Justice.htm

JUSTICE.

"These are the words of the Lord of Hosts: Administer true justice, show loyalty and compassion to one another, do not oppress the orphan and the widow, the alien and the poor, do not contrive any evil one against another." (Zech 7:9,10 NEB).

THE SOURCE OF JUSTICE: JEHOVAH GOD AND HIS SON.
"The Rock, perfect is His activity, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is He." (Deut 32:4).

"Look My servant (1) whom I chose, My beloved, whom My soul approved! I will put My Spirit upon him, and what justice is he will make clear to the nations... No bruised reed will he crush, and no smouldering wick will he extinguish, until he sends out justice with success. Indeed, in his name nations will hope." (Matt 12:18-20).

"In those days, at that time, I will make a righteous Branch (1) of David spring up; he shall maintain Law and justice in the land. In those days Judah shall be kept safe and Jerusalem shall live undisturbed; and this shall be her name: The Lord is our Righteousness." (Jer 33:15,16 NEB).

"Look! A king (1) will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes, they will rule as princes for justice itself. And each one must prove to be like a hiding place from the wind and a place of concealment from the rainstorm, like streams of water in a waterless country, like the shadow of a heavy crag in an exhausted land." (Isaiah 32:1,2).

THE CONSEQUENCES OF INJUSTICE.
"The Lord's arm is not so short that He cannot save nor His ear too dull to hear; it is your iniquities that raise a barrier between you and your God, because of your sins He has hidden His face so that He does not hear you." (Isaiah 59:1,2 NEB).

"…your lips speak lies and your tongues utter injustice. No man sues with just cause, no man goes honestly to law; all trust in empty words, all tell lies, conceive mischief and give birth to trouble." (From Isaiah 59:3,4 NEB).

"They do not know the way to peace, no justice guides their steps; all the paths they follow are crooked; no one who walks in them enjoys true peace. Therefore justice is far away from us, right does not reach us; we look for light but all is darkness, for the light of dawn, but we walk in deep gloom. We grope like blind men along a wall, feeling our way like men without eyes... like doves we moan incessantly, waiting for justice, and there is none; for deliverance, but it is still far away." (From Isaiah 59:8-12 NEB).

"Justice is rebuffed and flouted while righteousness stands aloof; truth stumbles in the market place and honesty is kept out of court, so truth is lost to sight, and whoever shuns evil is thought a madman. The Lord saw, and in His eyes it was an evil thing, that there was no justice". (Isaiah 59:14,15 NEB).

"High God of retribution that He is, He pays in full measure, wreaking His anger on His foes, retribution on His enemies. So from the west men shall fear His Name, fear His glory from the rising of the sun; for it shall come like a shining river, the Spirit of the Lord hovering over it, come as the ransomer of Zion and of all in Jacob who repent of their rebellion. This is the very word of the Lord." (Isaiah 59:18-20 NEB).

"Shame on you! you who make unjust laws and publish burdensome decrees, depriving the poor of justice, robbing the weakest of My people of their rights, despoiling the widow and plundering the orphan. What will you do when called to account, when ruin from afar confronts you? To whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your children"? (Isaiah 10:1 3 NEB).

THE REWARD FOR INJUSTICE.
""And I will come near to you people for the Judgement, and I will become a speedy witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those swearing falsely, and against those acting fraudulently with the wages of a wage worker, with the widow and with the fatherless boy, and those turning away the alien resident, while they have not feared Me," Jehovah of armies has said." (Mal 3:5).

"Your fellow-countrymen are saying, 'The Lord acts without principle', (2) but it is their ways that are unprincipled. When a righteous man gives up his righteousness and does wrong, he shall die because of it; and when a wicked man gives up his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live. How, Israel, can you say that the Lord acts without principle, when I judge every man of you on his deeds?" (Ezek 33:17-20 NEB).

"We too look to the path prescribed in Thy laws, O Lord... for, when Thy laws prevail in the land, the inhabitants of the world learn justice. The wicked are destroyed, they have never learnt justice; corrupt in a land of honest ways, they do not regard the majesty of the Lord." (From Isaiah 26:8 10 NEB).

"These are the words of the Lord: Maintain justice, do the right; for My deliverance is close at hand, and My righteousness will show itself victorious. Happy is the man who follows these precepts, happy the mortal who holds them fast, who keeps the sabbath undefiled, who refrains from all wrong doing!" (Isaiah 56:1,2 NEB).

THE REASON FOR INJUSTICE.
"For if someone, because of conscience toward God, bears up under grievous things and suffers unjustly, this is an agreeable thing. For what merit is there in it if, when you are sinning and being slapped, you endure it? But if, when you are doing good and you suffer, you endure it, this is a thing agreeable with God." (1 Peter 2:19,20).

'Accustom yourself to unreasonableness and injustice. Abide in peace in the presence of God, who sees all these evils more clearly than you do, and who permits them. Be content with doing with calmness the little which depends upon yourself, and let all else be to you as if it were not.' (Fénelon).

"Indeed we boast about you ourselves among the congregations of God's people, because your faith remains so steadfast under all your persecutions, and all the troubles you endure. See how this brings out the justice of God's Judgement. It will prove you worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering." (2 Thess 1:4,5 NEB).

"For I, the Lord, love justice and hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will grant them a sure reward and make an everlasting covenant with them". (Isaiah 61:8 NEB).

(1)	The Christ Michael, the Son of God.
(2)	PRINCIPLE: Fundamental truth.