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Ultimate Justice - What Should Concern All of Us
Dane Tyner
We all recognize a need for judges in the pursuit of justice. Civilized societies have realized that, to ensure maximum justice for all, we need specific human involvement. Lawmakers create laws which are intent upon defining just and unjust actions. The laws, as we all know, do not have the power to force compliance from people. People choose to break laws all the time. I would bet you do; I know I do – speed limit laws, at least. Not only do we have the law makers, we must have people who work to enforce the laws. Without enforcement law-making would be a total waste of time. For justice to be just, punishment for violations of the laws must be custom fit to the specific violations. All violations are not equal; therefore, it stands to reason that all punishment would not be the same.
Because all of this law-making and law-enforcing is done by fallible human beings, we have court systems where, if you feel a citation against you is unjust, you get to stand before a judge, or in some cases a jury, to have both sides of the issue heard and a final decision rendered. In America we prize justice very highly. This is why we have appellate courts, courts over courts, for those who feel they did not get justice in some lower court. Eventually, the appeals must stop somewhere, hence a Supreme Court.
We are all fairly familiar with this system. I suppose we all know that it is not a perfect system. In fact, that is intentionally programmed into our "justice system. In criminal trials, the bias is in favor of the accused. One is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Where juries are impaneled for criminal proceedings, a unanimous decision is needed of the 12 jurors. Here is that obvious bias: the prosecutor has to convince all 12 jurors of guilt; the defense only needs to create sufficient doubt in one of them. Because we prefer to let the guilty go unpunished over one innocent person suffering, many guilty people go unpunished. Is that justice? Well, not really, but it is an acceptable level of justice we recon. Furthermore, we have a law that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice; therefore, if the guilty party is found "not guilty," there will never be justice in the case, regardless of what pertinent evidence should be found after the acquittal.
Justice, in spite of the widespread admiration of it, is no easy thing to secure. One of the reasons I remain a committed Bible-believing person, is that the Bible is arguably the source of much societal devotion to justice. Let's go back to the court systems in our land for a moment. Remember, higher courts have been implemented to control for lower court errors. As I said, there is an end to appeals. Once your case is heard in the Supreme Court, and a decision rendered, you can only hope it was in your favor. The Bible reveals a truth I find both satisfying and challenging. There is a Court above the highest court of every nation. It is the Court of Heaven where our Maker sits in judgment.
I mentioned this as both satisfying and challenging. I'll address the satisfying side of this first. We've probably all heard of vile criminals who successfully avoided justice in their lifetime. They were never caught, could not be convicted for some reason, or found some other means of avoiding accountability among men. I find it satisfying to believe that no one is really getting away with anything. Heaven has a justice system that is perfect. There the Ruling Judge, our Maker, has all evidence before Him. None is suppressed; and all is fully understood in its proper context. In this court, true justice will be meted out with appropriate mercy. I personally know of some people who committed horrendous evil acts against innocent people and were never even suspected here, let alone charged, tried, convicted, and administered fitting punishment. My experience involves sexual predators who transferred their shame to their victims and died in unfitting honor. Who knows how many millions of these have existed? Who knows the number of rapists and murderers who have never been caught, never will be caught? If you have been victimized by such an evil being, though you need to do a lot of work to forgive those nigh "unforgiveable" offenses, you can find comfort in this truth: they will stand before the Judge on His Day of Judgment.
Now, let's look at what I call the challenging side of this truth. If we believe there really is a God who knows everything, and plans to hold each of us appropriately accountable, that can make me giddy when I think about Hitler and/or others like him, responsible for contemptuous treatment of their fellow man. The Bible does not encourage you and me to think of this relationship with the Judge as applicable only to the vile sinners. Since we are all sinners, so declares the Bible (and I do know it has me nailed), the Bible assures us that God's ultimate "Day of Judgment: is for all. I will stand in His Courtroom, too.
By the way, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in a "Day of Judgment." Let me just provide some Bible references for the "Day of Judgment"; you can look them up: Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:22; Mark 6:11; Luke 11:31; Romans 2:5; 2 Peter 2:4,9; 2 Peter 3:7; Jude 1:6. Jesus was pretty clear about the judgment of Heaven. Matthew's Gospel account records Him saying, "everyone shall give account for every careless word uttered" (12:36). If I did not know the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, this piece of reality would be challenging to say the least, if not downright frightening. In my 70 some years, I've been pretty good at being bad.
Because of my relationship with Jesus, the Christ, I do not fear that great Day of the Lord. You should not fear it either if you have received Him as Lord. The ministry of Jesus coming into our world was that we be "saved, not condemned." It is a truth all over the Gospels, nowhere clearer than in John's Gospel, chapter three, verses 16&17. Here is how the Message (a great paraphrase) put it: "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again" (JN 3:16,17 MSG). The Gospels tell us that Jesus came and lived the perfect life which the Heavenly Father intended each of us to live, which none of us ever did. Then, having done what we didn't do, Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the Cross. The Apostle Peter could not have been clearer: "He (Jesus) committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22 English Standard Version). To receive Jesus as Lord, is to accept that He is your Savior. When done in earnest, we are admitting the need of a Savior. The next step is one of obedience, following Jesus, learning to live in obedience. This involves learning to be honest, with ourselves, with God, and with others.
The Apostle John shed an important ray of light on who Jesus is to us, that has to do directly with that "Day of Judgment" to come. Here is that delightful declaration from John: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1 ESV). Our goal in following Jesus is not to sin, but we don't do this perfectly either. John assures us that the Gospel has us covered, even when we blow it as a believer, a follower of Jesus. He says that Jesus is our "defense attorney;" that is the meaning of "an advocate." We may have felt many times in this life like "no one advocates for me." Be assured, on this most important day of our lives, Jesus will advocate for us with the Father.
It is very popular in our day for people to say, "Don't judge me, only God is my judge." I usually think it, and sometimes have actually asked the person, "So, are you ready to stand before that Judge?" You see, I know I am, and I know your can be. It is a privilege to share this with others.
I suggest that almost all of the problems we face in this world are a result of people not honoring the will of God, blowing off His rule and rules, constructing their own two, five or Ten Commandments. Furthermore, they imagine themselves to be their own judge. How do we respond to a world becoming increasingly lawless? Stay focused in your own walk of obedience, not on their walk of disobedience. On that great Day of the Lord, you will just answer for yourself; they will answer for themselves. As a believer in Jesus, I have imagined standing in Heaven's Courtroom, and be there any true accusation against me there, I would hear my Advocate say, "Yes Father, he did that", but stretching out His scarred hands continue, "and THIS is what I did for him." Please find comfort in the fact that Jesus came and fulfilled all the Commandments in your place (se Matthew5:17-20). Most of all, let Him be Lord of all! ttt
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