JUSTICE

R. F. White

Isaiah 42: 1–4; Acts 3: 13–15; John 5: 30; Deuteronomy 16: 20

I would like to say a few words about the subject of justice; that is a very big subject and one of deep interest. Justice is something that is of interest to men everywhere—it is of interest to believers, but it is also of great interest, I believe, to men wherever they are. There is something, it would seem, in the human spirit that cries out for what is called justice. The word translated ‘justice’ in the Old Testament has the connotation of ‘that which is right’. So that is a simple enough thought in itself; justice is what is right. If we apply that to man’s world and man’s way of thinking the question arises: who determines what is right and what is not right? Questions like this have been the subject of great debate by philosophers and sages down the ages. Who makes the rules? There is one school of thinking that says that the strong make the rules, and justice can be determined by whoever has the most power. That is one school of thought amongst men, and there are others like that. You see an example of it at the present time; strong nations make their own rules.

They think they can do what they wish because nobody can stop them and so they present what they are doing as just, a just cause, or it may be, a just war. Such is the mind and heart and spirit of man. If we look around us we see the nations have made their own rules, such as the laws of this land and the laws of other lands, and these define what justice is according to their thoughts. Man-made laws say what can be done and what cannot be done. God may be in these things to a certain extent in His mercy, and we are thankful for that. We know that He sets up the powers that be in order that they might, as Paul says, be a terror to an evil work, and a praise to a good work (Romans 13: 3). That is God’s intent in setting up government, and in His providential ways He may remove governments which fail to exercise this responsibility.

But I desire to draw your attention to what these scriptures teach us about justice, and, especially, I desire to draw your attention to this blessed Person who is spoken of in Isaiah 42. God Himself is drawing attention to Him, and He says of this Person that He will “set justice in the earth”. It is wonderful to think of this, that God has determined that there is one blessed Man because we are speaking here about a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ—who will “set justice in the earth”. This prophet Isaiah has many beautiful prophetic references to the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been reading it at home and noticing how often this prophet is given light as to this blessed One who was to come. We need help at times to distinguish, because in this section in Isaiah, for example, God speaks frequently of His “servant”, and it is not always Christ personally that is in mind, sometimes it refers to the nation of Israel. That nation was to have been God’s servant to set Him forth here. But we can be sure that this reference is to the Lord Jesus Christ because it is quoted in Matthew as referring directly to Him (Matthew 12: 18–21). I am sure that as we read it together at this time we love to consider what the Spirit of God says prophetically as to this blessed Person, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!” Think of God speaking this way about a Man! Think of God speaking about His soul, the inmost feelings of one divine Person for Another! He says, “I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations”. I bring forward this scripture to draw attention to this blessed One who can be entrusted with the wonderful things that are spoken of in this section.

We know that when He was baptised the Holy Spirit came upon Him. Think about One upon whom God could put His Spirit without measure, and it says, “he shall bring forth judgment to the nations”. So obviously the idea of judgment is closely linked with justice. The two go hand in hand. Judgment, it seems to me, is the untangling of right and wrong, and if you consider the world as it is at the present time, who could untangle the affairs of this world?

Think of the intermingling of right and wrong that there is on every hand as we look around us! Think of this world as it is, and the conditions that exist in it, dear brethren. Who can untangle right and wrong in the midst of all the moral confusion of the present time, and yet this scripture points out a blessed Man of whom it says, “he shall bring forth judgment to the nations”. How wonderful that He is capable of this! And I believe, as I am sure you do, that justice, from the standpoint of scripture, must involve the mind of God expressed as to everything that exists.

Surely that is what justice is, the mind of God expressed and enforced with respect to what is right and what is wrong. As you think of the affairs of the nations and the things that go on amongst men—there is one blessed Person, and one only, who is capable of setting them right and adjusting them to God’s entire satisfaction. A day will come when that will be seen publicly. In reading this scripture I draw your attention to the Person whom we know now, the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who will bring all this out and display it in a day to come.

It says, “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street”. We are familiar with self-publicists, people who put themselves forward seeking attention, seeking a name, seeking fame. We are familiar too with the idea of propaganda, statements put forward to mislead and to draw attention to the wrong things, to deflect the truth from certain things and draw attention to other things. But how clamorous men are at the present time for fame and for attention! It says of this blessed One, “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street”. Think of the Spirit of that Man! He was here, as has been said, active in obscurity, not drawing attention to Himself, but nonetheless active and effective.

And it says, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench—he shall bring forth judgment according to truth”. You might think that smoking flax or a bruised reed was of no importance and it would not matter if it was thrust aside. There is something there that is bruised, but can it be preserved? And the smoking flax refers, as I understand it, to the wick of a light that has almost gone out. You might say, it does not matter if that is put away. But everything that is precious, everything that is of value, is preserved through the operation of this blessed Person.

I would like to read you another lovely scripture that bears upon it. In Psalm 72 it says of Him, “he will deliver the needy who crieth, and the afflicted, who hath no helper; He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy—He will redeem their souls from oppression and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight” (Psalm 72: 12–14). I am not giving it any particular application; I am just bringing it forward to engage you with the blessedness of this Person. I want to read you another passage from this same prophet, in chapter 11, it says of Him, “And his delight will be in the fear of Jehovah; and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity the meek of the earth—and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11: 3, 4); that is this same blessed Person. Everything that is precious, that is of any value, is preserved, and it says, “He shall not faint nor be in haste, till he have set justice in the earth—and the isles shall wait for his law”. Sometimes we think that patience is a sign of weakness, but with this blessed Person it is not. He operates in His own time and in His own way to resolve every matter for the entire satisfaction of God.

