Relying on God's Justice - 2 Kings 2:23-25

0:43Sometimes for the shock factor, maybe. But I think one of the reasons why those stories are not very familiar is because sometimes we encounter them and they feel a little odd. And it seems like we don't really know what to do with them. Has that ever happened to you? Like you're going through your devotional time and you encounter a story and you think, well, what's really the point of this story? Or I know that all the Bible is profitable, right? But what on earth am I supposed to apply with this story? And today we're going to study a story like that. That at first glimpse it looks like unapplicable or weird maybe.

1:27It's shocking. And I pray that I will not leave you confused today, but edified and spiritually challenged, and hopefully having gained a better idea on how to deal with stories like this, especially Bible stories that seem, well, a little odd. I invite you to open your Bibles to 2 Kings, 2 Kings chapter 2. 2 Kings chapter 2, especially verses 23 to 25, where we find the story, the short story of Elisha and some defiant boys. Just to set the context of the story, it's important to remember that what happens during this time, we're in the divided monarchy of Israel. So after David and Solomon reigned, the kingdom split for political reasons into northern and southern kingdom. Maybe you remember that. The first king of the north was Jeroboam. He was very infamous for building two golden calves. And if you hear the golden calf, ding, ding, ding, that's bad. You know, that's pretty, pretty bad. And he built one in Dan and the other one in Bethel. So thus he made Israel sin, and you will hear that phrase again and again, the sin of Jeroboam, the sin of Jeroboam. He was well known for establishing that horrible practice, that Israel came in again, again and again to that place to worship those golden calves.

3:00So that they wouldn't go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to God. But he was not the last one to do so or to persist in that sin. Actually, all the kings of the north persisted in that with the golden calves. They were even worse than him, despising God, worshiping idols, especially Baal, infamous Baal. You may remember him. And maybe the worst king in this sense was the infamous Ahab. We've all heard of Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who fiercely persecuted the prophets of God, and it was so much so that maybe you remember the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on top of Mount Carmel, and God there sent fire from heaven and vindicated his prophet, and showing that I am the only true God here. And all that happened while Ahab was king of Israel, northern kingdom. Well, after Ahab, his son Ahaziah reigned for two years. We looked at that story together last year. If you remember, he was as wicked as his parents, and he died after falling from the roof of his palace. I don't know if you remember that story. Well, his brother Jehoram took his place because Ahaziah died without having children. So his brother Jehoram took his place. He continued in the same sin of Jeroboam. He tells us the Bible in like those little summaries of life. This is what he did. Well, the summary of Jehoram's life is that he continued in the sin of Jeroboam, which was the golden calves, one in Dan, the one in Bethel. Well, now we come to chapter 2 of 2 Kings, where we're going to camp. But here we encounter, and maybe you read the title over there, that Elijah is taking to heaven.

5:02The prophet Elijah worked hard to bring Israel back to the Lord, and the kings again and again rejected that. The people seemed to reject that as well. And he was very frustrated with that fact. So much so that perhaps you remember that he wanted to die and told the Lord, you know, just kill me now, because I tried my best. Even fire came down from heaven, and these people will not bow down to you. The kings are still hard in their hearts. So, well, Elijah is going to retire, and he goes up into heaven. He goes beyond the Jordan with Elisha, his successor.

5:48And Elijah goes up into heaven in those chariots of fire. Amazing story. And Elisha, Elisha, his successor, literally takes up his mantle and continues. And he is ready now to continue the ministry of Elijah that Elijah was doing. So, with that in the background, which, by the way, is one of the keys to interpret passages, somewhat odd, but every passage in Scripture we need to know that the background. So, with that background, we come to our passage today in 2 Kings 2, verses 23 through 25. And let's read that together. I mean, I'm going to read it. You follow along. Not out loud. Anyway, so Elisha went up from there to Bethel. And while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, Go up, you ballhead. Go up, you ballhead. And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys. And from there, he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there, he returned to Samaria. Now, picture yourself going through devotional time, and you encounter this story.

