Song of Justice

Beautiful Justice

There are moments when justice doesn't make us angry—it makes us grateful.

When someone has been terribly wronged, we instinctively long for the wrong to be made right. We want the guilty person held accountable. We want the innocent vindicated. We want someone to stand up and say, “What happened to you was wrong, and it matters.”

In 2018, eleven people were murdered while worshiping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. For five years, their families and their community waited for the case to come to trial. When the gunman was finally convicted and sentenced to death in 2023, one family member said, “finally justice has been served.” Another said, “I feel like a weight has been lifted.”

Why do words like justice, accountability, and vindication bring such relief to the human heart?

Because we were made by a God who is just.

We don't merely believe that justice is a useful idea. We believe justice is part of the character of God. And when we see justice done—even imperfectly, even through flawed human institutions—something inside us recognizes, “This is the way things are supposed to be.”

There's a difference between wanting someone to suffer and wanting what is wrong to be made right. Revenge says, 'I want them to hurt because they hurt me.' Justice says, 'What happened was wrong, and it must be made right.'

God Steps In to Make Things Right

This is one of the reasons that I love God! I’m not talking about a Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” heaviness (although I do appreciate his message). I’m talking about the gratefulness that a preschool child has when his parent or teacher intervenes when that child has had a toy taken or been pushed.

But Revelation gives us a glimpse of something far greater than human justice. Human courts can sometimes get it right, but they can also get it wrong. Human justice is limited by evidence, time, knowledge, prejudice, and human weakness.

But God's justice is perfect.

And in Revelation 15, heaven erupts in song—not because God's judgment is cruel, but because God's judgment is true and just.

Revelation 15:1–4 NIV

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

When we think about the law, or justice, we often think about it in negative terms. We need to change that perspective as we approach Revelation.

Biblical justice isn’t primarily about our desire to see people punished; it’s about our confidence that God will ultimately set everything right.

In Revelation 7, we heard the Song of Salvation. The focus was on the Lamb who saves—a multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before God's throne. But now, in Revelation 15, we hear another song. The first song celebrated who God saves. This song celebrates what God does about evil. Salvation and justice are not competing attributes of God. They are both expressions of His holiness.

An Ancient Song Sung Again

This is an echo of the song of Moses sung after the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians. After 400 years of captivity, they are led out of Egypt towards the Promised land. The immediate problem was the Red Sea. It funneled them into a box that would offer the Egyptian army an easy slaughter. They needed a powerful and just God! And that was exactly what happened. The Red Sea parted and they walked through. The Egyptian army drowned behind them as the wall of waters collapsed. And, on the banks of the east side of the Red Sea they sang the Song of Miriam in Exodus 15.

The Exodus was God's great demonstration that He can deliver His people from oppression. Revelation is God's declaration that one day He will deliver creation from evil itself.

The Verses of the Song

God’s Works are Great and Marvelous

After the great multitude sings in Revelation 7, John’s vision continues to unfold toward the final judgment. The seals are opened, the trumpets sound, and God’s judgments intensify. Revelation 12–14 pulls back the curtain and shows us the spiritual conflict behind human history: the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and the systems of the world that have opposed God and deceived humanity. Yet God’s people remain faithful. In Revelation 14, the gospel is still proclaimed, Babylon is warned of its coming fall, and the imagery of harvest and winepress makes it clear that the rebellion of humanity is moving toward a final reckoning.

Revelation 15:3 NIV

and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty…

They have seen a dragon, a beast, a false prophet, and wicked government systems broken by the power of God. God is not moved. God doesn’t flinch. He is great…marvelous…the Lord God Almighty! His power is incomparable.[2]

God’s Ways are Just and True

Revelation 15:3 NIV

… Just and true are your ways, King of the nations.

Then Revelation 15 opens with something remarkable: the judgment has not yet been fully poured out, but it is now certain.Seven angels hold the seven final plagues—the completion of God’s wrath. And standing beside the sea of glass are those who have conquered the beast. They are not singing because they enjoy judgment; they are singing because God has finally set things right. The Song of Salvation celebrated the Lamb who rescued people from every nation. The Song of Justice celebrates the holy God who has not ignored evil, injustice, oppression, or rebellion forever. The same God who saves is the God who judges—and both salvation and justice flow from His holiness.

