A Spiritual Justice System
Justice is about balance. The balance of wring vs right. When you hear the word justice, you might envision the traditional image of a judge in a courtroom swinging his gavel as he distributes his judgement. However that isn’t always the case. The truth is we see justice all the time, even outside of the courtroom. To obtain justice means to pay a punishment that is high enough to make up for a wrongdoing.
We long for justice when an offence is committed against an individual or group of people, without paying for its consequences.
We also experience a desire for justice when we are wronged by another. Feelings of revenge and retibution arise because we have a sense of justice.
Nevertheless, desiring justice doesn’t mean that we should always dismiss mercy, and the ability to forgive.
In this world we have a criminal justice system. Similary in the realm of the spirit the Bible expresses that there is, (what I like to call), a ‘spiritual justice system’.
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Romans 6:23
Because sin is lawlessness, sin has a penalty. That penalty is death. The Bible illustrates how death is not just the process of becomng nothing after being somthing. Instead, it illustrates the spiritual, as well as the physical attributes of what it means to die.
“From the dust you have come, and to dust you shall return”
(Genesis 3:19)
It has been proven that indeed the average human body decomposes between the space of three weeks to several years after death. However, according to the Bible, the experience of death for the human soul is very different. Instead of a detremental end, death is expressed to be as a door to a different reality for the spirit. According to the Word of God, when the body dies, the soul passes away and can either decend into hedes where it is eternally seperated from the Father of souls, or ascend to heaven where your soul is reconciled with God again (Matthew 24:46, Job 33:28).
The Word illustrated that souls that enter eternal life, wait eagerly for the New Earth that is to come (Revelation 21) and, just as in the days of Noah, God will recreate the world again without using the flood waters He once promised to never use again. Instead by using fire.
“But since God is love, why does hell have to exist?”
An old proverb from the fifteen-hundreds states that curiosity is what kills the cat. In orther words, seeking to know more can cause one harm. But the Bible states otherwise
“For a lack od knowledge, My people perish…”
(Hosea 4:6)
A lot of the time we do not realise is that hell is a place of torment because God is not there. It is the one place described as the abode of the dead (Job 30:23), a place at the centre of the earth, void of God’s presence and an eternal punishment (Matthew 25:26). Sometimes we may think that a sign of God’s wrath will come through thunder and lightning. However, Genesis 4:13-14 illustrates the nature of punishment from God in a different way…
“My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face…”
Jesus says that to have eternal life means to know the Father (John 17:3). To be united with Owner of life, is to have eternal life. All things good come from God (James 1:17), but suffering and sin enter as a result of being seperated from God. In abrstract to this punishment from God means to be put away from His presence. Living an existence absent of intimacy with God, means to make the choice to live life absent of knowing the owner of eternal life itself. For this reason, the Word expresses how those who have not believed in the only provision of eternal life through the Son are condemned already (John3:18).
But there is hope.