May we be helped to feed our souls by considering this One who is great enough to resolve all these issues that are troubling the nations and bewildering the wisest. The Lord Jesus is great enough to solve every problem and He will do it in God’s own time.

I read in Acts 3 just to connect in a way, but to point out that in the New Testament we do not get justice set on the earth yet. What we get in the New Testament is the one just Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a unique expression that Peter uses, “the holy and righteous one”. Think of one blessed Man being distinguished in that way as “the holy and righteous one”! But here we have that “holy and righteous one” put to death, as Peter says, “ye denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a man that was a murderer should be granted to you”. I refer to this to show you the character of this world; “the holy and righteous one has been set aside and put to death here. As another has said, God gave the Jews a law, they used that law to condemn “the holy and righteous one”; He gave the Romans temporal power, they used that power to crucify Him. Think of man’s justice and man’s world, it is entirely out of step with God, and this wrong, this injustice, has never yet been put right. There is much injustice on the earth at the present time, but think of this, that the greatest injustice ever inflicted has never yet been rectified. ‘This world’s judgment stands recorded’, as hymn 404 says; “the holy and righteous one” has been put away; and men go on in their course, and the Jewish nation goes on in its course. We are thankful indeed if there are governments who seek to rule fairly, and, in a measure, righteously in the providential ordering of God, but we do not expect justice here until this wrong is set right. It will be set right, “the holy and righteous one” will be vindicated here where He has been dishonoured and disowned. What joy that gives our souls to think of that!

Peter says, “The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus”. We do not see Him now set over the nations in the way of setting justice on the earth, and establishing things according to the mind of God here, but God has glorified Him. How precious it is to think that there is a Man at the right hand of God now, this blessed, holy, righteous One is there; heaven has received Him. Heaven is filled with His glory, and the Holy Spirit has come to bring into our hearts impressions of the blessed Man who is in the presence of God now. The grace of God has provided the forgiveness of our sins through this Man, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we might be in joy and happiness here in the knowledge that everything that God has said of Him will be made good. The day will come when He will be manifested and will operate to put right everything here. As we know, we could not run the world as it is on Christian principles. What is needed is power to enforce publicly truth and righteousness; and that power will be seen when the Lord Jesus Christ is manifested. There will be power publicly to enforce these things according to the mind and will of God. Earlier in the prophet Isaiah it says, “a king shall reign in righteousness”, Isaiah 32: 1. Everything then will be adjusted according to the divine valuation. How wonderful the millennium will be when everything finds its true place under the blessed rule of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I read in John 5: 30 where the Lord Jesus says, “I cannot do anything of myself; as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me”. If we want to find justice, this is what justice means; it is the will of God expressed here on earth through a Man; everything that He did was in concert with the Father’s will. This chapter speaks of judgment in various connections. The Lord Jesus is spoken of as the Son, He is spoken of as the Son of God, and He is spoken of as the Son of man, and in verse 27 it says that the Father “has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is Son of man”. What an interesting title that is, “Son of man”. As Son of man He was here, as Son of man He is now exalted. So the exercise of judgment is not placed in the hands of One who is unsympathetic to men. As Son of man He has been here and experienced all that men experience; He has been tempted, “in all things in like manner, sin apart”, Hebrews 4: 15. He has been here as a Man among men. Judgment is committed to One who fully knows man. Judgment is committed to the Son of man, but here is what is before Him when He exercises judgment. He says, “I cannot do anything of myself; as I hear, I judge”. Think of the Lord Jesus turning to the Father for every matter. His judgment being therefore entirely in accord with His! He says, “my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me”.

How wonderful to contemplate this and to feed our souls upon this blessed One, and in measure to learn from Him, because as we read in Deuteronomy 16, judgment is to be exercised among the people of God. Moses says in verse 18, “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes, that they may judge the people with just judgment”. There is a requirement for this to happen. As we know, we do not make official judges and officers now; it is a question of the saints having the ability to judge matters according to divine principles when they are required to do so. No doubt, as we have often heard, the exercise of just judgment must start with ourselves.

We must be rightly adjusted in our own spirits, our outlook and our attitudes if we are called upon in any sense to exercise judgment as to matters among the people of God. It says, “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a bribe; for the bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous”. These are very solemn statements, but it must be necessary for these things to be said because of what we are. We must be on guard as to the tendencies of our flesh when matters require judgment.

You get this remarkable statement, “Perfect justice shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and possess the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee”. What a standard that is!

It seems to me interesting that this section comes in after what we get previously in this chapter about the three feasts. It says, “Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he will choose, at the feast of unleavened bread, and at the feast of weeks, and at the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before Jehovah empty—each shall give according to that which is in his power to give, according to the blessing of Jehovah, thy God which he hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16: 16, 17). The instruction about these feasts is set out before you come to the matter of judgment. It is people who have feasted that are presented with the responsibility for judgment, for maintaining what is just among the people of God.

In the passover, Christ is known as the One who has died that our sins might be forgiven, and that we might be delivered from this present evil world and secured for God. The feast of weeks, typically, points to the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus becomes endeared to our souls as the One through whom the Holy Spirit has been given to us. The feast of tabernacles suggests conditions of mutual enjoyment as the people of God are divinely set together in free and easy relations. The feast of tabernacles will have its fulfilment in the millennium when the people are set together under the blessed rule of Christ. But these things are to be anticipated now by believers in the grace of Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit; and such persons are presented with the responsibility to exercise perfect justice. What a standard that is—“Perfect justice”! This is what is required when things arise that require the exercise of judgment—“Perfect justice shalt thou follow”. May we know what it is to feast as suggested in this chapter so that we may be morally qualified to exercise just judgment and follow “Perfect justice”. May we be helped as we think of these things, for the Lord’s sake;

Address at Dundee
21 March 2003

Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661