In recent years Major League Baseball added the option for players to request a review of umpire calls for strikes and balls. Just the other day one umpire went 0 for 8 in reviews. In other words, he was wrong 8 times of the 8 pitches that were questioned.

Human justice has to be reviewed. Human judges can get it wrong. Human systems can be corrupted. But God's judgment never needs a replay. There will never be a moment when God looks back and says, 'I got that one wrong.' His ways are just and true.

We are left recognizing that “He is the King of the Ages”.  The prophet Jeremiah wrote:

Jeremiah 10:6–7 NIV

No one is like you, Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Who should not fear you, King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise leaders of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you.

He is Great and Marvelous, True and Just…to this Heaven responds with a chorus.

The Chorus of the Song

When we worship, we often like to stay in the chorus of the song. That is often because we’ve become convinced by the verses that God is marvelous in some way and the chorus is a natural response to that truth.

In this Song of Justice, it becomes clear and the rhetorical question emerges, “Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name?”

Revelation 15:4 NIV

Who will not fear you, Lord, and bring glory to your name? …”

Malachi answered…

Malachi 1:11 NIV

My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

For He is Holy – Live for His Glory

Revelation 15:4 NIV

…For you alone are holy. …”

The word is hosios, used in Revelation only here and in 16:5, both times of God. It conveys the idea of perfect purity. [4]

The first thing the chorus teaches us is that worship isn't about us. These people have survived the beast. They've suffered. They've overcome. And when they get to heaven, they don't sing about how brave they were. They sing about how holy God is.

Heaven is heaven because in it at last all self, and self-importance, are lost in the presence of the greatness and the glory of God [5] - William Barclay

Perhaps one of the greatest marks of spiritual maturity is when I can stop asking, 'What about me?' and begin asking, 'What about God?'

For All nations will come and worship before God!

Revelation 15:4 NIV

… All nations will come and worship before you, …”

In Revelation 7, the great multitude came from every nation, tribe, people and language. Now Revelation 15 looks forward to the day when the nations will come and worship God.

The church doesn't exist simply to gather people who already know the song. We exist to help people who have never heard the song learn to sing it.

There are people in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools and communities who don't yet know the God we worship. Revelation tells us that God's desire is that people from every nation would know Him. So we should want what God wants.

For Your righteous acts have been revealed!

Revelation 15:4 NIV

…, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

These righteous acts have to do with legal acts that God alone knows. God will administer justice either in the way of mercy or condemnation. At the last God’s judicial sentences will be made plain to all.

· We see injustice.

· We see suffering.

· We see evil seemingly winning.

· We see good people hurting.

· We see prayers that seem unanswered.

But Revelation gives us the end of the story: "Your righteous acts have been revealed." One day, what God has done—and why He has done it—will be clear.

Because God's righteous acts will be revealed, I can trust Him when I don't understand.

There are things God is doing today that we don't understand. There are prayers we don't understand. There are circumstances we don't understand. There are injustices we don't understand. But Revelation reminds us that what is hidden today will not remain hidden forever.

The absence of an explanation today does not mean the absence of God's justice. Faith isn't believing that everything makes sense. Faith is believing that God is just even when everything doesn't make sense.

One Day We’ll Sing It

There are some songs we sing now because we believe them. And there are some songs we will sing one day because we have finally seen what we believed.

· Today we don't see everything that God is doing.

· Today we don't understand every injustice.

· Today we don't see every wrong made right.

· Today we still have questions.

But Revelation gives us a glimpse beyond today.

There is coming a day when every question about God's justice will be answered.

· Every injustice will be exposed.

· Every wrong will be addressed.

· Every act of evil will be judged.

· Every faithful act will be vindicated.

And when we see it, we won't shake our fist at God and ask, 'Why did You do this?' We will lift our voices and say, 'Just and true are Your ways, King of the nations.'

[1]The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Re 15:3.

[2]Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 181–183.

[3]The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Re 15:3.

[4]Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 181–183.

[5]Leon Morris, Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 181–183.