Justice and Righteousness

Ecclesiastes 3:16-22 

16 Moreover I saw under the sun:

In the place of judgment,
Wickedness was there;
And in the place of righteousness,
Iniquity was there.

17 I said in my heart,
"God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."

18 I said in my heart, "Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals." 19 For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth? 22 So I perceived that nothing is better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his heritage. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?

Justice and righteousness seem to be usurped in this fallen world, this present evil age (Galatians 1:4), by injustice and wickedness of sin.  Solomon had seen his fair share in judging God’s people with the great wisdom He gave to the king, but in the end the many wives he took who worshipped other so-called gods and their lifeless idols of wood and stone (1 Kings 11:1-2, 4-6, Jeremiah 10:5, 11, 14).  In the place of justice and godly judgment was wickedness, sinful iniquities that are found in rejecting the Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth.  The preacher saw these things and was disheartened by it all; he pondered how ago would judge the righteous and the wicked in all their works, good and evil.  There is a time and place for all things, but also a purpose in God’s sovereign predetermined plan for all time and in every place.  He is the Redeemer who reigns as the righteous judge over all iniquity.  He will bring clarity in the end to all the wicked paths He allows people to go down towards that day, whether to find mercy in the grace of Christ while being accountable for our sins, or to find final condemnation and eternal judgment’s due punishment for unrepentant and unforgiven iniquity of the soul in rebellion to Him and His Christ.  Solomon further understood that God tests us all and shows us our true fallen condition of absolute corruption because we inherited our sin nature from Adam.  We see ourselves as sinful and wild like animals living for the next meal, the next kill, to satisfy our desires instead of His.  We all die and have no second chance (Hebrews 9:27-28), and without a deliverer we have no advantage over the beasts of the field, an empty life and empty future.  We came from the dust of the earth which God formed us from (Genesis 2:7), and our bodies return to dust when we die.  But the rest of the story is that our Lord also breathed His Spirit in that dust to give us life, and that which we now are returns to Him and not to the deadness of dust.  Yes, our spirits go up to God and not back to the earth as the animals, for we are made in His image as they are not.   We are not animals, but image bearers of God (Genesis 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 11:7).  In the end of this chapter the preacher was in despair and thought it best that we all just find happiness in our labors as our portion and reward in life, for we cannot know what will happen to after we are dead.  The hope we have now fulfilled in the Messiah, Christ, tells us a better end in which we leave behind the fruit of labor in the gospel to multiply and fill the earth in a spiritual legacy far greater than any physical dynasty or renown.  God’s justice and righteousness is where we live in Christ and our labors follow us (Revelation 14:13).  There is hope and not vanity in a life reborn and regenerated!  This is the answer which Solomon sought in great wisdom, but One greater than Solomon has come to show us eternal and lasting hope (Luke 11:31, Titus 3:7, 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, 1 Peter 1:3).  Amen, for it is so.