When Justice Is Righteous, Justice Is Served
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.’ (Proverbs 21:15); ‘Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the Lord understand it <what is right> fully.’ (Proverbs 28:5); ‘<The Lord said through Amos,> “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”’ (Amos 5:24)
In Amos’ time, the Lord pronounced judgement on Israel, perhaps also on King Uzziah, two years before a massive earthquake. According to Matthew Henry via the historian Josephus, the earthquake took down ½ of a mountain and may have been around the time Uzziah decided to burn incense in the temple (though he was not a Levite). True justice is always righteous. True justice being justice served is often in the eyes of the individual, however. The righteous see justice, the evil see calamity. What Christians consider righteous and proper are not always deemed that by those outside of Christ.
We see this within recent Supreme Court decisions; the Dobbs decision overturning the ‘right of abortion’ is seen by Christians and Constitutional scholars was correct based on God’s precepts on life, and affirmed the Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which affords the states the power to decide that which is not specifically mentioned as a ‘Federal power’ in the Constitution. Others see the Dobbs decision as destroying a ‘woman’s right to choose’, believing the ‘SCOTUS’ took away that ‘right’ (which was not a ‘right’ to begin with). Those who don’t understand right from wrong, who are secular and devoid of facts, fear righteous and true justice, as it condemns their actions. The Supreme Court, being populated by 9 ordinary men and women, can get it wrong sometimes. Roe v Wade was one such poor decision, unfortunately, but fortunately corrected with Dobbs.
God, in His judgements, is never wrong. God will not stop being righteous, nor will He adapt His verdicts to appease feelings. There will be a Day, in Amos and Joel referred to as ‘the Day of the Lord’, which will be Judgement Day to those who are not of God. For the Christian, our ‘Day of the Lord’ came when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, petitioning him in the repenting of our sins. The Christian Judgement Day will be of great Joy as we will be with Jesus, as He will be in front of us judging how well we did in carrying out His Word.
For those who do not accept Jesus, the terror will be of those in front of God Himself, knowing they did not listen or obey His Word, and knowing their eternity will not be one of Joy but of torment. That will be a dark day for those who did not accept Jesus, but God’s Judgement is righteous and true.