7:09What do you do with this? Is it applicable to my life? How is this going to edify me? Well, let me propose to you right now that this story of Elisha and the defiant boys, from that story, we will learn about the just character of God. We will learn more about the just character of God. That we may rely on him more. And as we do so, I'd like to point out some principles of how to to help us interpret and find practical applications in Bible stories that seem even the ones that seem kind of odd or unapplicable at first sight, like this one. So, in this story, this is how we're going to go about it. In this story, we'll see God's justice displayed in two ways: in his judgment on those who reject him and his vindication of those who proclaim him. So, let's begin with how God's judgment, the first way that we see God's justice displayed in his judgment on those who reject him.

8:20The recipients of the judgment. These are, the Bible tells us, small boys. And I think, and every time you encounter a term, you need to see what this term is about. Were they like two years old? Were they ten years old? Were they twenty-five? What is a small boy here in this passage? Well, when you read the when you study the word and the description of these small boys, you have to come to the conclusion that they were likely teenagers or maybe a little younger. So that's how the the word is used. You have small and you have a word that means, you know, young guy that could be teenager or so. So And these guys are from Bethel.

9:04While we were going through the background, you may remember that I emphasized that Bethel was one of the places where the golden calf was. So it was a place of idolatry. It was a hotspot for idolatry. And this was a place that was condemned again and again by the prophets. So putting two and two together, we can see that these teenagers were idolaters, or at least they hated God. They hated the true God. And these boys were revealing the spirit of the entire city. That's how they grew up. That's what they learned. Their parents likely were like that. Being in Bethel meant that. Center of idolatry. And most of the people there would be very inclined, to say the least. And all Israel, the northern kingdom, at this point, we know from the background that they would not come back to the Lord. So they were idolaters. They were hating the Lord and all that. Now, the reason for the judgment. They jeered. They jeered. So it's important to see that these guys are not talk, we're not talking about some childish jokes. It's not like they were just na na na na.

10:21They were being intentionally scornful. They were being disrespectful on purpose. They were mocking, taunting. They were shouting. Shouting derisively. That's what the word means. And that's what it looks like they were doing. They come not just to be silly, you know, and just say some mean things to the prophet. They're being contentious. They're coming, and there are many, because at least 42 of them died. And probably there were more. So this is like a little mob of teenagers that are threatening. This is threatening. There's one prophet going through the town, and these kids come out as a little mob and they start shouting things that we're going to see what it says. They say, literally, go up, you ballhead. And, you know, maybe when you first hear that, you think that they're being silly and whatnot. But the tone, they're commanding the prophets. This is an exhortation, exclamation point. Leave. Get out of here. Like, we don't want you here.

11:35And that tells us much about their attitude, right, toward the prophet. They are commanding the prophet. And the last time we saw someone using this kind of tone with a prophet, last time we looked at 2 Kings, you may remember. They ended up roasted. 2 Kings 1 when the influence of the King of the During the kingship of Ahaziah, you may remember that Ahaziah fell off the roof of the palace, and then he sent to Beelzebub and says, Will I get better? And Elijah comes out and says, You will not get better, and why don't you go to the Lord instead of asking for Baal? And instead of the king, instead of being like, Okay, I should ask the Lord, he sends a group of fifty men, fifty soldiers with his chief, and they go up to Elijah and he says, You come with us. And Elijah says, Well, if I'm the prophet of the Lord, may fire come down from heaven and kill you, and you're fifty. And that happens. Fire comes down from heaven and scorched them all. And then the king sends another group of fifty with his chief, and same thing happens. And the king's not getting the idea here, and he sends a third group, seemingly to their death. But we saw that that chief of the fifty bowed down and said, I heard what you did, and please have compassion on me. But, anyways, the last time we saw this happen, like, you do this, you do this, like, commanding a prophet of God, things didn't turn out pretty well. And I assure you that. That story would have been around. Well, they're demeaning, they're not only demeaning this prophet, but they are telling him to get out of here. That's what they're doing. They are saying, We don't want you here. And possibly, and this is just a little bit of conjecture, we could say, their words, get up, go up, go up, they remind us of something that just happened, and it was Elijah, Elijah, the prophet Elijah, who just went up into heaven. So it could be that the boys are telling Elisha sarcastically, do the same. Why don't you go up and die? Like, go up. Like, go up. So, either way, they're not being nice.

