When we stand in the shoes of the oppressed, we realize that the oppressed crave for the justice of God. God answered their cry for justice, he saw how victims suffer in the hands of their oppressors, and he will deal with it.
Revelation 20:11-15: God promises to deal with injustices once and for all in a final judgment.
- The judgment before the great white throne is universal, there is no escape for the human race.
- No one has a chance to plead for his own case, because each person is judged based on what they have done as recorded in the books.
- If their names are not found in the book of life, they will be thrown into the lake of fire.
- The lake of fire is a punishment reserved for Satan and his allies to eradicate sin and injustices completely.
Revelation 21:1-5: The oppressed who lost their opportunities in this life are promised a glorious future in the new heaven and new earth.
- God does not only promise to punish their oppressors, but he promises his presence and comfort.
- God promises to restore the current world into a new heaven and new earth.
- The Apostle John identified the new heaven and new earth with the new Jerusalem. Even though John experienced a powerful Babylon and a defeated Jerusalem when he wrote the book of Revelation, his vision in the book of Revelation reversed the fate of these two cities.
- The Apostle John encouraged his readers to choose Jerusalem not Babylon.
God's promise of final judgment and new heaven and new earth forces us to make a choice.
- If we are indifferent to the injustices of this world, we behave like a citizen of Babylon, and we will be put on the left side of God when he comes back in judgment (Matthew 25:31-46).
- The vision of the new heaven and new earth is not meant to lure us away from the cruelty and troubles of this world, but moves us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed. it moves us from indifference to joining God's work of justice today.
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