Give Me Justice

Jesus ends with this: “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”[1]

All of this has to do with appeals for justice. We see this kind of appeal going on in heaven when martyrs cry out to God asking for the right thing to be done on earth against those who persecuted them. “O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”[2]  They did not want to do the judging themselves, but they expected God to do it. “Vengeance is mine” says the Lord, not the believer’s.

Should we cry out for justice? Do we need to be vindicated? Paul is fond of repeating the words of Isaiah, “He who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”[3] The word “disappointed” may well be translated “ashamed” or “put to shame.” Paul seems to use this sentence to describe our relation to God. In other words, as a man trusts in what Christ has done for him, he is going to be declared to be right in the heavenly court.

But in this parable, it is said that those who cry out to Him will not only be justified before God, but justified before men. God will vindicate them before their enemies. We cry out when we are treated unjustly because we know that it matters that the name of God’s children and the cause of Christ will be proven to be right before men. “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.[4]”

If He does not vindicate us before men immediately, then He nonetheless will do it quickly when He comes. He will prove Himself right, and all His children­­—His peculiar people—will be vindicated in one decisive moment.

But, will he find faith on earth? Will there be people who trust Him after long years of persecution and injustice? That’s the question we must consider.

[1] Luke 18:1-8
[2] Revelation 6:10
[3] Romans 10:11, Isaiah 28:16
[4] Luke 7:35