Every civilised society needs a system of law and justice to protect its members from antisocial behaviour. Many regard the British criminal justice system as one of the best in the world but even here in recent years there have been examples of people being wrongly imprisoned. Two such cases were featured on television a few weeks ago. One concerned a man currently serving a two and a half year long prison sentence who had been convicted solely on the basis of a finger print which experts say could not have come from the surface of the incriminating evidence. Two other proven cases of mistaken fingerprint analysis were mentioned in the same programme. The other case was that of a man who spent 23 years in prison for a murder that had not been committed.

On the other side of the coin is the feeling that murderers and other violent criminals escape justice or receive far too lenient sentences. The law often seems to place greater emphasis on the rights of the criminal than rights of the victim. There have even been cases of burglars suing their victims under health and safety legislation for injuries they have sustained while breaking into premises.

Low crime detection rates, the expense and complexity of the criminal justice system, corruption and changes in moral standards all add to the realisation that human justice is far from perfect. But this situation is not going to last for ever. There are many signs that God’s system of justice will soon be introduced at the return of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth.

The book of Isaiah speaks of Christ’s infallible judgement...

And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isaiah 11:2-4

Many other Old Testament prophecies such as Psalms 2, 37 and 72, Daniel Chapter 2, Micah Chapter 4 and Malachi Chapter 4 tell of this time when Christ and his faithful followers will inherit the earth. It will not be necessary to pay for justice, to find reliable witnesses or scientific proof when this time comes, for the power that Jesus and his apostles demonstrated 2000 years ago will again be available.

This power is summed up in John’s Gospel record...

And (Jesus) needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. John 2:25

Read John 1:43-50, John 4:5-29 and Acts 5:1-11 for some examples of this power to get to the truth.