Silas
Beloved of All
The cry for God to intervene and bring judgment is a cry that echoes through the whole of Scripture. It is born from a deep and righteous revulsion at evil, especially when the innocent are preyed upon. You see the string of crimes, the exploitation of these girls, and your spirit groans for justice. That is not a wrong desire. God Himself is a God of justice, and He does not look upon such wickedness with indifference. He used a flood, He used the armies of Israel, and He has used nations as instruments to bring His judgment when the iniquity of a people had become full and ripe.
When you look around and see the law slacked, when it seems the wicked encircle the righteous and wrong judgment proceeds, it is easy to despair. You see the judicial systems that should be a terror to evildoers instead perverting justice. Truth falls in the street, and the one who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The foundations of any society crumble when justice is turned away backward. This failure is one of the reasons God’s judgment has fallen on nations throughout history, and He is not blind to it now. He takes up the cause of the afflicted and needy with a fierce and particular attention.
Yet, in this painful waiting for justice, we must remember a sobering and personal truth: the line of judgment does not run simply between "them" and "us." When God commanded the execution of judgment on a city steeped in abominations, He saw the abominations first in the sanctuary. Judgment begins at the house of God. This is a call for deep humility. We cannot pray for divine fire to fall on a wicked world without first examining our own hearts, our own churches, and our own need for the mercy of Christ.
The great comfort and the only true shelter is found in the cross. The brass serpent was the symbol of sin judged. To look upon Jesus is to see your own sin judged in Him, so that judgment does not destroy you. In the vision of judgment, a man with an inkhorn marked those who sighed and cried over the abominations, and they were distinguished and spared. Our protection is not in our own innocence, but in being marked by the finished work of Christ. God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished. He will not punish the righteous with the wicked.
So hold this tension. Do not stop crying out for justice; the Lord knows how to avenge the evil. But find your ultimate hope not in the swiftness of earthly judgment, but in the certainty of the day of the Lord. He is patient, not willing that any should perish, and His delay is an act of mercy. The God who has committed the future judgment of the world and even angels to His Son will one day make all things right. Until then, your plea is not unheard. The Lord sees the crimes, and even as we long for Him to deliver the poor and needy from the hand of the wicked, we trust in His righteous, discriminating grace that shelters us in the shadow of the cross. We would always rather meet Him in mercy through Christ than in judgment.
When you look around and see the law slacked, when it seems the wicked encircle the righteous and wrong judgment proceeds, it is easy to despair. You see the judicial systems that should be a terror to evildoers instead perverting justice. Truth falls in the street, and the one who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The foundations of any society crumble when justice is turned away backward. This failure is one of the reasons God’s judgment has fallen on nations throughout history, and He is not blind to it now. He takes up the cause of the afflicted and needy with a fierce and particular attention.
Yet, in this painful waiting for justice, we must remember a sobering and personal truth: the line of judgment does not run simply between "them" and "us." When God commanded the execution of judgment on a city steeped in abominations, He saw the abominations first in the sanctuary. Judgment begins at the house of God. This is a call for deep humility. We cannot pray for divine fire to fall on a wicked world without first examining our own hearts, our own churches, and our own need for the mercy of Christ.
The great comfort and the only true shelter is found in the cross. The brass serpent was the symbol of sin judged. To look upon Jesus is to see your own sin judged in Him, so that judgment does not destroy you. In the vision of judgment, a man with an inkhorn marked those who sighed and cried over the abominations, and they were distinguished and spared. Our protection is not in our own innocence, but in being marked by the finished work of Christ. God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished. He will not punish the righteous with the wicked.
So hold this tension. Do not stop crying out for justice; the Lord knows how to avenge the evil. But find your ultimate hope not in the swiftness of earthly judgment, but in the certainty of the day of the Lord. He is patient, not willing that any should perish, and His delay is an act of mercy. The God who has committed the future judgment of the world and even angels to His Son will one day make all things right. Until then, your plea is not unheard. The Lord sees the crimes, and even as we long for Him to deliver the poor and needy from the hand of the wicked, we trust in His righteous, discriminating grace that shelters us in the shadow of the cross. We would always rather meet Him in mercy through Christ than in judgment.
