Over the past few days, I’ve had Isaiah chapter forty-two in my head. I finally got a chance to read chapters forty-one through forty-three. I’ve been on a quest, if you will, this summer while in Alaska. I’ve been reading and researching the topics of justice, righteousness, mercy, and faith. The information that I’ve been reviewing has tremendously enriched my walk and faith.
In Matthew 23:23 Y’shua sternly rebukes some of the religious groups of his day over this issue. He tells them they had neglected the weightier matters of Torah: justice and mercy and faith. These words have interested me for some time now since Rico Cortes of Wisdom in Torah Ministries, Ryan White of Rooted in Torah Ministries, Tyler Dawn Rosenquist of The Ancient Bridge Ministries, Daniel McGirr of Ancient Covenant Ministries, and Matthew Vander Els of Founded in Truth Ministries have done great jobs covering these topics in many of their teachings.
I would like to encourage you to read Isaiah chapters forty-one through forty-three. It’s very encouraging and comforting to see how just the King of the Universe truly is. What caught my eye in Isaiah 42 is that in the first four verses the word justice was used three times.
Isaiah 42:1-4 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
The Hebrew word for justice is mishpat. Mishpat can mean decision, judgment, dispute, case, claim, measure, law, statute, and ordinance. It’s a very important, yet, misunderstood word. Our culture has conditioned us to religiously think the word justice means God’s wrath on the wicked. This word is more than just that.
I started to truly understand what justice meant once I began viewing the Scriptures as a LEGAL document instead of a religious document. In order to understand this word, we must travel to the Ancient Near East. In most of the books dealing with justice and righteousness that I’ve read over this summer on the Ancient Near East, the people and culture viewed justice impossible if separate from the law. In other words, in the Ancient Near East the word of the king was directly related to ‘divine justice’ because when a king proclaimed something, it was taken as a righteous and just decree/proclamation/law.
I would like us to focus on the beneficial end of the word justice. See justice isn’t always about punishment. Justice was established in many societies and communities to keep individuals from being oppressed. Unfortunately in today’s world ‘justice’ has been extremely corrupted. Most people seem to be bought or paid for which corrupts to the core. If you have money, no worries you are untouchable and live ‘above’ the law because you can throw around a few ‘bones’ on the side.
In Y’shua’s day, the same was taking place also. The corruption had become so extreme that Yahweh allowed his nation and house of dwelling to be overtaken. Corruption incubates oppression. This is why Y’shua declared and proclaimed, “The Spirit of YHVH is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
Y’shua returns and proclaims freedom and liberty to all those who have been oppressed and held captive.
By laying down his life in order to redeem and restore his Father’s Kingdom, Y’shua demonstrated his allegiance. He exemplified and taught his followers what ‘justice’ truly was.
Isaiah 42:1-4 Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
I am waiting on a day when there will be justice established in the earth, and I literally live in a country with much coastland. Coincidence?
A true justice that isn’t corrupted by man, politics or religion. In the Ancient Near East new kings would proclaim liberty and freedom of debts and return lands to families as a gesture of social justice. Of course, many of these gestures were only political in hopes of gaining favor with the subjects of their kingdoms.
This is why Y’shua’s role in the Kingdom of YHVH is so important. He is the one who proclaims the message of the King of the Universe. The Royal Messenger, if you will. The ‘mouth-piece of the King’, who only does and says what his Father tells him.
John 12:44-50 Then Y’shua cried aloud: “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
Y’shua was sent to be a witness against a system that had been corrupted to the core so much that it no longer could fulfill its purpose. He was sent by the Father to redeem and restore the Kingdom of Israel. His mission was to proclaim the good news while setting the captives free, caring for the oppressed, and caring for the orphan and widow. He will return one day to rule and reign. His perfect law, the Torah, will be the constitution by which justice and righteousness are established. Yes, Y’shua will be using the Torah to govern his kingdom and at that time there will be no debating or arguing over this or that petty thing. We will all have the truth being exercised and administered by a righteous judge.
Psalm 119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth.