14:21This is not just a childish, silly joke, or, you know, he's bald, whatever. No, they're saying, get out of here. We don't want you here. We know who you are, and we don't want you here. Because he was the prophet of God. Now, as we continue, we see the judgment. And it is a right judgment from God, which maybe at first glance you might be tempted to say, is this a little extreme, maybe? No. So the point here, well, God sends two she-bears, and they killed 42 of them. And the principle here is that they need to a principle that we need to have in mind as we read the Bible is that we need to respect the point of the view of the Bible. We may come to this and say, well, this doesn't look right.

15:18Some are offended by this story, sensitivities, you know, think that Elijah and God's actions were excessive, disproportionate, unreasonable. These are kids. Come on. Maybe immoral? Is Elijah being immoral? Is God being immoral? Well, one principle is we respect the point of view of the Bible. God knows better. So, and just to put this in perspective, God is Creator, He's good, He's just. We know that from the rest of the Bible, and even here, if we see correctly, and it's important to remember that He can do as He pleases with His creation.

15:59And every life is in His hands. So, either if these kids died when they were 80, 90, 100, or now, whatever age they have, it was always in God's hands. So, He can give life, and He gives life, and He can take it away. Doesn't matter the time, the how. He's always responsible, ultimately responsible of the how and when. So, in this case, He decided to cut it short. In our eyes, not in his eyes. It was always, he always knew it. He's all-knowing. So he decided to do this in order to show his judgment, that he's right, he's judge.

16:43He's a judge, and he is good, he's just. And we see how quickly God responds here. And that quick response highlights also the gravity of the actions and even how he does it with two she-bears that tore them up. That is to show that this was a very, very bad thing. It was the gravity of the actions. So, in narrative terms, because this is a narrative and we need to remember to take it as narrative as well, it's true history, no question about it, but the way that it's shaped, these kids are portrayed as the antagonist. So, they are the bad ones. They are confronting God's representative.

17:30We need to remember that the prophet was a formal representative of the Lord. He spoke God's words, like in the New Testament, we have the apostles that they speak, God's words, and then we have them recorded in Scripture. So, they had an authority, a different authority that you and I have. And to reject him, in this case, Elisha, the prophet, when you rejected the prophet, you were rejecting the one who sent him. The same thing happened to. When Jesus came and he gave the same principle, you're not only rejecting me, you're rejecting the one who sent me. So, obviously, these teenagers were rejecting not only the prophet Elijah, but they were rejecting God Himself. And that's why it was such a grave sin to say, get out of here. We don't want you here.

18:27Now, as we try to interpret and understand this passage, one question that we always need to ask ourselves is: what does this story teach the original audience, the first people that read this? What did they get out of this? What was the point? And certainly, one of the points is that the Lord is the only true God. There's this battle between the people who are thinking that Baal is something, you know, that even this whole northern kingdom were worshiping Baal. And now, God again and again is showing, I am. I am the powerful one. I am the only one. I'm the true God. So, certainly, that is a main point. But I think the people that read this first, or knew this story first, knew that this passage was teaching that the prophet of the Lord deserved respect. Respect. Because he represented the Lord and he spoke his words. So, rejecting him was to reject the The one who sent him. So such a rejection and disrespect were deadly. So those are the things that they would have gotten.

19:39Maybe we can put it in this way. Don't mess with God. Right? Don't test his patience. And God is a judge who can act decisively, severely, punishing those who offend him. And this seems to be a very much forgotten truth. We have, I think, two extremes in many churches. One is portraying God as this hateful God that is always out to get you, and he seems to be mad all the time, and he kind of delights in being mean. Well, of course, that's not the God of the Bible. And the other extreme is that fluffy God that everything's good, and you can just tease him and make fun of him, and he'll just be okay with it, just smile and say, okay, good kids. They'll grow up.

20:30Society surely has grown more okay with mocking God. And we see that in TV. You turn on TV, you turn on the news, you can do anything. And we see how making fun of God is a sport. There are whole TV shows that are about mocking God and portraying Him in silly ways and movies about how Jesus or God are, you know, I don't know. Even want to go into that, but it's something that has become common. I think it's kind of a symptomatic, you know, a symptom of what people have been fed about the Lord, that He's just love and He's vanilla, you know, He's not someone to be feared, He's only love, you know, He'll love you whatever you do, which, in one sense, we need to know He's love, but He is not someone to be messed with, He is just, and He will punish, and He can punish severely because He's God. And we need to remember that. Now, another question that we need to ask ourselves as we understand this passage is: what is a principle, a timeless principle that we get from this? And it's that God will judge those who reject Him. That's true yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God will judge those who reject Him.

