Eventually There Will Be Justice

Psalm 58

I. Justice May Be Denied

A. Sometimes societies collapse; justice becomes the opinion of power rather than law. “To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.” (Psalm 58:1-2)

B. Some people are born bad and get worse as their skills and abilities develop. “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” (Psalm 58:3)

C. Some people are constitutionally incapable of hearing reality. “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” (Psalm 58:4-5) “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)

II. Don’t Hold Back—Tell God All About It

A. God can disarm evil; ask Him to do so. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.” (Psalm 58:6)

B. See evil for what it is; as it takes place, evil is running its inevitable course to oblivion. “Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.” (Psalm 58:7)

C. There is little to fear from evil and nothing much can be done to keep evil from destroying itself. “As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.” (Psalm 58:8)

D. Righteous people can get hurt when they try to cozy up to what is about to be blown away by God. “Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.” (Psalm 58:9)

E. Evil forces laugh at the righteous, but their laughter is itself evidence of their swift destruction; don’t stand too close to the fuel. “For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 7:6)

III. Start Praising God—The Court of Heaven Is Open

A. Mouse traps work because mice see the cheese, not the loaded spring; selfishness converts vermin of all kinds into their own executioners. “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.” (Psalm 73:18-20) “Mouse” is a Sanskrit word for thief.

B. Nobody misses the great tyrants of yesterday; why worry about the tiny tots of terror. “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” (Psalm 58:10) “To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.” (Psalm 68:1-3)

C. When honest people look back over history, they must always acknowledge that the Judge of Heaven does right. “So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.” (Psalm 58:11)

D. Take the long view as Moses did; when all is said and done, God will do what is best. “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25)

E. Relax the clouds will pass; the Holy One comes to set all things right. “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:4-8)