WHAT FAITH BRINGS (PART 16)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith...administered justice.

Hebrews 11:32-33

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

People expect justice in life and they want it delivered fairly and with equity.

They want in their judicial system as important cases are held, often in relation to one person violating and harming another in some way.

They want it to be displayed by those law enforcement officers who have taken an oath to properly enforce laws while supporting and defending the general public.

Often times, people want their elected officials to change laws to ensure justice is promoted and upheld legally.

And they want their nation and its leaders to hold other nations accountable if they do anything to harm that nation’s citizens.

I’m sure there are many more examples I could raise but you get the point. The matter of justice is fundamentally important to most people.

With that, here’s a good question.

How can anyone exercising and administering justice ensure they are doing so properly?

Thankfully, we find the answer in today’s passage which forms the foundation for this 16th message in this series from Hebrews 11 titled “What Faith Brings”.  

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith...administered justice. Vv. 32-33

Here we find the writer of Hebrews specifically calling out godly leaders found in the Old Testament. We read of them while keeping in mind that the author of this letter was writing the Jewish Christian community and one good way to teach such a community was to draw from what they knew. All Jewish Christians would have been well informed of their deep heritage and the figures who were champions of their religion, figures that included Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

Note how the scriptures describe the way that justice was administered by all these prominent Jewish leaders. For we read where they administered justice by faith.

This is the key for us today as we seek to understand why the justice administered by the mentioned Jewish men was so commendable by the author of Hebrews. For when justice is carried out through faith, this means the person exercising the justice is not doing so based on their own understanding but rather as God desires. And when God dispenses justice, it is always done perfectly every single time.

With all this, I think you can see that properly administered justice here in the 21st century is only going to happen when the person doling out the justice is doing so at God’s bidding, consulting God with faith as to what His will is and then obediently exercising that will.

The bottom line here is that only God is able to administer justice as it should be administered and people of faith, those who place their fullest trust in God first, will always handle the matter of justice properly because they are simply instruments of the justice God wants exercised.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.