Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. – Obadiah 1:10
Everyone wants justice. We all have a sense of the importance of upholding what is right and righteous. When a child is abused, we want justice. When the windows of a car dealership are shot out, we want justice, even – and especially – if we doubt that anyone will speak up. We might not get all that worked up about inanimate objects being destroyed, but we still want justice. When someone is shot, we want justice. Sometimes it seems like our preference for justice is tempered by who got shot or who did the shooting. Still, routinely, we desire justice.
Last week, the nation experienced the assassination of a prominent Christian apologist. Depending on your perspective and awareness, you might have regarded Charlie Kirk more as a “conservative activist”, or maybe you hadn’t paid much attention to him. Still, he invested the bulk of his short adult life in debating with college students the claims of Scripture, mostly in the context of human rights in America. Kirk founded Turning Point USA at age 18 and was shot dead at age 31 while speaking on a university campus. Kirk had three primary messages: 1) the Bible makes known that Jesus came to save sinners, 2) the US constitution grants Americans the freedom to speak, and 3) we each have the privilege of being able to listen to one another. To promote dialogue, Kirk invited students to ask him questions in a public forum so that they could try to understand each other’s views. At these events, Kirk would debate those who passionately disagreed with him, giving them a microphone so that he could hear them out and offer them responses, Bible verses, and follow-up questions. Whether you would agree with much or anything that he said wasn’t the point. Charlie Kirk granted young people dialogue. People complain that in the world of social media, rational discourse is a lost art. Kirk sought to restore open dialogue. He listened, spoke, and listened. Apparently, he was killed for this.
Sure, some people felt that Kirk’s speech was too provocative, such as comparing abortion to the Holocaust and saying “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year, so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights...That is a prudent deal.” Kirk denounced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives as controverting America’s value of merit. He was frequently criticized for saying that homosexuality is a sin – how this claim harms those who practice it. But such controversies were emblematic of his commitment to Scripture and freedom of speech. He appeared to really enjoy the open debates, often smiling and encouraging his opponents to google their facts on their phones. Letting them adjust their arguments. He encouraged critique. He welcomed introspection. And so should we.
Now, Charlie is dead. We should want justice. Whether you agreed with him or not, you should desire the freedom to speak your mind and the freedom to let others speak theirs. And we should all want justice when freedom is denied through violence. The good news is that the Creator of the universe is righteous and powerful. He has the power to enforce justice, and He will see to it that violence and unrighteousness are punished. That’s why He says, “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.”
We might start to wonder… Does God really mean that justice will prevail forever? Like, are we really okay with eternal punishment in which those who rebel against God’s moral law are cut off forever? Do we really want to see pure justice when God punishes those who do not love Him or their neighbors? If you have been guilty yourself, you might prefer to believe that God is not so fussy. Maybe He ought to overlook some of your wrongs and therefore some of the wrongs of others? But God is serious. The unrighteous will be cut off forever. What must we do? Repent and trust in His Son who came to save sinners. By grace, Jesus offers His righteousness to you. Charlie is dead, but let’s keep the dialogue going. Whether or not you like the message, let’s hear each other out. Now is not the time for cutting off. God will address, in time. May this be a turning point for pursuing righteousness, mercy, and justice.
