Isaiah 53:7-9: Where’s the Justice?

“Where’s the justice?” People have felt so slighted so often that we even have an experssion that has become part of our language: “Where’s the justice?” Part of it is true: we do live in a world where justice is, at best, imperfect. At worst, the “system” that’s supposed ensure justice even becomes the perpetrator of injustice. “Where’s the justice?!”

We hear stories about a criminal, whom we know is guilty by all reason of common sense, but he gets off on some technicality. Then, we hear about some monstrous crime that he later commits. Where’s the justice?

But what about the injustices we commit? It may not be that we are actively seeking to harm another. Often, it’s because we are cowards and don’t speak or act when we should. You see some injustice taking place. You see it, and you don’t like. But you don’t want to face the ire of others. You hope someone else does what you should be doing. So, you remain silent and dormant, instead of speaking and acting.

So, we see others perpetrate injustice—a sin on their part. But we become accessories to that injustice, timidly allowing it to take place, allowing harm because we want to remain comfortable. We live out that word of biblical censure: “When someone knows what is right to do but doesn’t do it, he is guilty of sin” (James 4:17).

And how do we respond to the injustice that others commit? How do we respond to the injustices that we commit or allow? We have many ways. One of our favorite fallbacks is to blame God. I mean, who doesn’t love to blame someone else for the problems he has? That gets us off the hook, absolves us of our guilt, so we think, and allows us to go on with our consciences seared into silence once more.

“Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t He punish the wicked?” And Christians, trying to make God look like a good guy, we say, “Oh, God’s not the cause of evil in the world.” But when we stop there, and not lay the blame where it belongs, we disembowel God, making Him into a nice, but gutless wimp, too weak to stop evil.

A fuller truth would point to the cause of evil in this world: us. We, collectively and individually, are the cause of injustice in this world, not God. That’s why God’s call to repent never goes away while we have a sinful flesh. We have collectively defecated a giant heap of dung and blame God for the stink that refuses to leave our nostrils. We who are full of sin hurl our stones at the Sinless One.

But, let’s think what the world would be like if God did remove every injustice. Wouldn’t that be a grand! No more Hilters and no more Stalins! Yeah, and even no more “good” people like you and me.

What does Scripture tell us? “God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). And so for now, but we don’t know for how long, God continues to let the sun rise and set. God postpones the Day of Judgment, seeing all from an eternal perspective, so the Holy Spirit may bring more to faith, and keep more in the faith, in Christ Jesus through Word and Sacrament.

So, while we continue to blame God for the stink in our nostrils, the God with big shoulders tolerates slander and mischaracterization. He does so to allow time for people to turn from their unjust ways, your unjust ways, and my unjust ways.

Yes, a Judgment Day will come, when injustice will be no more. Then, each person will either experience eternity as one of joy and light or, as the Prophet Isaiah described in stark Hebrew poetry, like a worm that never dies (Isaiah 66:24).

Oh yeah, Cain did murder Abel, and it looked as if he got away with it. Hitler killed millions of Jews and got away with it for a time. Stalin even killed many more millions, and he died a natural death. And then, we in these United States, murder millions of unborn babies because it’s more convenient to do so. The convenience of the mother (and or father) trumps the right to life that God has given to all.

And yet, God has, in truth, done something. Even with all the injustice in the world, He has not sat silently by, as the world suffered the injustice that it brought on itself. God did something incredible and beautiful. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer the greatest injustice the world has ever seen. It had to be so.

The greatest act of free grace toward us was the greatest injustice ever perpetrated. In Christ on the cross, we see our sin in the ugliest way, even if it’s just a flashing glimpse of some of its ugliness. But in that ugliness, we also see our salvation.

Yes, the cross is revolting, not just because God in the flesh died there, but because it also unmasks the hideous creatures that we are. And yet, it becomes the most beautiful act in all of human history, showing us our salvation. Our hatred, our sin, stands in naked contrast against God’s love and His salvation for the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

Jesus never rebelled or deviated from His Father’s plan (Isaiah 50:5-6). He had done nothing violent, nor had he spoken deceitfully (53:9). Like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, Jesus humbled Himself to die (53:7). He was spotless, without any sin or blemish.

