20.2 Justice and Restitution
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
What is justice? What is restitution? Both of these are Biblical terms that have almost no meaning inside of Nicene “salvation.” Yet we cannot comprehend either hades or the ages to come except out from God’s definition of these two terms.
God is just; God requires justice. Nothing in the sacrifice of Jesus eliminates the necessity of full justice, the repayment of all things stolen in the darkness. In fact, ONLY the full atonement of Jesus could ever allow justice to be of God and not some sick joke.
Justice versus Punishment
First, we must understand the difference between justice and punishment. Justice is possibly the second greatest theme in the Old Testament, second only to the prophecy of Jesus. A huge part of God’s purpose in giving us the Old Testament is for us to comprehend the importance He places on justice. In complete contrast, punishment is a Christian concept, coming out from Roman darkness; punishment is not Biblical. There is NO justice in punishment; punishment will always diminish justice until justice is no longer in the picture.
The American “justice” system is based on cruel and unusual punishment; it contains little justice at all.
Do Not Steal
Let me re-state the ten commandments in terms of property rights: Do not steal from another their property.
1. Do not steal from God the worship that belongs to Him.
2. Do not steal from God His invisibility.
3. Do not steal from God his honor and reputation.
4. Do not steal from your own body the rest it requires.
5. Do not steal from your parents the honor due to them.
6. Do not steal life from anyone.
7. Do not steal the integrity of marriage commitment, nor steal the right of children to know a family life of love and honor.
8. Do not steal any tangible property.
9. Do not steal your neighbor’s honor or reputation, nor the truth in honor when asked.
10. Do not want to steal.
The Restoration of All Things
Now, under the strict application of the law, three of the ten commandments allow justice to be fulfilled in this present age. Those who steal the other seven cannot be brought to justice except in the age to come, the time of the restitution of all things. Jesus Christ… whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things… (Acts 3:21a). (Remember Jesus can be IN us only as He is a Human life-giving “heaven” Spirit.)
Justice
Let’s define justice. Justice is paying back what you stole.
What you stole was the property of another person, part of God’s intention for the revelation of Christ through them. What you stole, you stole from Jesus. It was the intention of Jesus to reveal Himself through that person, and through those things pertaining to that person. By stealing what belongs to another person, you have stolen Jesus’ intention to reveal Himself in ways of goodness you had not considered.
God clearly establishes, however, different levels of paying back, according to the types or degrees of theft.
Pay Back Double
When it comes to theft of property, God’s justice is to pay back double. With theft of body parts and theft of life, however, because of the rage of humans, God limits payback to an equal measure. If you steal an eye, you do not lose both your eyes, you lose only one, and so on. And life for life.
Now, in these cases, it is clear that justice is not served, for nothing has been paid back. Therefore, God’s provision under the law was to point to a future justice. It may well be that God’s final intention is that all theft be paid back double.
Paying back double means that first, you pay back what you stole, then, second, you lose that same amount again as if you had stolen from yourself.
Punishing the One Who Suffered Loss
In America, if a thief steals $5,000 from me, the state takes over, claiming that the crime was committed against it. Then the state punishes the thief by placing him in a prison cell with other wicked men and treating him as an animal. Now I must pay double. I get nothing back of my $5000; plus, now, I have to pay the state for many years to feed, house, and guard this man who stole from me.
Punishment punishes the one who was stolen from as much as it punishes the thief.
Pay Back What Was Stolen
God’s order of justice is the opposite. How can the punishment of the thief return to me what was stolen from me? It cannot. The only way for God’s justice to be served is for the thief to labor at a productive job, keeping sufficient income for minimal living expenses, and paying me, first, my $5000 back, and second, an additional $5000 as a reminder that stealing is not profitable.
Many things that are stolen, however, cannot be paid back in the present age. To steal someone’s life is beyond the power of the thief to pay back. The thief cannot return life to that person.
Denying Justice
Let me refer to a movie for illustration, titled The General’s Daughter. I do not recommend this movie since its focus is on terrible things. Yet all theft is terrible.
A General’s daughter is raped by elite soldiers under his command. He intends to retire soon and go into politics. Thus his reasoning is that if this theft of his daughter’s person is made known, his political ambitions are finished. He tells her just to ignore the whole thing, as a “good soldier” would do.
