The Coming Justice of God – The Great Reversal
Scripture speaks repeatedly of a coming “great reversal” when God will right all wrongs and heal all hurts – the justice or “righteousness of God.” This will affect all areas of life and society – ecological, agricultural, economic, political, physiological, relational, etc. The New Testament tells us this time of God’s favor, though remaining future, has mysteriously broken forth in the present: it has already begun through the life and ministry of Jesus as he healed the sick, raised the dead, cleansed the lepers, welcomed the outcasts and restored the penitent. This restorative nearness is consequently present through the life and ministry of those who follow in the faithfulness of Jesus (cf. Lk. 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:17-6:2). As we begin to taste tokens of this “righteousness of God,” and become agents of it in the lives of others, our hearts swell with hope, anticipation and inexpressible longing for the full advent of God’s Kingdom when the Messiah is fully manifest at his glorious appearing.
The following is simply a list of Bible quotations describing this “great reversal,” meant to fire the prophetic imagination, inspire hope and motivate further study, meditation, compassion and action based on their contents. It is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you have something to add, please mention it in the comments.
You raise up the poor from the dust and lift the needy from the ash heap (1 Samuel 2:7)
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2)
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore (Isaiah 2)
You have shattered the yoke that burdened them, the collar that lay heavy on their shoulders (Isaiah 9)
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and leopard shall lie down with the kid (Isaiah 11)
The calf, the lion and the fatling together, with a little child to lead them (Isaiah 11)
They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain (Isaiah 11)
The Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well-ages wine, of rich food full of marrow (Isaiah 25)
He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces (Isaiah 25)
the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth (Isaiah 25)
The wilderness and the dry land shall rejoice, the desert shall blossom and burst into song (Isaiah 35)
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped (Isaiah 35)
The lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy (Isaiah 35)
Waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35)
Joy and gladness shall overtake them, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away (Isaiah 35)
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low (Isaiah 40)
The rough ground shall become level and the rugged places a plain (Isaiah 40)
Bring out the captives from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness (Isaiah 42)
I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground (Isaiah 42)
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old (Isaiah 43)
Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it (Isaiah 43)
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43)
…to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances (Isaiah 49)
to say to the captives, “Come out,” and say to those in darkness, “Be free.” (Isaiah 49)
They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill (Isaiah 49)
They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them (Isaiah 49)
I will turn all my mountains into roads and my highways will be raised up (Isaiah 49)
The LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places. (Isaiah 51)
her wilderness He will make like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD (Isaiah 51)
the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing (Isaiah 55)
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (Isaiah 55)
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle (Isaiah 55)
Violence will no more be heard in your land, ruin or destruction within your borders (Isaiah 60)
He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted (Isaiah 61)
To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61)
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Isaiah 61)
To give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit (Isaiah 61)
They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61)
You shall no more by termed Forsaken and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you will be called “My Delight is in Her” (Isaiah 62)
I am creating a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind (Isaiah 65)
No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress (Isaiah 65)
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isaiah 65)
I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow (Jeremiah 31)
I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety (Hosea 2)
Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. (Joel 2)
The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. (Joel 2)
And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Acacias. (Joel 3)
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the reaper will be overtaken by the one who plows and the planter by the one treading grapes. (Amos 9)
New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills, (Amos 9)
They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. (Amos 9)
I will gather those of you who mourn, so that you will no longer suffer reproach (Zephaniah 3)
I will deal with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast (Zephaniah 3)
I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth (Zephaniah 3)
I will take away the chariots and the war horses, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations (Zechariah 9)
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalm 68)
God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing (Psalm 68)
The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down. (Psalm 145)
[the Lord] executes justice for the oppressed; and gives food to the hungry. (Psalm 146)
The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. (Psalm 146)
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. (Psalm 146)
The poor will receive the kingdom (Matthew 5)
Those who mourn will be comforted (Matthew 5)
Those who are lowly will inherit the earth (Matthew 5)
Those who hunger for justice will be satisfied (Matthew 5)
Those who are persecuted will receive the kingdom (Matthew 5)
…the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them (Matthew 11)
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly (Luke 1)
He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty (Luke 1)
In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us (Luke 1)
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1)
Just as one trespass led to condemnation for all, so one vindication [the resurrection of Jesus] leads to the rectification of life for all (Romans 5)
Where sin abounded, grace abounds all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life (Romans 5)
…in hope that the creation itself will be set free from the bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8
…he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet (1 Cor. 15)
The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15)
…this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortality must put on immortality… (1 Cor. 15)
…then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15)
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more (Rev. 21)
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21)
No longer will there be any curse (Rev. 22)
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