Love Must Have Justice

Have you ever been mistreated? Do you feel wronged and have lies been told about you behind your back? Have you been betrayed, robbed and seriously injured? These are examples of personal injury.

Has your company been betrayed by ex-employees or bosses? What about the way countries have treated one another? Broken treaties, lies and unfulfilled promises are examples of a larger injustice that affects more than you.

The good news is that God loves justice, and one day He will right every wrong and expose every lie. Before He creates a new heaven and new earth, He will draw a line under all that has gone before. He will do this when He judges the world.

God has appointed a day when every action will be judged. Every wrong will be answered for (Acts 17:31)¹ 31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”. Jesus Christ will be the judge on that day. The problem is that every wrong action will be judged, and this includes the things we have said and done that have been unfair, cruel and have caused others to be mistreated. We may want the wrongs done against us put right, but we also will have to answer for where we have got it wrong.

We need to prepare for the day when we stand before God and face His judgement. There are two outcomes to this. The first is eternal reward. This involves being with Jesus forever where there is no more sorrow, pain, tears, death or sin (Revelation 21:3, 4)² 3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.”. The second outcome is eternal punishment. Those found guilty when they face the judgement of God will be sent to a terrible place of punishment called the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-14)³ 11 I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. 12 I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire..

Jesus is love, and because He does not want anyone to go to that awful place He spoke more about the judgement of God than anyone else. He likened it to a place where the fire is not quenched and where the worms do not die (Mark 9:48)⁴ 48 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’. He spoke of it as a place of outer darkness where there is continual weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12)⁵ 2 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”. The problem is that we will all be found guilty because we have all done wrong.

The good news is that Jesus has made a way whereby we can be forgiven. We have to prepare for the day of judgement by accessing the forgiveness that Jesus offers. When Jesus was crucified and died upon the cross, He was punished for the sins that each one of us has done (1 Peter 3:18)⁶ 18 Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, . If we will believe in who He is and what He has done, we can come to Him and receive forgiveness (John 3:18)⁷ 18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God. .

Sadly on the day of judgement, many will be found guilty because they refused to believe. The Bible asks the question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation (Hebrews 2:3)?” Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ, and are you prepared for the coming day of judgement?

Questions

1. What does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
2. Can we reasonably expect God to right every wrong yet not judge our sin?
3. Where are you going to live forever?