When we lived in Georgia, the Gwinnett County Justice system once summoned me for screening for jury duty. That was the first time I had ever been asked to come to court for possible service as a juror. The Gwinnett system has been on the national news in recent months-with such cases as "the runaway bride."
The sixth amendment to our Constitution provides for a trial by a jury of your peers. This is at the very heart of the American justice system. Defendants are presumed innocent, until proven guilty. Prospective jurors are advised to be fair, impartial, open-minded, and to determine the truth to the best of their ability. Jurors should weigh all the evidence presented as they deliberate a verdict of "guilty" or "innocent." Depending on the court and type of trial, a jury may be made up of 6 or of 12 members.
In our human judicial system, mistakes can be made: sometimes the innocent are punished, or the guilty go unpunished. A miscarriage of justice may be due to witnesses lying, failure to have all the facts presented, mishandling of evidence, or any number of things. But even in a finite human system, generally, we do not punish the innocent but punish the guilty. The government is God-ordained to benefit the law-abiding and to punish the law-breaker (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17).
In the divine judicial system, God has ultimately given all judgment to His Son (Jn. 5:21-23). "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10, NASB; John 5:28-29). On judgment day, deity will be both our judge and jury of whether we faithfully served God or not. The standard for judgment will be the Lord's word (Jn. 12:48).
If given a choice, most people would prefer mercy to justice. All of us are guilty of sin (Rom. 3:23) and deserve the punishment of eternal death (Rom. 6:23). Justice demands that the offender be punished, but God in His mercy and grace allowed a substitution. The innocent Jesus took our guilty sins upon himself, and through the cross He suffered separation from God in our behalf (Isa. 53; Mt. 27:46). We as Christians are made righteous through the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 5:19-21). Praise God for such a wonderful Savior! Our sin debt was paid at Calvary!
"He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay. I needed someone to wash my sins away, and now I sing a brand new song, "Amazing Grace." Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay." (American Folk Hymn).
Put on the righteousness of Christ by being baptized as a penitent believer today (Rom. 6:1-11; Mk. 16:15-16; Acts 2:38).
