 “Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who constantly record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of My people of their rights, in order that widows may be their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans.”}} The needy are deprived and the poor have justice denied. Those conditions were deplorable to God and He announced a woe on them. What was then for them, is now for us, and God’s woe is still proclaimed. How terrible it will be for all those evil people when it comes to judgement. They don’t care because they don’t believe in the existence of God, as there is no fear of God before their eyes.
{{Hosea 10 v 13 “You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice. You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors,”}} - This important verse examines the cause of injustice. Plough wickedness and reap injustice. The world is full of injustice because the world swims in a sea of wickedness. Another cause is identified in that verse and that is those people ate the fruit of lies. Those who swallow lies spew out injustice. Governments that have swallowed the lies of climate change and socialism, are the ones most unjust to their citizens. The third cause is where it says, “Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors.” They had become self-sufficient, arrogant, and the ones today, they consider themselves the top of evolution’s pyramid. God, though, had the solution to injustice and it is the same solution for our times – {{Hosea 10 v 12 “Sow with a view to righteousness. Reap in accordance with kindness. Break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you.”}} There are three pointers in this verse. The first is righteousness, and by sowing in righteousness, it means to break up the hard ground of iniquity to prepare it for righteousness to be sown. This, our world will not be doing, but will advance from one evil to a greater one, for this verse is true in our time – {{2Timothy 3:13 “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”}}
The second pointer is kindness. This they had to reap but they did not because they did not plant it. They went into defeat and captivity. Australia will fare no better. More and more legislation comes out depriving people of rights and is meant to cordon them in control. It is worldwide now. The third pointer is so simple yet just the very thing a wicked human heart will not do. It is the word “seek”, “seek the Lord.” Unless there is a national repentance the fate of all nations is set. God is gracious but I tell you I don’t think there will be any more national turning to God. These are the last days, and biblically the last days are heading down quickly.
{{Micah 2 v 1-3 Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds. When morning comes, they do it, for it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them, and houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore, thus says the LORD, “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity from which you cannot remove your necks. You will not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time.”}}
We have three players here. The FIRST are those who plan and scheme to do wickedly. They meditate on it, scheming in their beds then leave the house to make it happen because they have the power and authority to do so. Christians who follow what has happened in the Victorian parliament about homosexuality and abortion and the sexualising of children for homosexuality, the wrecking of gender and biblical standards, must be appalled. The Greens with their communist agenda, and Labor chasing Marxist policies, are responsible. Even the conservative side is not much better.
The SECOND group of players is those who suffer under totalitarian regimes and dictatorships. They lose their land and houses, their fields, and their inheritance is robbed. What can the oppressed do about it? Nothing. The oppressed are powerless. That brings us to the THIRD player who is the Lord and He is so offended by such vile behaviour, that He plans a calamity against them. So many nations are as vile as in Micah’s time and a calamity is planned. I don’t think we will see much of God’s calamity before the Rapture, but after that, the calamity falls like never before except Noah’s flood. That will be in the Tribulation.
{{Malachi 2 v 17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How 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?”}} Mouthing meaningless words and phrases with no personal substance to back it up, wearies the Lord. All the time God wants genuineness, not pretence or pious exhibitions. I think we can extend “words” to behaviour and attitude and opinions. Of course the people and priests objected saying, “How have we wearied Him?” They saw no wrong in their actions and opinions, an indication they were complacent and self-righteous, even apathetic. When the Lord answered their objection in this verse, it revealed they were also believing a lie and were acting corruptly. The people’s understanding of justice was so perverted, that they could believe all who were doing evil, were good in God’s eyes. There are two facets here. The first is where they believed good was evil, and evil was good. The second error was that God knows we are sinners, and so even though He sees we do evil, He will dismiss it and consider us good. People who have these attitudes actually fool themselves, and in time, they actually believe the lie and deception they adhere to, is fully the truth. That means injustice becomes the normal way to live. It must have been like that in Malachi’s time.
“Where is the God of justice?” they asked. (v 17) The world is a very unjust place and the weak get little justice, and in an increasing number of places, Christians are getting little or no justice. People do not understand true justice because justice is linked with truth, and Jesus is THE TRUTH, so real truth can not be found outside the Lord. We hear expressions like, “The world is a very unfair place,” or “You won’t get much justice from politicians.” It must be disconcerting to live and not understand what is happening all around us. The unsaved person who has some remnants of fairness left in him and her, must feel discouraged. The Christians (well, some of them) know the world is getting worse because the prophesies of the last days tell us so, but our hope looks up to the Lord who will deliver us from this present evil age.
DEALING WITH INJUSTICE
Some people are sensitive and that is not a bad thing. They feel injustice like a cutting knife. How do you live in the face of injustice? What do you do when your goods are taken from you and you are falsely accused? I think this is when we need to claim the grace of God. My grace is sufficient for you.
I don’t know if this helps but some pointers I use, and have gleaned, –
** Know that in the end it is you who will win because you are on the winning side. You belong to Jesus and He is the Overcomer.
** Remember the Lord knows your situation and He knows you may not deal with injustice well. The word is trust. Trust in the Lord and receive His grace.
** Do you recall who it was who said, “I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” These are very wise words God has given to us through Paul – {{Hebrews 13 v 5-8 Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.}}
[In that fantastic passage I underlined five expressions. They won’t show on Sermon Central in the formatting, but they are underneath.]
1. “Being content with what you have” – it also means being content with your situation even when the storm of injustice rolls over your head.
2. “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” – The consistency of the Lord is never failing. He is faithful right to the time of your meeting Him.
3. “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” – Is this not the secret? We are on the Lord’s side. We belong to the King. Man can only do and legislate as far as the Lord allows.
4. “Considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” – Study the lives of the people of God, not just the Old and New Testament heroes but outstanding men and women of faith.
5. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever” – We conclude with the most solid foundation we can have. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, He who is unchanging and forever Faithful.
May God keep us all in these difficult days and give us His peace. The Lord bless you all.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
