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01/08/2026 - Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 says, 18 I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely t... Read More
01/07/2026 - After concluding his philosophical discussion about time, Koheleth turns next to the problem of ju... Read More
01/06/2026 - We come now to Koheleth’s first clear practical conclusion after the poem of times and the s... Read More
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After concluding his philosophical discussion about time, Koheleth turns next to the problem of justice. Ecclesiastes 3:16, 17 begins,
16 Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. 17 I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.
This is not a complaint about criminals themselves, but about institutions: courts, leadership, and governance. Even where justice is designed to operate, it often fails. Yet he asserts that God will judge both righteous and wicked. Justice is not denied—it is deferred. The time of injustice is limited to the present age prior to the great White Throne judgment.
There is certainty of ultimate justice, but no timetable is given. Notice the crucial phrase: “for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.” Injustice persists for a season. Judgment also has its appointed time, a theme that occurs throughout the Scriptures but which reaches greater revelation in the New Testament. The righteous are not forgotten; the wicked are not exempt; both are personally accountable before God.
Justice is not mere punishment. Courts may punish criminals while leaving their victims devoid of compensation for their losses. Justice is not done until full restitution has been made to all the victims of injustice. Biblical law is based primarily on restitution directly proportional to the victim’s loss (Exodus 22:1-3).
For this reason, the great White Throne judgment is not designed merely to punish sinners but to recompense the victims of injustice. The sinners who fail to defend themselves by claiming that Christ died as payment for their sins will be sentenced to pay for their own sins during the final Age of Judgment. Thus, all delays of justice will be subject to time. Likewise, the Age of Judgment too must come to an end, for it is limited by the law of Jubilee when all debts are cancelled and every man returns to his lost inheritance.
There is a season for judgment, and the length of that season is unknown to men. Hence, it is olam (Hebrew) and aionian (Greek). Both refer to an indefinite period of time—an eon/age. Olam means “hidden; unknown,” while aionian means “pertaining to an eon/age.” Hence, while it is certain that no sinner could possibly pay the debt for his own sins, the law of Jubilee imposes a limit on the amount of time he must work off his own debt.
Matthew 25:46 says,
46 These will go away into eternal punishment [kólasin aiṓnion, “age-lasting correction”], but the righteous into eternal life [zōēn aiōnion, “life in The Age”].
Kolasis is from the root word kolazo, “to lop or prune, as trees and wings,” hence, to correct.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2849/kjv/tr/0-1/
Trees are pruned, not to punish or destroy them but in order that they may bring forth fruit. Matthew 15:2 says,
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
A righteous court imposes just sentences that are based on God’s laws. They are designed to “prune” the sinner, to correct him by forcing him to pay proportional restitution to his victims. During the Age of Judgment, sinners will remain “under the law” (under jurisdiction) and subject to the rule of guardians (believers). Sinners will have no right to do as they please but will be subject to the will of guardians who, in turn, have the mind of Christ. Hence, sinners will be forced to conform to the will of God, and they will then “learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9).
The law of God is said to be “a fiery law” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). The law’s judgments, then, are metaphorically referred to as fire. This, then, is the “river of fire” pictured in Daniel 7:10, flowing from the throne (a symbol of law), and the “lake of fire” pictured in Revelation 20:14. There is no provision in the law of God to torture anyone or to burn them (alive) with fire, except for the few who have burned others during their life time (Exodus 21:25). Even then, this would be temporary, subject to time, because no sinner has had the ability to burn anyone eternally. The judgment thus always fits the crime.
By placing judgment within the framework of God’s governance of time, verses 16 and 17 preserve moral accountability while acknowledging the painful delay between wrongdoing and justice. The passage teaches that although injustice often dominates human courts, God will judge every deed in His appointed time, ensuring that moral accountability is not erased by delay.
Just as important is the fact that men’s concepts of justice are often at variance with the mind and nature of the God of Love. True justice is administered from the foundation of love and is ultimately corrective in nature. God’s justice is neither too little or too much. Justice does not allow sin to go uncorrected, nor does justice sentence sinners to an unending (“eternal”) time of punishment for sins committed in a few years of a limited lifetime. Koheleth’s study of time and justice assures us not only of the end of man’s injustice but also of the establishment of true justice and the restoration of all things.
Dr. Stephen Jones has been writing blog posts since 2005 on a variety of topics from Bible Studies to World News, and he has been writing books since 1992. Dr. Jones' most important writings came after God brought him back into the full-time ministry in 1991. It is here that all his earlier years of searching the Scriptures began to come into clear focus. He combines a knowledge of the Old and New Testaments with a personal revelation of God that began and developed during the "wilderness" period of his life, which he often refers to as God's True Bible College... Read More
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