Not everybody knows this, but justice is a major theme in the Bible. It’s one of the things that makes the Bible so incredibly soulful.
Lately “justice” has been coopted by power-seekers in the political class in an attempt to pull our beloved nation in a particular political direction.
But don’t let anybody take justice away from you. It was your birthright as a Christian first.
“Give the King your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the King’s Son; that he may rule your people righteously and the poor with justice.”
That’s a prophecy in Psalm 27 about our Savior, the tiny babe whose birth we will be celebrating in a few weeks.
He was not going to be a great warlord like David. He was not going to take up the sword and crush the Romans, like David conquered the Philistines.
Instead, He was going to “defend the needy among the people.” He was going to “rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.”
About Him, Isaiah says, “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.”
Our King is a king of Righteousness and Justice. He comes to take up the cause of the widow, the orphan, the cheated, the poor, the laborer, the foreign traveler in our midst.
He does not stand on the side of the mighty who oppress and make themselves rich by exploiting others. He stands on the side of the oppressed, calling for justice in the courts, for feeding the hungry, and for clothing the naked.
About Him, Isaiah says: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”
About His justice, the Psalmist says, “He shall live as long as the sun and moon endure, from one generation to another. He shall come down like rain upon the mown field, like showers that water the earth.”
In this season of His blessed birth, let’s not be distracted by all the nonsense that the world throws at us and all of the people who are trying so hard to get us to buy stuff as if our immortal souls could be satisfied with material things.
Instead, let’s keep the Word of God in our hearts and minds and on our tongues: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Advent is a time for remembering the heart for justice seen in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we imitate Him, we will find the joy and peace we are looking for.
