True Justice Comes By Adhering To Righteousness & Faithfulness To God’s Word
Word-of-the-Day: ‘(8) “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. (9) Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”’ (Isaiah 61:8-9)
The last couple of weeks, especially earlier this week, has seen the usual ‘end-of-term’ rulings for the Supreme Court of the United States, or SCOTUS. Though we are not always pleased with their rulings, the nine justices usually are correct with them, but not always.
Even when we disagree with them, their statements of affirmation (for the winning majority) and dissent (for the losing minority) are lengthy and, for the most part, filled with reasonable points and counterpoints based on the Constitution, historical precedents, and current laws to justify their reasoning and critical thinking on the matter.
The nine justices are human, of course, and have their biases and political leanings. Conservative justices are appointed when a conservative President is in office, while liberal justices are appointed when a liberal President is seated in the White House. While we should want their rulings to be based solely on the static wording of the Constitution and the law, their biases often reflect their interpretation of those words, or the feelings they have about the subject at hand when making these rulings.
This is why we sometimes are surprised with some of their rulings; something we see as ‘obvious’ comes out with conservative justices siding with the liberal justices, or vice versa. Some rulings should not surprise us but do because of our personal interpretation of ‘right and wrong’ is not based on the law, but on our feelings and beliefs. For the most part, however, the justices’ rulings are based in law and in fact, even if we disagree with them, we can read their statements and gain an understanding why they ruled as they did (even though we may still hold that they screwed up).
It would be much better if all the justices were devout Christians, but unfortunately, they are a microcosm of American society; some are Faithful, some are ‘CINOs’ or Christian-In-Name-Only’, some are agnostic to any faith. They hold to their societal biases more closely than they do to their relationship with Jesus. The United States was formed as a Christian-based nation, but allowed for the freedom of worship as the Founders were subject to the discrimination of the religious sects and denominations by the English crown.
The pilgrims of the Mayflower, the Quakers and Amish that settled in Pennsylvania, and others came to escape the persecution they faced in Europe and Great Britain, to be free to worship in their own way. This also comes with a freedom from worship, for those who choose not to worship God at all, or to be agnostic from any of the teachings and pomp of any sect.
Over the years, especially after the 1960s, there has been a substantial turning away of Faith from Jesus, with secularism and its worldview taking hold and growing, along with other foreign religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and animism (the worship of nature). Today, we find the US at a crossroads; while Christianity continues to be the ‘popular’ label for many Americans, many ‘Christians’ are actually ‘CINOs’, holding beliefs that are not Biblical and following in obedience to the Lord.
For those adhering to the Word, Righteousness and Truth form the foundation of our beliefs; for those who do not hold tightly to the Word, not so much. Their foundation is not as solid and can change, sometimes on a whim. This is why we often see members of society, and SCOTUS justices, make decisions not based on Righteousness but on the fleeting feelings of society, the ‘flavor of the week’ ideas and concepts that pop up then fade for the ‘next big thing’ in popularity.
Isaiah 61 discusses the ‘Year of the Lord’s Favor’. It is a ‘double prophecy’, one more recent to Isaiah’s time (for the return of Israelites to Jerusalem post-Babylonian exile, or roughly one-hundred years in Isaiah’s future) and one far later (the eternity after the restoration and reconciliation of man to God after the End Times in Revelation). It is a prophecy to show the blessings that fall upon a Righteous and Faithful people who are obedient to God and His precepts.
The verses of Isaiah 61:8-9 provides the Lord’s love of justice based on His Truth when His people obey it. Wrongdoing is abhorred and not tolerated; obedience is rewarded and laudable. Though this was written by Isaiah for the Israelites, it is also meant for the future Gentile nations that would join in the Lord’s covenant through the acceptance of Jesus as Lord. The nation that follows God’s Word and builds upon it as its foundation will be blessed and lifted up; an example and a shining light for other nations to follow.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, the United States of America was created as a nation under God, and though we have had some rough patches, it became a blessed and beaconing nation through its Faithfulness and adherence to Righteousness following God’s Word. Those blessings continue, though the cracks have widened, and more often the Righteousness of Justice has been replaced with whim.
We who are Faithful and hold fast to Truth must continue to press on and provide the Word to those who do not know it, to hold our leaders, legislators, and justices accountable not only to our laws but to the Word of God. It is never too late, or too soon, to do so. Our Founding Fathers knew success or failure of the United States would depend on how close we would follow our Lord, and that is as true today as it was back then. Be courageous, be bold, be not afraid and speak the Truth and act Righteously for Him!
