“But the LORD sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice, and He judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness” (Psalm 9:7-8).
People are thirsty for justice. In reality, what most people desire is vengeance. But vengeance belongs to the Lord (Romans 12:19; cf. Deuteronomy 32:35).
This begs the question: What does justice look like? I could get into a whole philosophical discussion, but I want to avoid such boundless babble. The philosophical question always focuses on human justice, but human justice is seldom ever true justice. Only the Lord is truly just, that is, truly righteous (Romans 3:10-11; cf. Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3). A better question, then, would be: What does God’s justice look like? And a secondary question would be: How might we enact God’s justice?
What Does God’s Justice Look Like?
This is a loaded question, and I want to be as succinct as possible. Certainly, we can find an abundance of examples of God’s justice in the Old Testament when God destroyed wicked nations and disciplined His own people’s wickedness. In that respect, God’s justice is rather terrifying. That is why “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10a).
But ultimately, God’s justice looks like Christ on the cross. Imagine it like a court case. With all the evidence of a murderer’s misdeeds set before him and the judge, what is the just verdict? That he pay for his crimes, which, depending on the state, is death or life imprisonment. As you stand in God’s court, with all your sins in thought, word, and deed set before you and the Judge—even hate, which is akin to murder (1 John 3:15)—what is the just verdict for all you’ve thought, said, and done? It is eternal death, that is, life imprisonment in Hell.
But wait. Something remarkable happens. Someone steps forward and says, “I have not committed a single sin—not a single crime! Let me die in their place, and welcome them to life everlasting.” That’s what Christ did for you. God saw it just to lay the penalty for all our sins on Christ. To us, it is unfair that an innocent man dies for the guilt of others, yet God saw that it was just. Therefore, when we think of God’s justice, we should look at the cross, and that is where we face our conundrum: God’s justice looks nothing like human justice, and thanks be to God for that! Could you imagine how cosmically destructive it would be if God’s justice even looked remotely like ours? Yet that is precisely what drives us bananas. When we see that God’s justice does not match our justice, we are either thrown into cognitive dissonance, or we praise Him for His mercy.
How Might We Enact God’s Justice?
This question is a fundamental misunderstanding of the first, if it’s asked from a Law perspective. Anytime we try to take God’s justice into our own hands, we fail spectacularly. It always ends up being unjust. Even Christian monarchies have established this. That isn’t to say God doesn’t use people and institutions to enact His justice, according to Romans 13:1-7, but we are never the initiators of God’s justice. It is not as though we can peer into the hidden mind of God and dispense justice accordingly. Every time we try, we muck it up. Rather, God enacts His justice when and how He wills. There are historical examples not just in the Scriptures but also “recent” human history.
Atheists like to retort, “What did God do about the Nazis?” He gathered the Allied Forces and kicked their butts, that’s what. There are many examples in Scripture where God used Israel to destroy wicked nations (and even wicked nations to discipline His people! Just read Judges). Certainly, God is capable of doing so today.
But we always focus on the Law aspect of God’s justice. What about the Gospel side described above? To truly enact God’s justice is to bring people to the cross of Christ where God’s justice was enacted for all mankind and the cosmos. When we see something unjust that happens in the world, how might we bring that to Christ? When someone offends us, how might we bring them to Christ? When you offend someone, how might you go to Christ?
The Good News of Psalm 9:7-8
No matter what happens—no matter who’s elected, no matter what crazy world event—Christ is still King. Satan didn’t even get close to usurping God’s throne. We tried that in the Garden and failed miserably. What can mere mortal men do?
Whenever a presidential election occurs, I always like to jokingly/seriously post on my social media outlets, “Don’t worry. Christ is still King.” With the way Christians behave during election years, you’d think they forgot. That’s why Psalm 9 is such a wonderful psalm to read and meditate on during the current chaos, “But the LORD sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice, and He judges the world with righteousness; He judges the peoples with uprightness” (vv. 7-8).
When Christ said to His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to Me” just before He ascended (Matthew 28:18), these were not temporary words. God’s Word is eternal in and of its essence. The words of the Word made flesh is no small thing. Christ reigns for all eternity, which is not some future event but the present reality and for all of time. Just what do you think Christ is doing in His ascension? He’s not on vacation, laying back on some heavenly beach getting a tan, martini in hand. No, Christ is reigning. Christ is King. Even when it doesn’t look like God is in control, He is. I’m sure it didn’t look like God was in control during Pharaoh’s edict and persecution of the Hebrews as Jochebed, Moses’ mother, placed him in a basket and then in the Nile river in a desperate attempt to save her son from infanticide. But as we read Exodus, we discover God was in control despite appearances. There is never a time when God is not in control, and that should bring us comfort.
We thirst for justice. In another word, we thirst for righteousness. Both words are actually the same word in Greek: δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosune). And there is absolutely nothing wrong with thirsting for justice/righteousness. As the Lord says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Where do we receive this satisfaction? From the fruits of the cross, delivered to us in His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. There, the benefits of the cross—God’s justice—are delivered to us for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. There, at the altar, is God’s promise of justice.
But is it really that satisfying? “I want God to destroy my enemies, not save them!” Sure, God will destroy His enemies, but only when Christ returns, which is on His own timetable. In the meantime, God relents from His wrath to save as many as possible. God saving His enemies is His modus operandi. Remember that we once were enemies of God. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).
Leave the Law of God’s justice to Him, for only Christ has perfectly fulfilled it, trusting our vengeance to Him, just as David does, “Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail; let the nations be judged before You! Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men!” (Psalm 9:19-20). Until then, let us bring the justice of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others, which is the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
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