There was incredible silence after the Massacre of the victims of the Ampatuan clan, until now, swift justice has not been served, and it seems indeed that justice has been delayed. Where are we at this time? Why do we not want to keep silent over this debacle? Are we not being partial that because the poor stands at the door like a pauper and now we disengage ourselves from their affairs? We have to understand that justice is a means of bringing righteousness in this nation. Revival does not have to be tied to simply the signs and wonders that occur in church meetings, it is a revival because the Spirit of God sweeps a vast area and brings truth that convicts a considerable proportion of the population.

Revival is not for believers only, but primarily when God brings a great awakening, He is doing it for the majority of the unbelievers. God is not disinterested of what is happening upon our country today, but He looks down and when He sees all these darkness that have happened, He sighs, and asks His angels, where is the man that stood for me at this very hour? Then the angels looked at Him and says, Lord your church has forgotten to pray for the victims. To which the prophet Ezekiel wrote,

“The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. “And I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. “Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God. Ezek 22:29-31

There is a terrible release of God’s wrath upon a nation which perverts justice, waylays the poor, and oppresses the foreigner. What is even more critical in this passage is that God was not looking for a president or a general, he said, “I searched for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” If there are darkness, destruction, judgment and failures, God will not fault and point his finger at the government, the first thing He does is to look for His people, “where are those who are supposed to watch with me for one hour?” Because justice on earth is most often trampled and bribed by those who have money, injustice and perversion results. However, ultimately, the responsibility of how righteous a nation gets and how mature it can walk with God is solely dependent on the praying church, God wonders in the heavens and says, “Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede” (Isa 59:15-16).

Your intercession brings justice

If the church of God is one, unified and walking closely with the Lord, there is nothing that can hinder her prayers from being answered. It is only when we stop praying vigilantly with the Lord that we become ensnared and stop praying altogether only to accuse the government of not doing its job. Solomon wrote that because the sentence against an evil deed is not quickly carried out, men have devoured one another and unrighteousness envelops the land. Sin is a reproach to any people. Our land has been dedicated to God, for His honor and glory, and if we are, God will first destroy the land before it becomes totally evil. All offerings in the temple of God are holy and the things dedicated to Him remains so, thus He does not allow our country to simply get away with any injustice. If we want Him to rule in our midst, His throne is founded on justice and righteousness, so that we have to follow just as the Lord does, instituting righteous judgments and judges.

As a church, our call is to pray for these sectors of the government,“For the Lord is our Judge (judicial), the Lord is our Lawgiver (legislative), the Lord is our King (executive)” (Isaiah 33:22).We understand that nothing can really happen without the Lord doing it first. Everything that happens is not a coincidence, they do occur because God has allowed it, including the unjust and needless murder of the 57 people in the Ampatuan enclave. As the days wore on, and there is a deliberate act of the defendant to delay the coming of judgment, let us keep praying for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre to be comforted and for their valiant acts to brave and to not fear the enemy even when they faced real threats and extermination. It was not an easy job for these saints who gave their lives so that there would be freedom from corruption and fear in the very bailiwicks of one who had called himself lord. As a result of this pride, finally, it is time to put an end to this delusion and the Scriptures speak, “Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

Before fall, the man is haughty and when he stumbles in the very gravel he has been feeding others, finally he tastes that its more bitter than death. Destruction is set upon those who make others stumble, but more so to those who walk in pride. Again we are warned that in this world, there is no such thing as permanence, the whole World and its resources in it, are God’s property. If we think that we own one territory, we have deluded ourselves. The stories of every empire from the Roman Empire to the Spanish and the British Empires tell us that one country or one monarch can dominate the landscape of the earth, but even this is ephemeral. Thus James tell us, so what is your life o man, for it is but a vapor of smoke that appears now and then vanishes later (see James 4:14). This then Brethren should encourage us, that “before destruction the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor” ( Prov 18:12) and “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” ( Prov 16:18).And still in another passage He says,“Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin”(Prov 21:4).

God’s retribution

Man’s anger is not like the Lord’s. Though we are angry at anybody, there are certainly reasons why these things occurred and more than likely it is because we have been offended and grieving. Until we have overcome these offenses and forgiven man, we will be entrenched into a painful cycle of bondage. We want to inflict as much pain as possible to the person who has done evil to us, but hatred is never the solution. In God’s Kingdom, the King is both the Judge, the Lawgiver and the executive; He does everything. Therefore He commanded, saying “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:19-21 NIV).Though we might indeed think that justice is being delayed, let us not forget that God more than wants to have righteousness and justice be done to all who were victims of the grim massacre. Forgiveness is healing for our hurting souls. It is not for those who have killed our Brethren, but it is for us. As the Lord Himself once said, “For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. “But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”(Matt 6:14-15).

They may deserve or not deserve your forgiveness, but this is not the question, if we want divine justice to come, if we want God to work also in our behalf, then let us forgive men and stop harboring hatred upon them. Because God cannot work on behalf of those who are keeping bitterness in their hearts, those who want to get their hands to do a justice of their own. This is not justice! That is vengeance and it places the victim as under the mercy of the enemy, it places those who are offended under the mercy of those who have committed the crime. The best thing is, give it to God entirely and trust Him to work in our behalf, because if we do our own thing, it is like saying to God that He cannot do His job and if we do His job, then we are not doing our part. Retribution is in the hands of God, to do justice, we allow the defendant to air his side and give him space to think about his deeds.

Killing is not merely the justice of God, He would always want that the transgressors be given the chance to repent and to return to Him. But this does not in anyway shorten his sentence nor it means that he be allowed to get away from his crime. An evil deed was done, and justice still needs to be meted out! God’s forgiveness is free and full of compassion but justice should be done. The thief was still nailed though God has forgiven him. Peter writes, “For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:17-18). Christ’s suffering was inhumane and a great injustice in all possible ways that we would examine it, thus only Christ has also commanded us that we should forgive and allow God to work His hands for the justice that we are crying about. If we tie ourselves to hatred, this is like murdering the person, and John explains, “he who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15-16). I bet you would never exchange your life for death. Allow God to work in your behalf and do not tie His hands, if we let God do His job, He will do His better than if we will work it out by ourselves. Let us leave to God all thoughts of revenge and forgive those who murdered our Brethren then continue to pray that justice will be served without much delay.

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” 1 Peter 2:21-23