Where Is The Justice?

11.10.19 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

“A young man was taken from a family, a loving, caring family and he was a loving, caring, compassionate person and now his son has to grow up, his daughter has to grow up…without him. Where is the fairness here? 39 months for murder...This is a great injustice. This is a slap in my face. This is a slap in my son’s face.” These were the words of a mother whose son died as a result of a teenager dropping a boulder on his car on highway 75. She was bitterly angry at the injustice of the sentence against her son’s murderer.

Where is the Justice? Wait for the Final Judgment to Find Out

You hear similar complaints against God. A two year old child dies of cancer or gets killed in a car crash. A woman is brutally raped. A flash flood comes and kills hundreds of people. God could have done something to stop it. He stepped in against the Egyptians and set the Israelites free with mighty miracles. Yet He seems to rarely if ever do those sorts of things for people today.

The Thessalonians were going through all sorts of persecution from the government and the Jews who hated Jesus. Some of them lost family relationships and property. Others lost their freedom and their lives. Yet instead of blaming God and abandoning their faith, they held fast and kept confessing Christ. It was proof and evidence that they were genuine believers.

It is a sign to God and the world when you stand firm in your faith even when it causes you pain. When a spouse sticks in a difficult marriage out of reverence for God and honor for His Word to not get divorced apart from marital unfaithfulness or desertion, that is a mark of faith. When a parent stands up against his child who is sinning and calls him to repentance, that is a mark of faith - to be willing to risk a family relationship to honor the Word of God. When a young person refuses to move in together with a boyfriend or girlfriend in order to honor the Sixth Commandment, this is a mark of faith. These things prove to God and your fellow Christians that you aren’t just talking the talk. You are walking the walk. They mark you as Christians.

But what about those who harm His children? Don’t they get away with murder with no recompense? No. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled. How will He pay them back? Judgment Day! They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. Think of the vivid picture that Jesus drew in His parable of people arriving late to the party and banging on the door to let them in, but the Lord saying, “I never knew you.” Once He shuts the door there is no letting them in, no matter who is begging and for how long. This is the opposite of what happens in this world. We are called unloving, judgmental, behind the times when we take a stand against obvious sins. We are naturally shut out from society, sometimes shut out of social media for our stances. Talented Christians are shut out from the scientific world and the biological world because of their views on Creation and the Flood. But on Judgment Day, THEY who shut us out will be shut out from God’s presence forever.

In the Final Judgment Jesus also repeats the words of those which said to Him, “We don’t know who you are.” He says to them, “I never knew you.” These are the atheists and agnostics who either claim God doesn’t exist or that they don’t know who God is. That’s not the worst of it. On Judgment Day they will see the flames of God descend on the earth. When Korah led a rebellion against Moses in the Old Testament, God sent fire from the altar to burn them to a crisp. A similar thing happened with Sodom and Gomorrah. This, however, will lead to a permanent burning in hell.