22:01And another thing that we need to do is see how these truths are developed in the rest of Scripture. And we see that this message is consistent. God is the only true God, and He deserves exclusive worship. He deserves respect. You don't mess with Him yesterday, today, or tomorrow. And there's another aspect that is interesting to note. It's in Hebrews 1:12 3. You don't need to turn there. But it's a That long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. So we can see a true correlation. You know, you reject the prophet, you're in trouble. You reject Jesus, you're in trouble. That's deadly, too. That's deadly, too.

23:01God's written Word and God's living word deserve our respect. And those who embrace God's Word will find favor, but those who reject Him are justly condemned, as John 3:16 says. So now we can get more into the application, right? Now we can see how this can start applying to our lives. And one question that we truly need to ask ourselves is: what is our attitude toward God, toward Jesus, His Word? If you're a Christian, have you become more lenient in how you talk about God or what you see or watch? Do you chuckle when you see those things that portray God in a mocking way?

23:49How would you describe your comments about the Lord when you speak about Him? Would you describe Him as respectful, loving? Now, if If you have not come to maybe you come today to this church, but you're not a Christian. Maybe you come here because your parents make you do it, or for some reason you're kind of forced to be here, but you're not a Christian, or maybe you're just checking this church out, and man, this message applies for you right now. Maybe you heard about the gospel, and if not, here it is. The Lord, we are sinners, and we are enemies of God, actually. We are liars, thieves. We fall short of God's glory, to His perfect standard of goodness, and we even fall short of our own standards all the time. But God, God is good, and He wants to be reconciled with us, enemies. And He sent His Son to die in our stead. And the only thing we need to do is we need to repent of our sin. We need to trust in Him. And He will reconcile us to Him. We will have life with Him. We won't have to suffer the consequences of being enemies and rejecting Him, like we see here.

25:11So the first way, no. So what is your attitude? That's the question. Will you embrace the truth? Have you embraced the truth? Or will you reject Christ? So, the first way that we see God's justice displayed in this passage is in his judgment of those who reject him. The second way we see God's justice displayed is in his vindication of those who proclaim him. So, the one who received this vindication was Elisha. Elisha is a prophet of God, as we said. He represented God speaking for him and following God's mission. He's proclaiming the message of repentance and allegiance to the Lord. And as a prophet, we said something about this, but he had a special responsibility, a special authority, as he was a prophet, an authority given by God, and like the apostles of the New Testament. Now, it's important to understand what's Elisha doing.

26:16Elisha is requesting for God's vindication here. But the Bible says that he, if we have the text there, that he turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Now, it's important to understand what's going on here. Elisha wasn't just being personally offended. It's not like he was insecure about his false pot or something. That's not the point here. Elisha wasn't being vindictive. It's not like he said, oh, those naughty kids, you make fun of me, you'll see what's coming.

26:48Elisha recognized a true issue at hand, and it is that being mocked and probably threatened, there's even some evidence of manuscripts. Maybe it's an edition, but that. They were trying to throw stones at him as well. So, this seems to be more of a threatening situation. Get out of here. Not just taunting and being silly. So, Elisha recognizes that they did not hate him because of who he was, but because of who he served. And God's own name was at stake. What's the prophet who represents God gonna do with people that are rejecting him and saying, Get out of here? Well, so he calls onto God.

27:34Elisha cursed those boys. Now, what does it mean to curse? And I think that's important to note as well. It doesn't mean that he insulted them. It doesn't mean that he turned around and I don't know, he gave him the finger or something. Like, that's not what it is. It's and part of it we know that he cursed them in the name of the Lord. So, it has to be something positive, right? So, we see this again and again in the Bible, and to curse somebody is not, again, to insult, but to invoke or call on God to judge those who are, you know, the enemies, or sometimes those who are breaking an oath. Now, is it okay that Elisha cursed? It's a question that we might need to address. Well, because James 3, you know, we see that James 3 tells us not to curse. It says, From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing, my brothers, this Things ought not to be so.

