God's Design for Justice
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Honoring Authority
Honoring Authority
Getting into the 5th commandment
16 “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
A just society begins at home
A just society honors God above all
A just society honors the authorities he has established
Administration of Justice
Administration of Justice
Justice at the Local Level
Justice at the Local Level
18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Structure
Each tribe
Each town
Judges
Judge the people with righteous judgement
Do not pervert justice
no partiality
no bribes
Blinds the wise
Subverts justice for the innocent
Effect
A fair path for all
life for all
blessing for all
Key lesson: If you pervert Justice and destroy the fair path you destroy life and remove blessing from all.
The Corruption of Justice
The Corruption of Justice
21 “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make.
22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
2 “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant,
3 and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden,
Where Corruption begins
Where Corruption begins
Breaking the first four commandments
Commandment one: You shall have no other gods
Asherah
Baal
Commandment two: No carved image; no idols
Asherah Tree or Pole
Pillar to Baal
Commandment three: Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
Asherah is equal to God
Baal is equal to God
God will accept impurity
Commandment four: Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Replacing festivals and feasts to God with:
Female fertility rights to Asherah
Male fertility rights to Baal
The Guilty Party
Found
to have done evil
broken the covenant
Has
worshipped idols
worshipped nature
The Application of Justice
The Application of Justice
4 and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel,
5 then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.
6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Process of Justice
Process of Justice
Diligent Inquiry
Discovery of Truth
Before the Judge
Witnesses Required
The witness must be involved in the punishment
The Appeal for Justice
The Appeal for Justice
8 “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose.
9 And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.
10 Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you.
11 According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left.
12 The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.
What can be appealed?
What can be appealed?
Any type of case that cannot be solved
Homicide of all kinds
Violation of the rights of another
Any kind of assault
Who do you appeal to?
Who do you appeal to?
To the highest authority
To a representative of God
To an expert in the law
What are the consequences of an appeal?
What are the consequences of an appeal?
The judgement is final
The judgment is absolute
The directions must be followed exactly
A death sentence is on anyone who violates the verdict and its directions.
Overarching Principles of Justice
Overarching Principles of Justice
Justice is about honoring God
People are Innocent until proven guilty
People are to be Judged by their peers according to the law
Justice is for the good of all
Corruption of Justice bears the death penalty
How should this impact you?
How should this impact you?
If justice is about honoring God then we need to know what God says. We need to study His Word and use it as the benchmark for everything we declare to be right or wrong. We must teach it to your children and uphold it in every area of life.
If people are innocent until proven guilty we must do the hard work and ask the hard questions instead of allowing talking heads to rule our thinking. We must not gossip. We must not presume to know things that we do not. We must search for the truth. We must not cast judgment on issues that we have no knowledge of. We must not seek vengeance or be too hasty in our judgments.
If people are to be judged by their peers and the word of the law then we should participate in knowing the laws, being aware of civil matters, and serving where we can such as on a jury. We should be prepared to hold people accountable who violate the law and not turn a blind eye to injustice.
If justice is good for all then we have to care and pay attention to injustice as it is bad for all. We cannot bury your head in the sand and not speak up when corrupt actors make a mockery of the justice system. We must defend those who cannot defend themselves. We must stand with those who the system has not been just to. We must not decide that any group of people deserves more or less justice for any reason. All people are to be ruled fairly by the same law.
If God declared that corrupting justice bore the death penalty for his people Israel, we ought to never take the corruption of justice in our culture lightly.
Where do you begin?
Where do you begin?
At home.
At home.
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),
3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
At Church.
At Church.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
In the World.
In the World.
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.
7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
God calls us to participate in Justice.
God calls us to participate in Justice.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Go this week and walk in humility. Love your neighbor and seek the good of all who are in your life. By this, the light of the Gospel will continue to shine forth from our words and our works. God Bless you.