Finding Justice and Will Jesus Find Faith On Earth?
You would have likely encountered this tree if you had traversed the Chisholm or Bosque trails 150 years ago. Back then, it was a lone tree on the prairie and served as a marker for a nearby spring. Not only did it serve as a marker to find water, it was used at least once by a few people to find justice. I’ve known this tree as a hanging tree all my life. Finding justice in the late 1800s was hard, especially on the prairie.
I know another story about someone finding justice. It is in Luke 18:1-8.
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!'”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Always pray and not give up.
Some pray for justice. Some pray for mercy. Most don’t pray at all, at least not often enough. It is easy for me to stumble on this scripture. I am inclined to believe that God’s justice doesn’t come quickly. For many who are in the process of finding justice, it seems like it won’t come soon enough. But the point of the parable is to pray and not give up. While mulling over these thoughts, I was led to another scripture. Genesis 15:13-16.
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Full measure
For four hundred years, Abraham’s descendants are going to be slaves to the Egyptians! Why? Because the sin of the Amorites hasn’t reached full measure. Doesn’t that boggle the mind? The Egyptians will be abusive to the Jews. Only after four hundred years will the Egyptians be punished. Then, the Jews will inhabit the land Abraham is standing on now. The Amorites get to hold onto the land for four hundred years because the sins of the Amorites have not reached full measure. It is hard to fathom why God tells us that justice comes quickly.
My thoughts are not your thoughts.
The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 55:6-11.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Wow! This reminds me of what Boethius wrote! He wrote Consolation of Philosophy.)
Okay, so God’s thoughts are different than mine. Do we have to wait four hundred years for justice? We can’t pray day and night for four hundred years! No one lives that long! Perhaps we need mercy instead of justice. If we have no faith, will we receive any mercy? Jesus’s parable concludes by asking, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Remember that God promises justice for His “chosen ones.”
Perhaps nations or groups of people can pray for 400 hundred years.
Perhaps nations or groups of people can pray for 400 hundred years. I am still struck by the idea of waiting four hundred years for the sin of the Amorites to reach full measure. God withheld judgment for four hundred years. As I write this in January of 2024, I try to consider the events from four hundred years ago. What happened in 1624?
An increase in religious persecution had already begun in Europe. A colony settled on Manhattan Island and created a town named New Amsterdam. Eventually, the name changed to New York. A colony in Virginia becomes an English Crown colony following the bankruptcy of the London Company. England declared war on Spain, and the Dutch blockaded Spanish ships in Peru. Spain had created a city 14 years earlier where Santa Fe, New Mexico, is today. The original name paid tribute to the beliefs of Saint Francis of Assisi. (Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi)
A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken
Has the sins of Western Civilization reached full measure? The churches in Europe are practically empty. Communists mostly lead Central and South America. (Argentina is the exception. See Javier Milei’s warning to the world!) New York appears to have a satanic statue on one of its courthouses. Many Americans are like the corrupt judge in the parable that neither fears God nor cares what people think. Many cannot tell you what a woman is or believe that there are only two genders. Western Civilization appears to be in the throes of death. Surely, without repentance, there will be no mercy, only justice.
Where can a citizen go to find justice? Is finding justice even possible? It is doubtful the tree in the featured image had even sprouted four hundred years ago. But words written in Hebrews 12 were valid then. They were true when written, and they are true now. Western Civilization may be shaken. But read the words of Hebrews 12:28,29.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Will Western Civilization be consumed, or will they cry out to God day and night, exhibit faith, and receive mercy? What about the East? We should all seek the only kingdom that cannot be shaken. Finding justice is more certain when we have faith in Jesus. Individually, true justice and mercy only come to the chosen (those who have faith in Jesus).