Unless you’ve had your head buried under the sand, you might’ve heard there is an election this year. Slogans and pleadings, “this is the most important election in our history,” “if the other party gets power it will be the end of the world as we know it!,” etc. One of the key phrases being seized upon is “law and order.” It plays out on our tv screens every night, riots in major cities, a mob rule mentality, justice it seems is not justice unless it satisfies the mob, under threat of more violence and rioting of course. But where do we go to get a Biblical sense of justice? The Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron announced the charge against one office in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. And it was highly unsatisfactory to some, saying that she deserved justice. And yet, as some facts came out, and still other facts are unknown to the general public, there is an outrage with violence spilling over and two police officers were shot, and others use their vehicles to plow over protesters. Most recent is the family “declaring and demanding” that the AG release the transcripts of grand jury proceedings. Why? The family attorney said, “Did he (AG) present any evidence on Breonna Taylor’s behalf or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers and in doing so, make sure that Breonna Taylor’s family never got their day in court, never got their chance for due process and in essence denied them justice?” The lawyer went on further to say, “it seems there are two justice systems in America, one for Black America and One for White America?” Emotions are raw, run high, run hot. And no doubt the Taylor family is experiencing grief and loss. And yet this was a prepared statement by the lawyer. And yet, in fact, the AG is himself a Black man. So who are we to believe? What are we to think? So, where is the justice? Can we ever expect to have perfect justice in our system or on this earth for that matter? I don’t know all the details, and don’t pretend to have some kind of inside knowledge. But what I do know is that we have to have a standard when it comes to justice. It is to the Bible, God’s word where we must turn. And this morning in our text, we find the principle and an example of Biblical justice.
Last time we met we talked about fear and how going through this experience in our lives, how dealing with COVID-19 has a lot of people worried. Indeed as the numbers of infections continues to increase to over 1000, and the number of deaths also continues to rise, people are wondering, “Is there an end in sight?” I just learned yesterday that Greg’s friend Lenny in Long Island, who we’ve been praying for, was one of those who succumbed to the virus. Gratefully, we can see that the virus has not targeted the young, but still there is an uncertainty during these times that can be stressful, and cause anxiety. While it seems we’ve made it past the toilet paper panic, some have begun to wonder is this judgment from the hand of God? Are we under God’s judgment? And not only us but the rest of the world? The prophetic books are helpful in these times as they were when they were originally penned. But what prophetic books are meant to do is to encourage and remind ourselves of God’s promises. We aren’t to try to figure out a road map, as if God left us a puzzle that will give us some kind of gnostic insight so we can sit back boasting in that we had the end of the world figured out. So with that in mind, let’s look to Joel and see what God’s message is for us this morning.
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