Mal. 3:19-20a; Ps. 98:5-9; 2 Thes. 3:7-12; Lk. 21:5-19

“The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.”  In a world where we witness so much injustice in the form of crime, abuse of life, inequalities and inequities one may question, “where is the Lord?”  Must we wait for the final judgement to come and keep asking “Teacher, when will this happen?”  History if full of nations rising against nations, wars, natural disasters, and awesome sights such as man on the moon.  History is full of persecutions of people by race, ethnicity, and nation.   Christian persecution from the time of the early church and death to so many and yet the Lord says, “not a hair on your head will be destroyed”. 

Generation upon generation evildoers have risen up against others only to fall “leaving them neither root nor branch, set on fire and coming to an end.  “But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays”.  Many martyrs and lived and died with this hope of what is coming and waiting for us knowing this life is a short pilgrimage compared to eternity.  Our purpose is to be sanctified by the cross of Jesus however that cross may come to be. 

The Lord’s justice resides in the soul of a person who by our perseverance we will secure our lives.  This body will decay but we preserve the soul from the decay of sin by our perseverance in the faith.  Perseverance of the faith is the work we are to never grow weary of.  In this the Lord is to rule our hearts and justice is ours for even in mortal death there is a greater glory ready to capture us and lift us out of our suffering. 

The challenge for us is the obedience of walking in his justice.  Jesus laid out a plan for us to follow in his footsteps.  It is a plan of calling for love and mercy for all.  It is a plan of work for the kingdom of God.  We are to work the plan with focused attention and not conduct ourselves in a “disorderly way”.  All we do we are to do for the glory of God.  When we walk in his justice the gates of heaven are opened up for us.  Let us not be disturbed by the noise this world creates but be still and hear the voice of God coming to us in the stillness of our hearts.  The Lord comes to us this day, let us rejoice at his coming.