O Lord, forgive your people Israel whom you have redeemed. Do not charge your people with the guilt of murdering an innocent person.’ Then they will be absolved of the guilt of this person’s blood. By following these instructions, you will do what is right in the Lord’s sight and will cleanse the guilt of murder from your community. [Deuteronomy 21.8-9]
The guilt of an unsolved murder case rested upon the people of the community. Interesting.
It was necessary that justice be served for every impasse of God's Law (in this case in regard to murder). If the murderer was unknown, then the burden of the crime was upon the entire community.
Fast forward to today. How might modern societies look if they practiced this same system of justice?
Back then, it was not enough for people to say, "a terrible crime has been committed but we don't know who did it" and leave it at that. No, a price had to be paid - a sacrifice had to be offered regardless. Obviously, someone was guilty of the crime. In God's eyes, the crime simply could not go unpunished therefore it became the responsibility of the nearest community.
This kind of justice system is proof that our modern ideas of justice may be a contributing factor in why God seems so detached from us. And this is painfully and exponentially worsened in consideration of the Sacrificial Lamb Jesus. Just how "lost" will God allow our society to become before intervening? When people have no regard for God's laws and consequently no regard for Jesus, then compounding guilt remains upon the society as a whole - there is nothing left but justice to be served.
The saddest part of this is the fact that Jesus paid it all as the Sacrificial Lamb... and yet I wonder if people genuinely trust Him?
Father, I feel such a burden today for our society as a whole. I feel like we are so far from You and yet we march forward in religious blindness. The spiritual "air" is impure and polluted with the guilt of unresolved sin. It seems we have insulated ourselves from You. God help us!
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