For March 16th, 2026

Justice?

Do we believe that God will act justly and bring justice in the end, or do we feel we need to go beyond what our normal form of justice is? Does our justice then turn into vengeance?

In Revelation 19 and 20 we see difficult pictures of judgment on Satan, the false prophet, and the beast being thrown into the lake of fire. Those who worshiped them and would not repent, were killed. We don’t like this. It is harsh and seems to go against what Jesus calls us to do or be. And yet we also want God to act justly. We don’t want evil to continue. We seek that ultimate justice that too often alludes us in this life. And God does deal with the injustices that have been given in this world and life.

It is not that we ourselves do not seek to act justly or hold people accountable, it is that in the end it is God who brings all of us to account for the lives we have lived and the choices we have made. We do not act as the final judge and jury; we are to help to try to bring people back into a right community. It is God who has the authority to make a final judgment. Not us.

These verses make us wrestle with God’s word in a way many of us try to avoid because they are uncomfortable, they are harsh and sometimes foreign in our sanitized society. Yet they also help us to realized that in the end, even if it is far off, God does act justly and does deal with the evil that is affecting our everyday lives. The evil will come to and end. God’s goodness and peace will prevail in the end.