Hundreds of postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly convicted of false accounting and theft. In reality, faulty software was to blame for the financial discrepancies which inspectors uncovered and yet this realisation did not come quickly enough to save these innocent people from receiving criminal convictions and the loss of their livelihood, reputation and, in some cases, their liberty. Justice for those wrongly accused has often been slow in coming and it has taken a television drama to bring the issue to the front of the political agenda.
Also in the UK, Andrew Malkinson was released from prison in 2023 having served seventeen years for a rape that he did not commit. While over in the USA, Glyn Simmons walked free from the state penitentiary after being incarcerated for forty-eight years as a result of being wrongly convicted of murder. In both cases, justice finally prevailed, but nobody can restore to these men the time they each spent in prison for a crime perpetrated by someone else.
These recent cases are but a few examples among thousands worldwide where miscarriages of justice lead to wrongful prosecutions with the result that innocent lives are destroyed. Often, when the truth comes to light, politicians are quick to say that lessons will be learned in order that such a travesty will never be repeated. Occasionally, new legislation may be put in place to this effect, but the wrongful convictions continue and it seems inevitable that we will hear of many more cases of injustice in the law courts of nations the world over.
The Bible has much to say about justice and the Most High God is revealed as the Judge over the whole earth: “[The Lord] shall judge the world in righteousness, and He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness” (Psalm 9:8 – see also Genesis 18:25; Psalm 96:13; 98:9). Unlike fallible human systems, God’s justice will be proven right and irrefutable: “let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: ‘That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged’” (Romans 3:4). A future judgement of everybody who has ever lived is a central theme of the Christian gospel (see Romans 2:16), albeit one that is often neglected by preachers.
This important truth notwithstanding, Scripture also records the greatest miscarriage of justice that ever occurred in human history. There has only ever been one completely innocent person, one who never did any wrong; God’s Son Jesus committed no sins or transgressions during His lifetime and yet was forced to endure a fate reserved for the lowest of criminals: death by crucifixion.
Christ’s death upon the cross was predicted many centuries before He even came into this world. One such prediction is found in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where we read these astonishing words: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10a). How could a God in whom no injustice dwells allow such a thing to happen? The simple answer is that this was part of God’s foreordained plan for the salvation of the world.
Whilst all right-minded people would have every sympathy with modern-day victims of wrongly administered justice, the fact is that none of us are truly innocent. Before the Lord, the righteous Judge, we all stand guilty and worthy of death. Two Bible verses often quoted by preachers of the gospel sum it up nicely: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and “the soul who sins shall die” (Romans 3:23 and Ezekiel 18:4b).
God could never simply turn a blind eye to sin, so the only way to save a guilty world and provide hope to those who were previously facing certain destruction was to send a Saviour. There was only one person who could fulfil this role and so: “the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). God’s Son willingly came into the world (see Hebrews 10:5-7), willingly accepted the unjust treatment meted out to Him by men (see 1 Peter 2:21-24) and willingly died in the place of others: “being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
Through the greatest ever miscarriage of justice, men, women and children who deserved death have the opportunity to receive eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s perfect righteousness remains intact and yet He is also able to acquit the sinner who comes to Him through Christ (see Romans 3:21-26).
Human justice will always remain imperfect and sadly we will hear of more innocent victims of the judicial system. However, one day every injustice will be put right. The man who died upon the cross is the man to whom all future judgement has been committed: “the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22 – see also Acts 17:30-31). Please receive mercy from Him now, rather than face a guilty verdict and an eternal sentence on the day He judges the world.
