From the living room window, my parents would watch me fly down the street on my bicycle and jump off of a makeshift ramp I made when I was younger. My parents warned me to be careful. One day my dad watched as I continued to jump higher and travel down the road faster. He turned to my mom and said, "Jonathan is going to break his arm." On the next jump, I hit the ramp and my bicycle tilted in the air. I landed hard on the concrete. My left arm took the brunt of the landing. I ran to the house in agony. My dad grabbed the car keys, slowly opened the door, and calmly said to me, "Let's go to the hospital."
DOCTRINE #24: JUSTICE
Justice is the quantitative equaling of a situation. Justice is the effect of just. This means that those who deserve punishment will eventually receive punishment AND those who deserve a benefit will receive a benefit.
Question: Do you believe there are situations in your life where you try to equal out justice?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #25
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
"12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." (Revelation 20:12-13)
(On Judgment Day, EVERYONE will get everything they deserve when they are judged according to their works out of books. There is only one BOOK of life, but there are many BOOKS of works. Our Just God will then execute Justice. Everything will be equaled out then, not necessarily now.)
"12 And he said to him also that had bidden him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, nor thy kinsmen, nor rich neighbors; lest haply they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, bid the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not wherewith to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just." (Luke 14:12-14)
(Jesus said if you have a meal and call your friends, or people that are rich or close to you, they are going to pay you back. But, if you make a feast, invite those who cannot pay you back. Jesus said to do things now, without the benefit, and you will get recompensed on Judgment Day.)
"1 Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
2 When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 that thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee." (Matthew 6:1-4)
(We saw this passage in the HOW/WHY vs. WHAT Doctrine. When people would see that these hypocrites do such great things, people would look up to them and give them glory; the hypocrites would be recognized for their accomplishments. Justice equals out by giving you reward now in public or later in private. In fact...)
"11 For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
(Again, this will occur on Judgment Day if not before. It is our choice as to whether we want to be exalted now or humbled now. This is cause and effect, as well. If your cause is humility now, the effect will be that you will be exalted in eternity.)
"7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them." (Job 21:7-9)
(In the Old Testament, people wondered if justice existed. Job questioned whether the wicked will get what they deserve. But as we saw in the mystery section, the mystery was not revealed to the sons of men, until now. (Ephesians 3:4-5) In fact, Job also said...)
"30 If I wash myself with snow water, And make my hands never so clean;
31 Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, And mine own clothes shall abhor me." (Job 9:30-31)
(Job stated that God would punish him no matter how clean (holy) he was. Also, Job said...)
"22 It is all one; therefore I say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked." (Job 9:22)
(Job didn't see justice on earth, so he questioned whether it existed. People in the Old Testament did not have the Mind of Christ within them, so most often they could only think as a man: short term. )
"1 Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter." (Ecclesiastes 4:1)
(Solomon questioned justice because physical life all ended the same way, unequal. The people that were oppressed lacked compassion from another, along with the oppressors who lacked compassion from another. Both had the same need, even though both people lived totally differently.)
"24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?" (Ezekiel 18:24-25)
(God confronted Israel through Ezekiel because Israel stated God's way wasn't just. God was saying that the children of Israel were doing what man does, or thinking as men. They were justifying themselves, instead of justifying God. God was saying that the way the children of Israel were acting was not right or just, and God was the one doing the measuring. God was asking them if His perfect measure was not equal. Do you think God's way is equal?)
"6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us." (Zechariah 1:6)
(God's way is equal. When God responds to us, He is always and completely Just.)
"22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil: Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee." (Proverbs 20:22)
(The way a man desires to have justice equaled out is through the physical, short term, and for his benefit. Man does not have Holy measures unless they are God's. If evil has been done, Solomon stated justice existed if we wait on God. If we do not take justice into our own hands, we believe justice does exist, and God is the one who will execute justice, as He sees what is fair, because He is Just.)
If you stole from someone because you wanted something they had, God doesn't strike you dead, or take something away from you and give it to the person you stole from. If that were the case, God would be equalling everything out immediately.
We have learned that God is Just and executes Justice because He is Holy. God even LOVES justice, but here's a question....
If God is Just wouldn't it be Right for Him to execute Justice immediately on earth? In the next Doctrine, we will find the answer!
