What Does the Word Justice REALLY Mean?

In God’s kingdom, justice goes far beyond our human sense of courts and judges...

When we hear of a young mother and child killed by a habitual drunk driver, we want justice. We want justice for Laken Riley who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant. We want justice for the perpetrators of the COVID-19 vaccine hoax. It’s human nature to want “justice” in cases like that. We want the perpetrators to get what they deserve in court.

But lately, it seems that so few are being prosecuted and put in prison because of their political connections, wealth, or the prevailing “it’s society’s fault-not theirs” nonsense.

It’s how “the world” works these days…but that is not God’s way.

In God’s kingdom, justice goes far beyond our human sense of courts and prisons. It means to properly give everyone his or her due. God wills nothing that is not just… because being “just” is one of His attributes. God can’t be anything but just. It’s who He is.

In kingdom terms, justice is a term used for what is “as it should be.”

The book of  Romans tells us that all sin is an affront to God and His justice demands a certain penalty of spiritual death and separation from Him...

They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. (Romans 1:32)

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

The Bible tells us of His judgment in several other places...

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:27)

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ( Matthew 25:32)

 Notice that in all three verses above there is an element of separation in God’s judgment. There will be rewards for some and penalties for others.

This is because there are two different judgments... Christ’s Bema Seat Judgment for those who have been declared righteous (more on this later) and the Great White Throne judgment for those who have rejected Him.

The Bema Judgement will be both a time of examination and reward. Those who reject Christ will face the White Throne Judgment and be permanently separated from God... receiving the eternal punishment due them.

Robert G. Ingersoll was a late 19th-century American agnostic who lectured about his doubts regarding the existence of God. One night when he was addressing an audience in New York, he laid out his doubts about the existence of hell and future judgment. When he was finished, a slurring drunk in the back of the room loudly pronounced… “I sure hope you’re right, brother... because I’m counting on that!”

Both of them were dreadfully wrong… The world does not like to think of God in terms of His wrath, anger, and judgment, but rather a God who is loving, merciful, and accepting no matter what. Man doesn’t want to be judged and punished for sin, so he longs for a God who is tolerant, open-minded, and easy-going.

If we think that way, we will tragically fool ourselves. With that kind of fantasy god, there would be no laws or standards that anyone would obey, resulting in a chaotic and dangerous world. To make any sense at all, a just society must be based upon God’s justice, not the ways of the world. Consider what is going on in Haiti this month… illustrating what a complete breakdown of law and standards looks like.

But dear reader, here is the good news! God doesn’t want us separated from Him by sin. When we put our faith in Jesus and ask for His forgiveness… we can become justified (declared righteous) at that very moment. Justification does not make us righteous but rather pronounces us righteous. This righteousness comes from confessing our sins, turning from them, and placing our faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ... not by anything we have done or not done. His sacrifice on the cross covers our sins, allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished!

Finally, consider Romans 3:21–26…

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness... so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Not everyone will be punished for their deeds while here on this earth, but they will surely be judged in the age to come... unless they are found to be righteous before Him.

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