28:33Well, it's important. Context. Background. What's going on? And in the background, we're talking about lashing out, using words to hurt people. So that's the context there. It's not cursing as here, invoking God in that sense, but trying to hurt somebody. And the contrast is with blessing and healing and giving words of encouragement. Well, Jesus cursed. Jesus cursed the fig tree, if you remember it, Mark 11. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, that if anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.

29:10If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:9. Maybe you remember that one. Even if an angel of heaven says, let him be accursed. At the end of Revelation, I'm excited to get there with Pastor Tom when we get there. John writes, a curse on those who add or take away the words of that book of prophecy. God himself, we see him again and again, especially in Deuteronomy, in the law code. God stated blessings and cursings and curses for those who kept or violated his covenant. So blessings to the ones who kept his covenant and then curses for those who didn't. So is God being immoral? No.

29:57We need to know what it is. So. It is to invoke or call God to judge something or someone for something. The good question is: is it okay if we curse? Well, Jesus says, and Paul later repeats in Romans, that we are to bless those who curse and persecute us. Bless and do not curse. So now is that a double standard? Is that a contradiction? Well, no. Well, it's important to note the authority behind the curse. You know, there were the prophets, the apostles, obviously Jesus, they had a divine authority that, obviously, we do not have. So they had a relationship, a type of authority that they knew when they could say, hey, judgment of God upon you. Judgment of God upon you. And notice that most of the time, if not every time, this judgment is on those who reject Christ.

31:05So, yes, we are to curse. The people of God are consistently told to bless and not curse. So our response is to trust that God is the one cursing. He's the one vindicating. He's the God of vengeance. So we're not the ones who call upon vengeance and say, God, right now, vengeance upon this guy who's persecuting me, even for The sake of the gospel. No, because we don't know. We don't know even the future. We don't know if that person will come to Christ and will not be cursed. So we are not too cursed.

31:40Anyway, so we see God's response here, vindicating Elisha, noting that, well, he was right in doing this, because God acted upon it right away. Notice as well that Elisha did not take vengeance in his own hands, but he asked God for it. And I think that's a pretty good parallel to us. God immediately sends those two she-bears, and by sending them right away, God shows how committed he is to vindicate his prophet, maybe protect him, I don't know, and ultimately vindicating his own name.

32:24Now, as we come to understand this better, we need to ask again, what is a timeless principle? What is true about this yesterday, today, and tomorrow? And the truth is that God vindicates his persecuted servants. He does. Actually, when we go through the New Testament, we know that Jesus is the one who intercedes for us, and he's the one who vindicates us. I'm excited to get to the end of Revelation with Pastor Tom again. And there we'll see how Jesus comes back and he vindicates all the martyrs, everyone who suffers injustice. All will be made right.

33:00Is the one who does it. So that fills us with joy, fills us with this sense of Christ come back. And so yeah, and we see how important to see how this truth is developed in the rest of Scripture. And again, the importance is because we may come to a wrong application today if we don't see how the truth is developed. For example, it will be wrong to assume that, from this passage, that we have the assurance that God will immediately intervene to judge our enemies. Right?

33:37We see through Scripture that that's not the case. We are to suffer through this life. So it will be wrong to assume that if you ever make fun of the pastor, don't do it, God will strike you dead. Because he is a man of God and he is speaking God's word, and you make fun of him? I don't know, thunder from heaven. No. It will be wrong to assume that we, and we may develop a prideful attitude of, don't you dare talk anything wrong about me because I'm God's servant. So it's not just, you know, I'm God's servant. God will, if you say something against me, like with Elijah, God will come and strike.

34:25So we are called to bless our enemies. Curse them as we saw. And obviously, when it is obviously just a personal vendetta that's sinful, you know, we don't take issue with that, with personal vendettas. But even when we're persecuted or cursed for the sake of the Lord, we need to remember our Lord's example. In 1 Peter 2, 22 through 23, it says, that Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you may follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. And when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly.

35:20That's the example we need to follow. When we're reviled, we do not revile in return. We do not threaten. But we entrust, we trust in him who just judges justly. We are also called to rejoice in persecution. Shocking, right? The Lord said in the famous Matthew 5, the Beatitudes, Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad. Why? For your reward.

