John 18:36 NIV
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world…

Matt 6:9-10 NIV
“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

How does the Bible think about humans exercising power or authority?

God asserts his authority over the chaotic darkness and brings order SO THAT life that will flourish.

God brings LIGHT and LIFE into DARKNESS and CHAOS.

God’s plan was to choose a family that would become a nation in which their mission was to get this right for the world that had forgotten…

Genesis 18-19 NLT/ESV
NLT
18“For Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.

ESV
19For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

What is Biblical Justice? How do we achieve it?

Righteousness = ‘tsedeq’ (Heb)
An ethical standard that refers to right relationships between people… treating others as the “image of God”.
I’m not more important than you, you aren’t more important than me. We agree to exist together and for one another in space.
Righteousness is more than “living right” or “being good” or “holy”

Justice = ‘mishpat’ (Heb)
Most often restorative justice… Seeking out vulnerable people who are being taken advantage of and helping them.
Action that you take to create ‘tsedeq’
Sometimes also retributive justice… paying the consequences.

Justice is not vengeance or even someone getting what they deserve or what is fair.

God loves tsedeq & mishpat

God is the King, Commander, Ruler…
Then He packed the world full of life, then stations human beings over it so they can imitate a divine and unfailing love and do exactly the same thing for each other and to do it in a way that promotes mishpat & tsedeq.

Righteousness & Justice

Psalm 33:5
The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 50:6
And the heavens proclaim his righteousness, for he is a God of justice.
Psalm 103:6
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
Jeremiah 9:24
but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.
1 Kings 10:9 (Solomon)
Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

Justice (mishpat) for Whom?

James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Jer. 22:3
This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Prov. 31:8-9
8Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
9Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Think Differently

Do something about it
Salvation
Go and Do Likewise