Christianity and Culture

Christian Mandate in Parable on Gods Judgment

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Culture

Lesson: 5-5

Genre: Lecture

Track: 05

Dictation Name: RR196C5

Location/Venue: Westminster Presbyterian Church

Year: 1995

[Audience Leader] Incredible blessing to have Doctor and Mrs. Rushdoony with us this weekend, and if you have been to some of the sessions you know of what I speak. It is a great privilege to introduce to you doctor R.J. Rushdoony, he is a holder of various degrees, 3 doctorate degrees, he is an ordained minister, he has served as a missionary to the American Chinese, the Piute and Shoshone Indians, he has served two pastorates, he has been with the Volker Foundation, the Center for American Studies, former board member and vice President of the Christian Freedom Foundation, recipient of two research grants, he is currently president of the Chalcedon foundation, many of you know of the work that he does there. He has written well over 30 books, and he was relating to Peg and me yesterday how he believes God has called him to write many more before he goes home to be with his heavenly father. So at this time I would like to introduce to you R.J. Rushdoony.

[Rushdoony] Our Scripture this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the 18th Chapter verses 1-8. Luke 18:1-8.

“18 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;

5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

I find this parable a very moving and a shattering one. I first came to its meaning perhaps half a century ago, I was startled by what it said. And startled by my ignorance in having read it for many years and having missed its point. I realized that this was a mandate. One of the sad facts of our day is that the gays have come out of the closet and the Christians have gone in. They have retreated from problems, they figure they are losers, and I don’t believe that because the Bible never teaches that. Certainly no this parable. This parable is routinely misunderstood in terms of the last sentence: “Nevertheless when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?” Because of that sentence it is routinely held to refer to conditions at the end of the word, at the last, at the second coming. But it does not. “When the son of man cometh” doesn’t mean the last coming, because over and over and over again the Bible speaks of God coming in judgement, in the old Testament, once coming in the Clouds of judgement. In Isaiah alone we have at least 10 nations who are going to see the day of the Lord, the day of His judgement, and saw it within a few years.

So obviously this refers to God’s judgement but not the last judgement, because God comes often in judgment. The fall of Rome was a judgment, the fall of the Medieval order was a judgment, the fall that is beginning all around us of the modern age is a judgment. It is the day of the Lord. God comes repeatedly in major judgments and in minor judgments, and a time of judgement is a time of trouble.

Right now we are in a time of trouble because it is a time of judgement. 70% of all Americans right now are making less than they were 2 years ago. That is why so many wives have to work. In fact, the rise of the number of working women began about 1972 and has steadily increased. Isn’t that a judgment when God creates such chaos in the economic order, when taxes rise so, when it becomes necessary for there to be more than one wage earner in a family, isn’t that a judgment upon an age?

We live in a time of judgment, when men’s hearts fail them for fear. And so we had better understand the meaning of this parable, because it is talking to us. A parable by our Lord for His people. “And he spake a parable unto them for this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Whatever the judgment that confronts you, whatever the problems, you are not to get discouraged and disheartened, but you are to pray expecting an answer. A good answer. “Saying there was in a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man, and there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying: “Avenge men of mine adversary.”” Well you would have to say that our Lord really loaded the deck. He stacked things. A crooked judge. Well judges then and now, especially then, had a great deal of freedom to do as they please. I don’t know about this part of the United States, but in our part, unless it is a big city and there are a lot of judges in the city, you don’t run against a judge at election time, because as a lawyer you are out of business if you do. And here is a crooked judge, and a widow.

Now widows and orphans are singled out in the Bible as types of helpless people. The widow in antiquity was especially a prey for con artists, she was commonly defrauded, and an orphan, a child without parents, who can be more helpless? So here was a widow, she had been defrauded, she had no recourse, no one to go to, no relative, no friend, nobody to help her, and she appeals to a crooked corrupt judge: “Avenge me of mine adversary.” And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself: “Though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”

Well this woman did what woman very often are very good at. She nagged the judge. She sat outside of his office where she could see him every time he went in and out, and she was there to present her petition, “Avenge me of mine adversary.” He’d go in. When it was time to come out, to eat or to do something whatever, or to see the secretary, whatever it was, there she was again: “Avenge me of mine adversary!” it made him look terrible. Here was this woman always nagging him, every time he went in and out. Advertising the fact that she had been defrauded and he was doing nothing about it.

He was a crooked man, unjust judge, a judge is supposed to represent justice. In many courts, the term including here in the United States at some levels is not judge but justice. Because they are supposed to be fountains of justice, so their very title is justice. Our judges on the Supreme Court are called justices, because that is what they are supposed to represent, and this has been historically true in one culture after another. So when you talk about an unjust justice or judge, you are putting together something that is horrifying.