36:00Is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. It's Matthew 5, 11 and 12, if you were looking for it. We see the example of the apostles. When the religious leaders arrested the disciples, they had called the disciples in, they beat them, says Acts 5:14. They beat the disciples and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

36:43However, even though we rejoice in even persecution, when we bless our enemies, we're called to wait. We're called to desire. Well, we're called to rest on God's vindication. 1 Thessalonians 1:4 tells us that we ourselves boast about you, says the apostle and the rest that were over there. So we boast in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring, for the sake of the gospel, obviously. So this is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering, since. Indeed, God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us.

37:42When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. When he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because their testimony to you was believed.

38:18So in summary, we do not curse, but bless. We do not curse, but rejoice. We do not curse, but we wait. We trust and we hope. We rely on God's justice. And we rejoice, because there will be justice. How amazing to know that there will be justice. The things will not go just as they are right now. That injustice will be met with the God of justice. There are things in our society that are getting increasingly hard to deal with, maybe at the work level, practices, policies that go against our faith and make you a target and injustice. Justice comes or will come, and you see it coming at a personal level with friends, peers being increasingly intolerant of you in the name of tolerance and love.

39:13Maybe you've been wronged, struggling with injustice done to you. Well, you can rely in the justice of God because justice will be done. By the way, you can seek justice on earth as well. God gave us the government for a reason: police, etc. So, obviously, it's not perfect, the justice here on earth, but you know, you're being mistreated, you're being, you call the police. It's not like, oh, God will take care of that later. God set up the government as well. So, but God's justice will be perfect. That justice will be perfect. And all the injustice in this world that may grieve us and seem to go unchecked, one day will be made right. So, don't get bitter. Don't get pessimistic. Because God is in control. When you're afflicted, reviled, falsely accused, persecuted for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of your Lord. You can rejoice because that is tangible proof. Tangible proof that you belong to the Lord.

40:18And a marvelous future with Christ awaits you. Where there will be no more death, no more crying, no more pain, no more injustice. Justice, because Christ will make everything right. So, in this story that seemed odd, maybe applicable at first for us, we will learn about the just character of God. We saw that God's justice is displayed here in His judgment on those who reject Him and His vindication on those who proclaim Him. That hopefully encouraged some of you to rely more on the justice of God or to flee to Christ.

40:59So, God's justice will now come upon you. But as a final illustration, I'd like to, I was studying for this message and I came across this story that I want to share with you. And it says this: On September 22, 1997, the U.S. Army commissioned West Point's first black cadet, 123 years after expelling him. James Webster Smith, a former slave, entered the U.S. Military Academy in 1870. For the next four years, he was harassed for the color of his skin. White students refused to talk to him. He was forced to eat by himself. Others poured slop on him. Twice he was court-martialed. He had to repeat a year. And finally, the academy expelled him after junior year. Smith died of tuberculosis at age 26.

42:01And that seemingly was the sad final note for a life scarred by injustice. But 123 years later, the Army endeavored to, to some degree, to right its wrong. Because he had no known descendants, his certificate and gold bars were presented to South Carolina State University. So this man finally received his due, but only after he had died. And I can't help but think, or to have some mixed feelings about this, right? On the one hand, I'm glad that something was done to try to right the wrong, to rectify the injustice, but on the other, I don't believe that James was truly vindicated, that there was complete justice done, or that that was even possible to be done to him after all those years. What is more, he didn't get to enjoy all this hopeful attempt to right the wrongs that he had to endure.

43:06But for you and for me, my dear brother, sister, in Christ, one day is coming when Christ will truly vindicate each and every one of his children. He will right every wrong, every injustice that happened in this world. It will be true, complete, perfect, absolutely satisfying. Justice done, but the only one who can do that are all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly just God. So, joyfully endure with your eyes fixed on Christ, patiently relying on the justice of God. So, let's pray. Father, thank you that we can trust in you in the middle of injustice. And what would it be of us if we didn't know you? The fears of seeing sometimes the system not working or injustice done and go unchecked, seemingly forever, and attempts to rectify things not being enough. How sad would it be to live in a world where we don't know you, and we don't know that you are truly the just judge. And one day we'll see that justice done. So, help us to trust in your justice even today and not try to do it our own incorrectly.

44:46Help us to trust in you, even in the middle of difficulties and persecutions, or whatever may come our way. May you be our rock. Christ, we pray. Amen.