"Does Justice Matter to God?"

Introduction: If you have siblings, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Have you ever felt like they got away with something, but because it didn’t happen in front of your parents, they got away with it? That sense of injustice can make us angry. And then we realize that we have all probably gotten away with things ourselves. We see it even in greater society, all around us. It seems that people get away with things all the time. When somebody blows by me going 20-25 miles over the speed limit, I think, I wish someone would get him. We see it on the news. Lots of injustice happens around us. So what do we do with that? How do we respond when we see blatant injustice?

CTS: Finding justice under the sun is full of despair, but the unseen God becomes seen to bring justice, to bring us from dust to glory.

I. The Reality of Injustice(16)

It’s been a while since we have been in Ecclesiastes, so remember the experiment of the Preacher. It’s the “under the sun” mentality. His experience of life under the sun has determined that justice also is at stake, and that it is broken.

He gives his take:

A. We see it

There is no denying it. Under the sun, we find that justice seems to not be doled out as it should. Even a good justice system messes up. Criminals are set free. The innocent are imprisoned. We watch the news. We know the stories. Imperfect and even corrupt judges. Imperfect and even corrupt authorities. Imperfect and even corrupt politicians. And it isn’t just in the city. It happens in rural areas such as our own.

Example: Nine year old Makiia Slade. Where is the justice? The wicked seem to go free, to get away with it.

B. We experience it

But not only do we see it, the replacement of justice with wickedness, that the righteous things are replaced with wickedness. We also experience it. Sure, maybe we don’t go to court, but we experience injustice in our workplaces. Getting overlooked for a promotion. Getting fired. Losing your job in the midst of questionable policies from our government. Working hard and doing the right thing sometimes doesn’t pay off. Sometimes you lose unfairly.

Application: So what do we do with it? First, we acknowledge it. We acknowledge and understand that we live in a fallen world. It began early on with Cain and Able. Abel rightly worshiped the Lord, did what was good and sacrificed rightly. His brother, in place of righteousness, wickedly killed his brother. Joseph went years before ever seeing the reason behind why he was unjustly sent to slavery in Egypt. Why didn’t God stop these things from happening in the first place?

II. Making Sense of Injustice (17-22)

And as every thinker does, the Preacher begins to try to make sense of it. He tries to comfort himself with an answer that might make sense of it all. He has two explanations:

A. The God Answer (17)

This is like the answer of “I know in my heart that it is this way, but...” The Preacher is not an atheist, as much as it might seem so in his experiment. He may be experimenting in a godless manner. That’s his point and message. But at certain points in this book, the Preacher rightly interjects that God is still involved and still has a hand in this, even in this under the sun experiment. The Preacher acknowledges that God will judge both righteous and wicked people. There is no escaping this truth. God will judge. Maybe not on our timetable. Maybe not even in our lifetime. But there will be a time for it. The Scriptures bear this out: Isaiah 26:8-9 says

O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

But what happens when, yes, the heart tells us this, but it doesn’t seem to bear out sometimes? How do we react?

B. Our Perceived Reality (18-20)

The Preacher then answers a different way. True to form, he then says God is testing us to show us something. That we are just beasts, no different from the animals. A number of Psalms reiterate this truth, not just the Preacher. Psalm 49:12 says “ Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.” The Preacher goes back into those dark places, because they are real. What does it matter in the end really? Even if justice is served, both the righteous and the wicked end up the same way. Dead. Death is the great equalizer.

Illustration: Do you see when there is a court case and the person dies before they can be tried fully and justice is served. Often times, you hear from the victims and/or family members about how they find it unfair that the man or woman “escaped” their judgment. That’s how all of us felt when we found out that Epstein died, and however he did die is up to great debate. But one of the biggest statements often heard was that it seems like he got away with it.

And that’s common to think, especially under the sun. The Preacher wants us to struggle with this futility, to acknowledge it, yet to also see how terrible it would be to live life in this way. Yes, death is the great equalizer. Psalm 104:29 says When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

C. The question of eternity (21)

And the Preacher masterfully takes us to the subject of eternity. Some have said that the OT Jews didn’t really have a good theology of eternity. I beg to differ. Though it may not have been as fully-fledged as we might describe it now, this verse points us to the fact of the question of eternity. Does our spirit go up to God or does end up elsewhere? Is that where judgement will come. But who can know this anyway (in good Preacher fashion)? None of us really knows by physical observation where someone goes. It’s all equal. Everyone goes to the grave. Psalm 146:4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

III. The Answer to Injustice

The answer of the Preacher is not to hide out, but rather, to take life as it is and to live it, rejoicing in it. This seems like a shallow answer, but it is an answer that is under the sun. This doesn’t necessarily mean its an ungodly answer. But it reminds us that we can only do what we can do. Seek justice in our own lives, rejoice in our work, and do it for the glory of God. But we acknowledge that there is great sin around us, and that death is the great equalizer.

But there is second part here, and again, it’s the Preacher’s often used tactic of getting us to think. Who can really bring us to see what is going to happen afterwards? Live for now, right? Again, it’s that sense of despair that the Preacher leaves us with, but no doubt he wants us to think about what we know about God. Everyone is so enamored with the now, and not thinking about eternity. Will justice come at the end? Who can bring us to know what will come? The unseen God becomes seen

Matthew 16:27 says For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

A. Jesus enters into an unjust world

B. Jesus experiences an unjust world

C. Jesus redeems an unjust world

D. Jesus judges the unjust world

Revelation 11:18 ESV

The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Revelation 20:12–13 ESV

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Conclusion: Trying to find justice under the sun will ultimately lead to despair. Ultimate justice can’t be found in the things we often look to. But when we realize that God who becomes seen, the Son becomes flesh, to bring justice through the cross and His enthronement as King in eternity, we can rest assured that justice will be served. Because of King is a king of justice, we should be about justice in our world whenever we can be. To be salt and light, to seek to do good and reflect the just nature of our Savior. And that isn’t just punishment. It includes compassionate justice, for the cross is compassionate towards sinners who didn’t deserve it. But we can also rest that all injustice will be made right at the end. Every deed will be brought before God and justice will come. This is the God we serve, and the God we proclaim. Let’s not forget how just our God is! From dust to glory, He defeats death to bring justice. Death is defeated for those that trust in the just work of the Savior. Death comes for those that reject the justice of the Son of God. All sin will be paid for.