Jesus suffered the greatest injustice and oppression in this world (Isaiah 53:8). Here’s why? He was the only one who was innocent and without sin. In Gethsemane, a riotous mob came with swords and clubs to arrest Him. But He never used force or strong-armed anyone to follow Him. But the rabble bound Him and took Him anyway.

Jesus could have changed everything with a word. He could have, and He had the right to do so. But, instead, Jesus surrendered without a fight, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy.

Our Lord was deprived of justice and the due process of law. He endured hastily devised trials before the Jewish High Priest and the Sanhedrin, before Pilate, before Herod, and then back to Pilate.

According to ancient Jewish laws, those trials were unjust. Jesus was tried at night, before the Passover, in a private home, not a court of law. The verdict was premature. Even the false testimonies of the false witnesses against Jesus couldn’t get their stories to agree (Mark 14:56). And Pilate and Herod acquitted Jesus five times (Luke 23:1-22).

But like you and I often do, they took the easy road. Not wanting a ruckus, just wanting to keep the peace and appease others, they allowed what was easier for them and more convenient to take place. Injustice took place because, as the expression goes, understanding it correctly, good men did nothing. But, it was more than that: They didn’t use the power entrusted to them to do what was right, but to do what was convenient.

That’s the irony of the Gospel! Jesus was fully innocent—the only one in all of human history. Through willful and sinful acts of others, He voluntarily suffered for the sin of all. Our transgressions struck Him down. He suffered the due penalty for our injustices. Our rebellious deeds wounded Him; our crimes crushed Him. He bore the punishment that made us whole and complete, bringing peace between God and man. Indeed, God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:5-6).

God carries out His form of justice. On the cross, through His Son, God objectively forgives every human being of every sin. It’s a reality–that’s what God has done.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). But in God’s economy of grace, Jesus endured that death for us. He was cut off from the land of the living, as the prophet described it. Isaiah was more than poetic: He was pointing us to our eternal life in the true land of the living, the new, physical reality that Christ will usher in at the end of time. Christ’s condemnation becomes our pardon; His judgment becomes our acquittal.

“He was taken away because of an unjust ruling—and who considered His fate?” (Isaiah 53:8). When Jesus died, who considered His fate, or thought through the implications of His death? Jesus’ enemies thought that He would soon become a forgotten relic of history: “Out of sight, out of mind.” I mean, who would want to risk suffering what Jesus did? Crucifixions were a powerful deterrent that usually worked!

But Christ rose from the dead—and everything changed. His disciples rejoiced and spread that Word of Christ. Pentecost came, and on one day, the Holy Spirit brought 3,000 into Christ’s Church through the preached Word and sacrament of baptism.

Remember that forgiveness of sin that Jesus earned for everyone on the cross, which every person objectively has whether he believes it or not? It’s on Pentecost Day when we see the beauty of what Jesus did for all become a subjective reality for those first Christians. What Jesus objectively did for all becomes subjectively real by grace, through faith, as a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). And so those 3,000 were baptized into Christ and received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38-41).

And the Communion of the baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection has continued since then. Today, Christ has a multitude of descendants. They were born of water and Spirit (John 3:5), and have fed on the flesh of the Son of Man and drank of His blood in His holy Supper (John 6:53). Only God knows the full number. Who would have believed that this would happen (Isaiah 53:1)?

So, when injustice stares you down, do not despair. Do not despair, even at the injustices that you have done. Yes, repent! Work to right the wrongs that you’ve done or allowed to take place. But also remember that God has done something about every injustice, even yours.

By grace, through Holy-Spirit given faith, in Christ, you are forgiven, not just abstractly, but individually and personally. That’s God’s gracious justice, for you! Amen.