Day 14 –Justice

“𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟-𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚!” 𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑠 5:24

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 “𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞” 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 “𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.” 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 — 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Justice is a major theme throughout Scripture containing many calls for justice and commands to worship and praise God for His justice. It is the quality of doing what is right and just behaviour accords with what is morally fair.

God’s justice is “the essential and infinite attribute which makes his nature and His ways the perfect embodiment of equity and constitutes him the model and the guardian of equity throughout the universe” (ATS Bible Dictionary, 1859). His rule over the universe is grounded in justice and righteousness. There is never a tie when God is unjust – it is against His unchanging nature to be anything but perfectly just. It is demonstrated from Creation to the Cross, and from the Cross to Revelation.

The virtue of justice commands that humans act justly according to the Word. This includes acting on behalf of those whose rights are being denied and those who are powerless to defend themselves:

• “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17, ESV).

• “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place” (Jeremiah 22:3, ESV).

• “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3–4).

Prayer: Father, thank You for being perfectly just and that we, as Your precious children, can trust in Your justice to prevail. Teach us to act justly according to Your Word on behalf of those whose rights are denied and those powerless to defend or speak for themselves. Amen.

Love, Pastor Iriza