The general denies justice to his daughter.
Justice Belongs
The consequences of justice denied is the story line of the movie. Those consequences are horrific, and they go in many directions. Yet, in spite of all the cursing that came into people’s lives as a result of justice denied, in the end, justice never came to the daughter. She had died in horror.
Justice does not belong to God (except that all things are His property). Justice does not belong to the thief, as if his suffering restores anything. Justice does not belong to the state, set in the earth as the Beast by God to enforce the curse. Justice belongs ONLY to the one who suffered loss from the theft, and God Himself has no right to deny justice.
Forgiveness Is NOT Justice
The testimony of the Bible is that God cannot deny justice.
We must understand the huge difference between justice on the one hand and forgiveness and atonement on the other. Atonement and forgiveness are full and complete inside of one sacrifice for sins forever. But atonement and forgiveness do not return what was stolen to the one who suffered loss. Forgiveness has no more right to deny justice than does punishment.
The general “forgave” those who stole from his daughter, an act of cruelty to his daughter that matched their wickedness. The only thing that could be justice was the return to the daughter of what was stolen from her, not possible in this age.
Do I Keep What I Stole?
Justice has nothing to do with atonement for sins.
Say I steal ten bucks from my brother at church. Later, I spent that ten bucks on a hamburger and coke. The money is gone. Now, let's say that I am convicted of my sin. I go to the brother and confess. I ask forgiveness. We pray and together place my sin into the atonement of Christ, into the forgetfulness of God. My brother forgives me, and we are restored into joy.
Do I keep the ten bucks? You see, there is no more sin. There can be no shadow of penance or “payment” for sin. Does that mean I get to keep the ten bucks?
A River of Life
Do I owe my brother ten dollars? Not really. Owe no man anything except to love one another. But that ten dollars was part of the opportunity of Christ God had placed in the brother's hands, that he might reveal Christ. Here I am, a new man in Christ, filled with all the fullness of God, love abounding in my heart, rivers of life flowing out of me. How is it that love would not delight in giving my brother, not just his ten bucks back, but much more?
Justice is God; God is love. Justice is nothing other than the outworking of love. We cannot think of justice any other way. The restoration of all things is the joyous operation of love; it is the river of life.
God Restores Double
God restores all that was lost. “Oh, I love you, that's enough, don't expect anything else” is not God speaking. God restores double what was stolen, yet He does so by the only means available to Him – through His body, that's you and me.
A life for a life? YES!!! The whole message of the gospel is found in these words: By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16). Even a murderer is free to restore in the ages to come, out of a river of joy, all he ever stole from the one he once murdered, and to do so as Christ at the heart of the gospel.
Punishment Steals Even More
Now, what if the general in The General’s Daughter (or God) had punished the men who stole from his daughter? What would that have done to replace in her being that which was stolen from her? – Not a thing. The rape of the daughter would have continued on forever without recompense inside her own person. God has no right to steal justice from her by throwing the rapists into unending punishment in hellfire. God has no right to tell her, “Hey, you’re a sinner too; you had better just forgive them.”
But how can their payment to her be anything other than a perverted exercise of abuse apart from the atonement of Jesus?
God Cannot Sin
How can restitution that does not come out of the Mercy Seat of God as a river of life be anything God-ly? And how can denial of justice be anything God-ly?
Eternal punishment of the thief in hellfire breaks the justice of God and heaps even more awfulness upon the life of the one from whom justice continues to be denied. For God to punish forever those who stole, in an ongoing denial of justice, would be SIN. God cannot sin; God cannot deny justice.
One of the great and glorious tasks of the sons of God in the ages to come is to oversee justice, to bring forth out of their bellies the restoration of all things.
A Final Thought
One final thought before ending this lesson.
Stealing anything from anyone is not a good idea. Consider those who have stolen the most in human history, whether visibly or behind the scenes. Every act of theft shrinks the soul of the thief. Every act of life laid down inside of God and out from Love poured out increases the soul of the giver. There will be some in the ages to come who will be very, very large and others who will be very, very small.
Yet justice must be served, and all things stolen must be returned. The ages to come will be most interesting.