God’s Justice
‘In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commends all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead’ Acts 17:30,31
This passage is the last part of Paul’s message to the Greek Areopagus, the highest court in Athens and set on a rock overlooking the famous market place and just across from the Acropolis with its spectacular temples.
Paul insists that he and his listeners are living in a new time in world history. The times when people could hardly be expected to know who God was, were at an end.
This God has set a time when He is going to call the world to give account. The entire world is being brought to justice. This must happen if God is truly a good and just God.
The Creator God will do this, Paul says, through a man, Jesus, who God raised from the dead. In being raised from the dead, Jesus is the beginning of God’s new creation. The resurrection body of Jesus is the very first part of the entire world that has been “put right.” The rest will follow when Jesus returns to the earth.
God has given this Jesus the right to bring justice to the cosmos when He returns to earth and brings in the final judgement. So no one can ever say ‘God isn’t a just God.’ We want His justice now but He’s willing to wait until the great judgement.
To listen to this message, download in MP3 here.