Justice for All—How Will It Happen?
WHY did Jehovah allow injustice to become so abundant in the earth? Because humans chose to have it that way! Originally, things were different. When they were first created, Adam and Eve did not suffer under the burden of imperfection. They were part of the creation that God himself pronounced to be “very good.” (Genesis 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:4) Moreover, there was no Satan, and man was ruled directly by God. Thus, to begin with there was no injustice.
But that did not last. A perfect spirit creature rebelled and became Satan. In the guise of a serpent, he tantalized Eve with the idea of independence. God had placed just one restriction on the first human pair. They were not to eat the fruit of a certain tree. If they did, they would die. But Satan said to Eve: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.”—Genesis 3:1-5.
Eve, and then Adam, broke God’s law. They wanted to be like God, to make their own decisions about right and wrong. Hence, they turned away from God and opened the way for the establishment of human rulership, with all its problems.
Adam and Eve also experienced a physical change. God condemned them to death, just as he had said he would. They became imperfect, and this led to the corrupting of the whole human race—their offspring. The apostle Paul explained: “Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) In this way the root causes of injustice made their appearance.
Nevertheless, we read: “By justice a king makes a land keep standing.” (Proverbs 29:4) Human society will not fully ‘stand’ or be completely stable until justice is upheld throughout the earth. Will that ever happen?
God’s Kingdom and Justice
Since Jehovah God is “a lover of justice,” we can be sure it will. (Psalm 37:28) But how? The words of the Lord’s Prayer tell us. For centuries sincere Christians have prayed: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matthew 6:10) Hence, by means of God’s Kingdom, what God wishes will finally be done here on earth.
God’s Kingdom is a real government. It is heavenly, thus more powerful than any human government. It also has a King appointed by God, the King being Jesus Christ, who is greatly concerned about justice. (Psalm 72:12-14) Jehovah promises that he will bless this Kingdom rule under Christ, “to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice and by means of righteousness.”—Isaiah 9:7.
Numerous prophecies coming true today prove that this Kingdom is already a reality. (Luke 21:31, 32) Jesus is already a King! But how will he bring justice to mankind in view of all the obstacles? Let us see.
God purposes that his Kingdom under Christ will be a world government. Jehovah prophetically says: “He [Christ] will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” (Psalm 72:8) When this is fulfilled globally, a major source of injustice will go. Man will no longer rule himself. But how could this happen when so many governments exist today, each intensely jealous of its own sovereignty?
The fact is, God has set a limit to the time when human governments will operate, and that time limit has arrived. Speaking of all the nationalistic governments of our day, the prophet Daniel wrote: “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”—Daniel 2:44.
In this way, one worldwide government, God’s Kingdom, will soon replace today’s nationalistic governments and rule mankind in justice. What a great change for the better that will be! However, it will still leave the problem of Satan. How will God’s Kingdom handle him?
God’s Kingdom and Satan
Satan appeared early in mankind’s history, and it was he who first suggested to Eve the idea of rebelling against God. Therefore, when pronouncing sentence on Adam and Eve for their sin, God did not forget Satan. He foretold the coming of a “seed” who would oppose Satan, and finally destroy him: “I shall put enmity . . . between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:15) As it turned out, this promised seed was Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:16) Two outstanding encounters have already occurred between Satan and Jesus in partial fulfillment of that ancient prophecy.
The first seemed to be a victory for Satan. He maneuvered the death of Jesus on a torture stake. Thus Jesus’ “heel” was ‘bruised.’ But Satan’s victory did not last long. Jesus was resurrected from the dead and exalted to a high position in heaven. (Acts 2:23, 24, 32-36) There, he was in time crowned by Jehovah God as King of God’s Kingdom. Then another historic encounter occurred.
The results are described in the Bible: “Down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.” The result? Joy in heaven, now cleansed of Satan’s corrupting presence. But “woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time.” (Revelation 12:9, 12) We are living in that “short period of time” now. Many of the injustices we see today are due to Satan’s “great anger.”
Soon, though, will come yet another encounter between Satan and Jesus Christ. The Bible describes this too: “He seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.”—Revelation 20:2, 3.
This will happen soon, when God’s Kingdom replaces the nationalistic governments of this world. It will ultimately lead to a final encounter when, as the Bible prophetically describes, “the Devil . . . [will be] hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur” to his destruction, the ultimate ‘bruising of his head.’—Revelation 20:10.
Hence, another obstacle to justice will have been removed. But that still leaves us with the problem of man’s own imperfect human nature. Much of the injustice in the world stems from man himself. What can God’s Kingdom do about that?
God’s Kingdom and Man’s Imperfection
Man’s imperfection started when Adam and Eve sinned. (Romans 5:12) All descendants of Adam, with one exception, have been sinners. That exception was Jesus. He was born in a miraculous way without sin, and all through his life he remained faithful and sinless. (Hebrews 7:26) Thus, he could offer a perfect human life as a ransom for imperfect mankind. He solved the problem of human imperfection. “As in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive.”—1 Corinthians 15:22.
Soon, those who insist on acting unjustly will find that there is no room for them on a clean earth under God’s Kingdom. But those who have faith in Jesus’ sacrifice will reap great blessings. “The upright are the ones that will reside in the earth, and the blameless are the ones that will be left over in it. As regards the wicked, they will be cut off from the very earth.” (Proverbs 2:21, 22) Thus another obstacle to justice will be removed.
God’s Kingdom and You
Yes, Jesus, as King of God’s Kingdom, will soon remove all the major obstacles to our seeing justice for all on earth. Mankind will then see the promise fulfilled: “There are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting . . . and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) In that righteous earth there will be no room for injustice.
Of course, these blessings are still in the future. Even now, though, God’s Kingdom under Christ Jesus is active, and we can benefit from it. Jesus himself prophesied that in our day “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matthew 24:14) That prophecy is being fulfilled. Many are responding to the preaching and are subjecting themselves to that Kingdom even now. In this way they match these prophetic words:
“It must occur in the final part of the days that . . . many peoples will certainly go and say: ‘Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion law will go forth, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem.”—Isaiah 2:2, 3.
The millions earth wide who are conforming to that prophecy study the Bible and learn to live in the way God wants them to live. Among other things, they try to live according to the words of the prophet Micah: ‘To exercise justice and to love kindness and to be modest in walking with their God.’ (Micah 6:8) Thus they show the sincerity of their desire to live under a government of justice. Even now they enjoy many blessings from that government as Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled: “Look! A king will reign for righteousness itself; and as respects princes, they will rule as princes for justice itself.”—Isaiah 32:1.
Do you long to see a world where justice prevails? If so, put your confidence in God’s Kingdom. Associate now with people who have the same desire. Then look forward with confidence to living forever under the rule of the God who is “a lover of righteousness and justice.”—Psalm 33:5.
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Jesus showed compassion for the afflicted and lowly. His rule from heaven will be sustained by justice