The Sunday next before Advent AD 2024

God promises through the prophet Jeremiah that He will raise up a righteous Branch, who shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. Judgment in the Old Testament denotes both giving and enforcing the law, as well as punishing a violation. Justice is a much broader term whose original meaning is “to be straight” or “to walk a straight path”, being thus inextricably linked with honesty and sincerity.

The main difference between biblical justice and modern “social justice” is that the former requires everyone to do what is right, while the latter says that everyone has an equal right to demand from society what they think they are entitled to. As we can see, these are essentially completely opposite concepts, and without any doubt, as Christians, we must adopt the first, biblical understanding.

The righteous Branch whom God promises is His incarnate Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The judgment that He executes consists, on the one hand, in the fact that He affirms the Law of God, which can be summed up in the commandment to love God with all one’s being and one’s neighbor as oneself; and on the other hand, that He takes upon Himself the punishment for the sins of all mankind.

The justice of Jesus is manifested in the fact that He is pure, holy, faultless and blameless. Everything He does is pure goodness and love. Jesus shows us that true love is selfless, free from any claim of its own rights. True love – and that means true justice – does not ask what I can get from others, but what I can give to others. True love doesn’t depend on how lovable the other person is, but on how great and sincere it is itself.

In this age, we find perfect love, justice and righteousness only in God – in Him who is called the Lord our Righteousness. However, we know in faith that a time will come when God’s justice also becomes our justice, and His judgment will not bring us condemnation, but the happiness and joy of eternal life.