tomdurst
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|  | A CRY FOR JUSTICE
« Thread Started on Oct 21, 2009, 4:07pm » | ![[Quote]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/quote.gif) |
A CRY FOR JUSTICE
Revelation 6:9-10 (English Standard Version)
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
These words echo the cry of the righteous of all ages who have suffered for their faith at the hands of their persecutors. The words sound harsh on the surface but they should be understood in their context as a call for justice to be served at some time as it didn't seem like at the time there was any justice. The cry of "How long O Lord" has been echoed by the people of God throughout the ages. A desire for justice is not incompatible with forgiving our enemies and blessing them. It takes the discernment of the Holy Spirit to really see this and so I'll leave it up to the reader to work with that rather than to elaborate further.
In today's popular religious scene the idea that there is accountability and justice for wrong deeds is rarely ever mentioned or even thought about. The old time "hellfire and brimstone preaching" has long since been abandoned, thank God, but we have largely lost sight of the essential principles of fairness, justice, responsibility and accountability. The general belief is that God is too "nice" to invoke any kind of justice for evils being perpetrated (Zephaniah 1:12). I believe it would be well to give this whole subject another look as there are some important principles involved here that affect everyone of us and how we live everyday. All of our actions generate consequences.
In the Old Testament God promised that those who followed His commandments would experience blessings, and that judgments would befall wrong doing (Deut. 30:15-20, Ps. 1:1-6, Prov. 3:33). Sinful actions were to be repaid in direct proportion to the violation of moral law (Ex. 21:23-25, Lev. 24:17-20). We have the same principle taught by Jesus (Matt. 26:52). On the other side of the coin, He promised great benefits for those who devote their lives to following God's will for them (Matt. 19:29).
Obviously, people do not always get what they deserve -- either good or bad -- in this life. Therefore it makes all the sense in the world for me to believe that the life of individual human beings continues after death in some form, and that in the life to come justice will be served. If a person has not already received the benefits or penalties of their actions in this life, they will surely receive them in the next (Rom 2:1-3, Gal. 6:7-8, Rev. 20:12). The law of justice necessitates that there be moral consequences for actions (1 Cor. 15:19,32). The Bible doesn't spell out specific details but the afterlife may be comparatively "heavenly" or "hellish" for a particular individual depending on how they lived their life on earth (Mat. 18:34-35, Luke 6:37). Not all of the people who've experienced "near death experiences" have testified to being in a heavenly place but rather for some it has been a place of darkness and suffering.
The Bible does not offer much detail about the specific nature of the afterlife, so that remains largely open to personal interpretation and speculation. But the Bible does promise in many passages that reward and punishment after physical death are real and to be taken seriously. Some people believe that heaven and hell are places that exist in a separate spiritual dimension of reality; others believe they are states of being that can occur in any location, even right here on earth. Jesus made the remarkable statement that "the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Wherever a soul may go in God's vast and multidimensional universe one's own past actions and present character play a significant role in generating the reality that one experiences, and whether that be positive or negative (Revelation 22:11).
Another thing the Bible makes clear is that the purpose of "hell" or suffering is not to torture people but to cause them to learn from their mistakes and grow closer to perfection (Hebrews 12:5-11). Divine judgment is to reform and transform not to be vindictive. The word used in the original Greek New Testament is kolasis, which means a beneficial chastening such as when a gardener prunes a vine to remove dead vegetation and make it grow more fruitfully (John 15:1-2).
Proportionality also ensures that any judgments upon a soul by God must be temporary and limited, since the sin that caused those judgments to ensue was also limited. This is a basic, Biblical teaching about divine justice -- and it is also common sense. The word used in the original New Testament to express this limited judgment is aionios, which means lasting for a distinct age or period of time with a beginning and an end. It is the Greek word from which we derive the English word eon, and it was used in the time of Jesus to refer to a period lasting anywhere from the length of a man's life to a thousand years. There is no such thing as "eternal" hell, despite what many Christians have been led to believe based on mistranslations of the Bible. God would not consign anyone to an eternal, never-ending hell for one lifetime of sin.
Above all else we need to remember that where sin abounds grace much more abounds (Romans 5:20). We have forgiveness offered to cover every sin that is repented of. The time will come, and I will be the first to confess that I don't know how this will all come about, when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:9-11). God would not be glorified if people were forced against their will to make such a confession. Through some process that isn't clearly revealed in Scripture everyone will voluntarily confess that Jesus is Lord. My own speculation is that this process will involve however much suffering is necessary and a greater revelation of the destructiveness of sin along with a revelation of God's love above and beyond anything we could ever even begin to imagine in our current state of existence. The freely given confession by all that Jesus is Lord brings salvation to all rather than salvation to some and condemnation to others. God is only glorified by saving people--not by either incincerating them or consigning them to an ever-burning hell.
I seriously doubt that any of us understand the enormity of sin, even in a small degree, and how it brings suffering and only suffering. If we did our lives would change much quicker and in much greater depth than is so often the case. We have a tendency to "play around" with sin [self-centered ways of thinking and living] without realizing the consequences for ourselves and others. I sincerely believe that at some point sin will be fully unmasked and seen for the horrible thing that it is that no one will choose to mess around with it anymore! I also believe that God's love will be so fully revealed that no one would ever want to choose anything ever again but to live in His inescapable and wonderful love.
In closing I would invite you to give serious attention to these inspired words which I think are badly neglected in today's popular religious scene:
2 Corinthians 5:10 (New Living Translation)
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.
I think this verse teaches that there is accountability and justice which will be rendered at some time, either now or later, which ultimately is in God's hands and on His timetable. I find it best not to speculate overly much on that which isn't clearly revealed but it makes sense to me to live sensibly and responsibly always with a view to glorify God and to bless others (Deut 29:29). Such a life will not be filled regrets but will be filled with peace, joy, and love (John 10:10; Rom. 14:17; Gal. 5:22, 23).
For a very in-depth study of this whole topic from a Biblical perspective I highly recommend HOPE BEYOND HELL: THE RIGHTEOUS PURPOSE OF GOD'S JUDGMENT by Gerry Beauchemin. If you would like to read this online or order a copy go to this website:
http://hopebeyondhell.net/
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To read my personal testimony and other articles go to the links below:
http://www.tomdurst.com/
http://tomdurst.livejournal.com/
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