In the Psalms, God tells the unjust judges, elohim as they were called, little God’s as it were, “Ye have lived as God’s, but ye shall die as men because you have corrupted my law.”

So this unjust judge gets weary of this woman’s nagging, and so he says: “I don’t care two cents about justice, I want what I can get. But his woman is a bad advertisement for me, she nags me every time I go and come, and it’s getting to me, it is wearing me out. I will give her what she wants.” And he does. He does.

That’s at the heart of this parable. Even a crooked judge will at time give justice. And the Lord said: “Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not god avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?” Those words sound like a whiplash to me. What is our Lord saying? “If a crooked judge can give justice, how much more God the almighty? The source of all justice? How dare you pray and not expect an answer? How dare you not pray when you believe in the name of God? How dare you endure injustice around you and in your life and not go to the Lord of all justice? How dare you treat God as though he were not as good as this crooked judge? If a crooked judge can give a helpless widow justice, how much more so the God of all justice?” If we do not pray for justice, we indict God. We are guilty of blasphemy. We are saying; “Well, maybe you are too busy God, maybe you are like the Baal whom the priest of Baal worshipped and whom Elijah mocked, saying: “Shout a little louder, maybe he is asleep and can’t hear you.”” Is our God like that? Then why aren’t we praying for justice?

It wearies me that so often prayers are said for the president but not in a Biblical sense. When Paul said “Pray for all rulers that that they may allow us to live a Godly life in quietness and peace.” To leave us alone, so that we may serve God, and pray for justice that we may be freed from the evils of this world.

“I tell you, that he will avenge them speedily.” That’s quite a promise. Our Lord says men ought always to pray and not to faint, because God is better than a crooked judge, and He will avenge us speedily. How dare we not pray for justice? We live in a world surrounded by evil. Wherever we look we find ungodliness. We find legalized horrors like abortion, homosexuality, and now actually taking place as nurses have told me, Euthanasia, and much more.

I can recall when in this country not many people locked their doors. There never was a problem, in entire communities. And now they have all kinds of locks and bars on the doors. And what have the Christians been doing all the while? Men ought always to pray and not to faint. “Shall not God avenge his own elect?” Which ones? “Which cry day and night unto him though he bear long with them.” They may not be the best of saints, he has to put up with a great deal from some of us, he bears long with us, yet he will avenge us.

Are we surrendering our country to the devil? Are we saying it is hopeless to pray for justice? Cannot God bring about justice in the face of all the pharaohs, all the presidents and prime ministers of this world? There was a time when Christians were ready to get down and pray when they saw evil, and then get up and act. Now we resign ourselves to it, we act as though that is all that we can expect. The world is an evil place, which it is, it is a fallen humanity, which it is, but is not our God greater than any of the powers that be? He who destroyed the power of death can destroy the power of all sin. “Shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him? Though he bear long with them.”

I began by saying that when I first appreciated the meaning of this parable it was like a slap in the face. I had read, and this goes back about half a century, something in Kipling, and it sounded good. But I soon came to realize it was evil. He wrote about not expecting justice, that was his subject. Why? Well the world is full of evil, a great deal of the world is very ungodly, and wherever you go there is more and more evil taking place, therefore we should not expect justice in this world. It sounded so logical, only it was ungodly. We are told in this parable to pray for justice, and after reading Kipling and agreeing with him I came across this parable and was ashamed of myself.

When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? Will he find this faith in a time of judgement? If he doesn’t find it, it is because we brought on the judgment, we retreated. We holed up in our houses and le the world go to the devil, we did not pray without fainting that God overthrow the powers of darkness.

I am asking all of you therefore, make justice as well as the conversion of the ungodly, a matter of daily prayer in your private devotions. Otherwise we will find indeed a time of judgment that will judge us because we have fainted, and we have treated God as though he were not up to the caliber of a crooked judge. We are his children, we are His people. He will hear us. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God we come to Thee, surrounded by a world of evil. A world that mocks at Thee and Thy kingdom, and Thy people are slaughtered like sheep all the day long, all over the world. Avenge us Oh Lord of our adversaries. Bring them to their knees in faith, or bring them down in Thy judgment, and make of us a people that know thou to be the all righteous judge, our heavenly father, our shield and our defender. Oh Lord our God, give us zeal in praying for thy triumph, Thy justice, Thy kingdom. In Christ’s name, amen.

[Audience Leader] Psalm 79 which we are about to sing is a model of the kind of prayer that Doctor Rushdoony was talking about. If you would take the insert from your bulletin and stand we will sing it together.

[Music, Singing]

[Message from Mount Olive Tape Library]