HOPE OF ALL THE EARTH
Just As He Promised
December 20, 2025
SCRIPTURE
LUKE 1:51-55
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.
LUKE 1:51-55
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.
Confession time. There is a petty streak in me, of which I am not proud. When I notice a particularly aggressive driver on the road, weaving in and out of lanes, driving so close to the car in front that it seems as if they want to climb into the backseat, I keep an eye out for them at the next traffic jam we encounter. And my heart leaps with joy when I notice that all of their aggression, all of their dangerous driving, all of their selfishness has earned them precisely nothing. It's petty, I know. But it's also immensely satisfying.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.
But I believe this tendency in myself testifies to something deep within us all that rails against injustice. There is something embedded in the human heart that resents unfairness, cries out against it, resists it, and seeks to rectify it--whether it's as petty as aggressive driving or something much deeper, much more serious, much more real.
We know in our bones that injustice is unnatural. It's not the way the world is meant to be. We instinctively know that it goes against the grain of the universe; it's out of step with the way creation is intended to function. All over the world, people of all faiths and none mobilise to combat injustice in all of its shapes and forms. Whether it's poverty or illiteracy, human trafficking or addiction, physical or substance abuse, people all over the world organise to end it, prevent it, make it right. In the UK alone, there are more than 168,000 registered charities--because, whether we know God or not, whether we're part of his church or not, his grace is already at work in us, teaching us the simple fact that injustice is unnatural and has to be opposed.
Mary's Magnificat reminds us that God's coming kingdom is one of perfect, universal justice. Those who set themselves up above and beyond others will be brought low, and those who have been oppressed and trampled will be lifted high. Those who have filled their lives with riches at the expense of others will find their storehouses empty, whilst those who have been scraping by will find their cups overflowing. The wounded will be healed, the lonely will be set in families, the hungry will be fed, and perfect, cosmic, eternal justice will finally be done.
That day is coming, and the incarnation means that the first rays of dawn can already be seen. The kingdom will come in all of its brilliance at the end of the age, and its seeds are already bearing fruit in the world today. They can be seen anywhere God's people follow the command of the Lord through the prophet Micah to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). These seeds can be seen when we put into practice the words of the martyred German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and "drive a spoke into the wheel [of injustice] itself."
Whether it's issues of race, education, inequality, sexuality, or any of the innumerable ways injustice rears its vile head, God's people are called and commanded to be on the cutting edge of opposing it.
And we can know a soul-deep joy at the fact that there is coming a day of perfect, universal justice for all. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, the are of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.
But I believe this tendency in myself testifies to something deep within us all that rails against injustice. There is something embedded in the human heart that resents unfairness, cries out against it, resists it, and seeks to rectify it--whether it's as petty as aggressive driving or something much deeper, much more serious, much more real.
We know in our bones that injustice is unnatural. It's not the way the world is meant to be. We instinctively know that it goes against the grain of the universe; it's out of step with the way creation is intended to function. All over the world, people of all faiths and none mobilise to combat injustice in all of its shapes and forms. Whether it's poverty or illiteracy, human trafficking or addiction, physical or substance abuse, people all over the world organise to end it, prevent it, make it right. In the UK alone, there are more than 168,000 registered charities--because, whether we know God or not, whether we're part of his church or not, his grace is already at work in us, teaching us the simple fact that injustice is unnatural and has to be opposed.
Mary's Magnificat reminds us that God's coming kingdom is one of perfect, universal justice. Those who set themselves up above and beyond others will be brought low, and those who have been oppressed and trampled will be lifted high. Those who have filled their lives with riches at the expense of others will find their storehouses empty, whilst those who have been scraping by will find their cups overflowing. The wounded will be healed, the lonely will be set in families, the hungry will be fed, and perfect, cosmic, eternal justice will finally be done.
That day is coming, and the incarnation means that the first rays of dawn can already be seen. The kingdom will come in all of its brilliance at the end of the age, and its seeds are already bearing fruit in the world today. They can be seen anywhere God's people follow the command of the Lord through the prophet Micah to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8). These seeds can be seen when we put into practice the words of the martyred German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and "drive a spoke into the wheel [of injustice] itself."
Whether it's issues of race, education, inequality, sexuality, or any of the innumerable ways injustice rears its vile head, God's people are called and commanded to be on the cutting edge of opposing it.
And we can know a soul-deep joy at the fact that there is coming a day of perfect, universal justice for all. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, the are of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION OR DISCUSSION
Are you familiar with the Dr. King quote about justice? What are your thoughts on it?
What should be the response of Christians to vast injustice in the world?
Sometimes Christians like to tell one another to keep their politics out of their faith. Yet Mary's Magnificat is quite political. What should be the role of politics in one's faith?
Are you familiar with the Dr. King quote about justice? What are your thoughts on it?
What should be the response of Christians to vast injustice in the world?
Sometimes Christians like to tell one another to keep their politics out of their faith. Yet Mary's Magnificat is quite political. What should be the role of politics in one's faith?
PRAYER
Write a prayer about injustice.
Write a prayer about injustice.