Rainbows and Justice

Early evening brought a thunderstorm to our neck of the woods, and afterwards my daughter and I saw a rainbow as we drove to the store. I took the opportunity to explain the theological significance of the rainbow. I'm sure it went in one three-year-old ear and out the other, but I didn't give her the typical Sunday School explanation, because that tells only half the story.

Most readers of this blog know that God judged the world for the sin of mankind with a worldwide flood that destroyed most living creatures, except for those saved by Noah's ark. When the flood ended, God set the rainbow in the sky as a sign of His promise to never again destroy the earth with a flood. That's all true, and that's where the Sunday School lesson stops.

There's more to the story. The rainbow marks a transfer of judicial responsibility. God's judgments in this life tend to be general, affecting a whole group of people, not just the guilty party, so God doesn't like to operate that way. (See the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13.)

God promised not to judge the world in that manner ever again, but He passed the responsibility for punishing evil to mankind. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." With that simple commandment, God established the first and most basic law of civil government. If man will punish evil in this world, God won't have to step in with Divine judgment. So the two sides of the covenant--God's promise not to destroy the earth in this manner, and man's responsibility to execute murderers--are closely connected.

Sometimes I read discussions online (especially on pro-life websites) about noted heinous criminals, and I am appalled at the number of Christians who are against the state killing a convicted mass murderer. I'm not advocating individuals taking that responsibility on themselves, but civil government has that role, and both Paul and Jesus endorsed the exercise of that authority. (See Matthew 15:4 and Romans 13:4.)

For Christians who think that Jesus did away with all that Noahic covenant stuff, I have one question. Have you seen a rainbow lately?

I saw a rainbow today, so I know the covenant responsibility is still there. Even if I didn't see the rainbow, God made this covenant an "everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Notice, it's not just with all mankind forever. It includes all the animals forever, too. In other words, God's mandate to do justice is here to stay.

Yes, the rainbow is a sign of God's promise. It's also a sign of our responsibility to seek justice.

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Wesley Wilson is the President of Let Me Live, a nonprofit dedicated to saving babies by showing the beauty and value of life to women considering abortion. Please learn more about the Let Me Live pro-life billboard campaign. Donations are tax deductible.

Book Review: Just Courage, by Gary Haugen

Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian

By Gary A. Haugen

(InterVarsity Press: 978-0-8308-3494-5, HB, 150 pages)

Would you rather be safe or brave? Do you want to have a life that is successful or a life that is significant? Gary Haugen challenges Christians with these questions in Just Courage.

Gary Haugen is the founder of International Justice Mission, an organization that defends those who cannot defend themselves against injustice around the world—slaves, women and children imprisoned in brothels, the dispossessed, and the attacked.

Haugen sees a generation of Western Christians who are bored and dissatisfied with their Christian experience. Rejecting yesteryear’s pietism, they want something more. But they don’t know what that “more” is or how to reach it.

However, “more” is found in following Jesus, and that “is about loving people in need.” (page 116) Drawing on Isaiah 1:17, Isaiah 58:10-11, and similar passages, Haugen defines justice from a biblical perspective, rejecting the popular Marxist redistributionist theory. Haugen notes that we can understand justice by looking at it its inverse, injustice, which is “the abuse of power—abusing power by taking from others the good things that God intended for them, namely, their life, liberty, dignity, or the fruits of their love or their labor.” (page 46)

Using examples of those who have followed Jesus in the fight for biblical justice in the past, those who are fighting injustice today, and the needs of victims, Haugen asserts that Christians can find significance in their lives as they join with Jesus in loving needy people.

Though he presents the philosophical and theological arguments for promoting justice, this is not a dry theological tome. Rather it is an engaging, lively discussion based on the teachings of Jesus to inspire readers to venture outside their spiritual cul-de-sac into a world of pain and to make a difference.

Some groups will reject Haugen’s argument. Those who reject the teachings of Jesus as irrelevant in this dispensation will dismiss it. Those who embrace pietism will turn their backs on it, and those who want to look good in the world’s eyes will disdain it.

For those seeking “more” Christ, more meaning, in their Christian walk, Just Courage may hold the key for which they are searching. His appendices offer ways to partner with International Justice Mission, a list of other organizations involved in the issues of justice, and serious questions for reflection.

Remember what Lucy said in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when she hears of Aslan for the first time? She asks, "Is he quite safe?" The answer, of course, is, "No, he’s not safe, but he’s good." Even so, as we follow such a lion into the world, it will not be safe. But it will be good. Very good. (page 109)

Reviewed by Debbie W. Wilson

This review was originally published at ChristianBookPreviews.com

The Church Impotent

Theologians refer to the Church on earth as the Church Militant, and believers who have gone to heaven as the Church Triumphant. Too many American Christians are neither militant nor triumphant. I can only think to call them either the Church Impotent or the Church Complacent.

Why do we lack power with God and man? Is it that we, like the hypocrites of Christ's day, have replaced obedience to God with our church programs and religious observances--or worse yet, have we replaced obedience with worldly pursuits?

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matthew 23:23

Jesus did not criticize their carefulness to observe the smallest religious details (paying tithes of even their spices), but He condemned their gross neglect of what is truly important--justice, mercy, and faith.

Justice. When was the last time you heard a sermon on seeking justice? I spoke with a pastor a few months ago about the response of Christians to abortion, and I said that we need to fight evil. He said it isn't the job of the Church to fight evil. Perhaps he was making a distinction between the church as a corporate body and individual Christians. But Jesus said we need to do justice. God hates the shedding of innocent blood, and so should His people. Father, deliver us from our silence about injustice.

Mercy. We think of mercy as the opposite of justice. Biblical mercy is not. When the Bible speaks of mercy, we could usually substitute the word compassion. A good example is found after the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) where Jesus asks the lawyer which of the three passersby was a neighbor to the injured man. The lawyer correctly responded, "He that showed mercy." So when Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," He wasn't telling us to feel bad when criminals are justly punished. He wants us to demonstrate compassion toward those in need. The criteria for judgment of the "sheep" and the "goats" in Matthew 25:31-46 is primarily about how we have demonstrated mercy to the "least of these."

Faith. How much do we really believe God? Do we believe that all authority in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus, or not? Do we believe that He wants to give us good gifts? If we know God's will about evil (He hates it), why don't we pray that it would cease? We have not because we ask not, or we waste our time asking for nice things for ourselves, rather than for the triumph of God's kingdom. The promises on prayer in Scripture are astounding. Why don't we dare to test them? Because we lack the faith.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief.

If we would be obedient to our Lord and have the power we need to advance His kingdom and bring glory to His name, let us pursue justice for the evildoers, show compassion to those in need, and pray to God for all things with confidence in Christ.

Applying justice to abortion, let us seek to end the legality of abortion, drive abortionists out of business, dissuade those who seek abortions (or pressure others into abortions), and make abortion unthinkable to our society.

Mercy compels us to show compassion to the babies whose lives are at risk, to the mothers who are contemplating abortion, and to the women who have been wounded by abortion. Let's not fail to show compassion to the abortionists either as we pray for their conversion and that they may turn from their killing and find God's forgiveness before they stand before Him in the judgment.

Finally, let us resolve to seek God in prayer. Let's pray for justice. Let's pray with compassion. But above all, let us pray with an unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.

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Wesley Wilson is the President of Let Her Live, a nonprofit dedicated to saving babies by showing the beauty and value of life to women considering abortion. Please learn more about the Let Her Live pro-life billboard campaign. Donations are tax deductible.