Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am posting a blog from a few years ago. I felt prompted by Holy Spirit to remind us as leaders about the justice system of God. God’s justice is not merely one of right and wrong. It is a justice of mercy and grace. It is a justice system of love.
God desires to give His love to all people, but not all people desire to receive what He wants to give. When we turn even in the slightest measure towards Him, we discover the amazing power of His unsurpassable affection. In Christ, former enemies become friends and those who were once not a part of His plan find themselves fulfilling His purposes in the earth.
As leaders we must lead with this same example. We should desire to love everyone. We should be willing to love all people, but we can only give our love to those who want our love. We cannot force our lives upon them, but at a hint in our direction we should be ready to respond even as God our Father responds to us. By this even former enemies can become friends.
Isaiah 61:5-6 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the LORD, they shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast.
By the power of Christ’s internal kingdom of life, even those who did not know Him find themselves sowing and reaping in His kingdom. They find themselves standing as priests before Him and they become those who serve Him for the glory of His purposes in the earth. I believe that eating the riches of the Gentiles is receiving them as brothers and sisters in the kingdom of God. Those who did not know God become part of His family for the inheritance of the family name. The glory of the Gentiles is their salvation in Christ! We are living in a time where the harvest of the nations will be seen as those who labor in the fields of God’s purpose in the nations. We must be willing to partner with others for the sake of the purpose of God’s fields in the earth.
It is not in the defeat of those who have not known the covenants of God that we rejoice. It is in their glory! When those who had not known the covenants of God become those who sow and reap in the kingdom of God it is a time to rejoice in the justice system of the kingdom of God. It is a justice system of the Tree of Life. It is a justice system of love. Those who had not known the covenants of God are no longer bound to shame; but have found a place of inheritance among those who are the redeemed of the Lord!
Isaiah 61:7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
This is a justice system of forgiveness and healing. It is a justice system of new beginnings and of grafting into the ancient things of God. Those who come at the end of the day will get the same wages as those who came at the beginning of the day. The ceilings of the past will become the foundations of the present, only to increase in the testimony of God’s grace and peace!
Isaiah 61:8-9 “For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, and will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.”
It’s not fair! It’s scandalous by the standards of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s unfair by the standards of right and wrong! The justice system of the kingdom of heaven transforms the hearts of men to become a testimony of being children of God. Those who were the enemies of God become friends to His name! As leaders we must embrace God’s justice system of love above the justice system of right and wrong and we must set an example that those we lead can follow.
Isaiah 61:10-11 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
The Israel of God is not just a Jewish people group by birth, but a people of circumcised hearts! These are those who are true inheritors of God. They were Jew and Gentile, but now they have become the children of God in Christ! These are those who bear His name in the earth and the governing rule of their lives is Christ in them, the hope of glory! His righteousness and praise are springing forth before all the nations as the internal kingdom of Heaven invades the nations as the Kingdom that consumes all of the kingdoms of the world!
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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