Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Wielding the Sword of Justice

In Second Nephi chapter 13, verses 10 and 11, Nephi writes,
Say unto the righteous that it is well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 
Wo unto the wicked, for they shall perish; for the reward of their hands shall be upon them!
In these verses, he is quoting Isaiah chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, which actually reads:
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 
Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
I share both quotes not to point out any translation errors that may have occurred, but so I personally can be as accurate as possible. I'd hate to misquote someone, even if the differences are slight.

The real reason I'm blogging about this is because, as pointed out in these scriptures, justice is a double-edged sword, which isn't really a problem, if you know how to wield it. With justice, God both blesses the righteous and curses the wicked. This can work out well of ill for you, depending entirely on what you deserve. If you've been righteous, the sword of justice will swing in your favor - if not, it hangs over you, ready to cut you down.

Since justice is an eternal principle, we can't get rid of it. God can't just "forgive and forget," as much as I'm sure He'd love to. At least, He can't forgive us until and unless the demands of justice are met. If evil has been done, the sword of justice has to hit someone. That someone will be either you or Jesus, and whom justice strikes for your sins depends entirely on your repentance. If you sin, you'll get hit, unless you repent, then Jesus will. Either way, the sword will draw blood. Thankfully, there's another option.

By being righteous and refraining from sin, you can keep the sword of justice from swinging at either you or your Redeemer. If you do good, it wouldn't be just to punish you, so the sword of justice won't strike at you. In fact, good works merit good rewards, so if you do good, justice demands that you receive blessings for it. Whether those blessings come sooner or later is mostly up to God, but as long as you're righteous, justice demands that they come.

So, justice can be either a dangerous enemy or a powerful friend, depending on what actions you take. Do good and blessings will come. Do evil and punishments will come. As long as you can control your actions, you can choose how justice will affect you. Control yourself, and you can control the sword.

1 comment:

motherof8 said...

The rather sad thing is that whether we repent or not, Jesus takes a hit. We spare Him nothing if we do not repent and get whacked ourselves. We just waste His sacrifice for us, which must hurt Him even more.