The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets: the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; all who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, may be justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness. For in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.1
You have heard it said, “Might does not make right.” But I say to you, “Might makes.” Power acts upon the world, and shapes it according to the volition of the one who wields power. It is not for the powerless to question the purposes of the powerful, saying, “but it is not right.” You ask: “Why not?” I answer: “Because what would doing so accomplish?” Will a pauper enter the king’s court and say, “You have taxed the poor too greatly, we are starving, it is not right,” and thereby become his master? Truly I say to you, the king will multiply his burdens, saying, “As I have scourged you with whips in the past, now you shall be scourged with scorpions.”2 Such was the fate of the peasantry in the time of the robber barons. Knights of yore, stripped of all noble pretense, donned armor and banner, rode with dignity and purpose, and plundered all the fields of the poor. One town elects a representative, who says to the baron, “You have much, and we have not even enough to live, surely your heart must see that it is wrong to take that little we have from us.” He replies, “It does not; I say, it is wrong for you, who have not armor nor banner, nor horse nor lance, to speak in lack against the one in plenty. Truly I say to you, from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”3
Our Caesar of this peasant republic returns, then, to his village. He says to them, “our oppressor is not moved by compassion. Go therefore, you men, and retrieve from your farms every manner of equipment, and arm yourselves as for war, that we may drive him away by force of might; that our spite might drag one or two of his men to Hell.” Therefore the men of the village do as Caesar commands, and soon all the republic is armed as for war, the women also, even down to the youth of twelve years. The baron comes with horse and soldier, to find that his quarry has made itself impregnable, and issues a summons to Caesar, that he should answer for the state of the village. Not so! Rather, a lone longbowman releases his arrow, which strikes the baron in his eye. While he perishes, he sees Caesar as though in a dream, who says to him, “I will ask you one thing, and answer me: Is there a God in Heaven, who judges those who oppress the poor?” And the baron says to himself, “if I say, ‘there is,’ he will say, ‘Why then do you oppress the poor?’ But if I say, ‘there is not,’ all the people will rebel against me, their consciences being loosed from oaths of fealty made to the Almighty.” So, he answers that he does not know whether there is a God. Caesar replies to him, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I have set this village against you.”4 So hearing this, the baron suffers his last.
Hearing of the death of the tyrant, nearby villages and hamlets willfully join in the republic, and submit to the authority of Caesar as general-of-war. So great grows the power of the republic, that all the nearby robber barons fear to enter the territory under Caesar’s protection. They petition the king for redress, who therefore summons Caesar and the barons to his court, to each give an account of what has taken place. Caesar arrives at the court of the king, and there meets Cicero, an eloquent one chosen from among the courts of the robber barons, who shall argue for their robbery. Caesar speaks first before the king, stating that the peasants have done no wrong to any lawful liege, and have only defended themselves from those who sought to lawlessly deprive them of their lives and livelihoods, repaying them for the violence they sought to do. The king hears this gladly, and agrees with it, yet orders that Cicero, too, should be heard.
Then says Cicero, “Oh King, may God grant you long life and prosperous reign, it is true what Caesar has said, that the peasants have merely defended themselves, in that they have committed no act of aggression by storming a fortress, or invading a castle, or frightening a sow. Yet what should happen to your reign, should you grant your eminent approval to Caesar’s party? He says that the republic was formed in response to undue imposition, yet what is any tax, or any law, if not an imposition? Are not you, oh gracious King, and your faithful servants, the ones who impose? Caesar may say, ‘the laws of the King are just, but the plunderings of the barons are unjust.’ Yet by so saying, oh King, he makes himself master over all the nobility, your Excellency included most of all, trusting himself to discern between just and unjust. Thanks be to God that Caesar finds the laws of the King to be just this day! Yet what of tomorrow? If you, your merciful Majesty, should grant Caesar his peace, he shall become ruler over you, and you shall live in fear of his arbitration, praying morning, noon, and night, that he might continue to find you just. You should become like a criminal in your own lands, a prisoner—God forbid!—upon your own throne. Perhaps, oh King, in your great humility, you could find this tolerable; but I say to you that your servants are more hard-hearted than you, and that even the most lawful and loyal of them will turn against you, if it should come to pass that you should give your power to Caesar. For they would not be turning against you, who have resigned the powers of your crown over to Caesar, retaining only the metal, so much as they would be turning against Caesar, to whom they gave ne’er an oath of loyalty, and who they are justified in fearing should seek to overturn their own taxes and laws. Therefore, oh mighty King, deal as you must with the barons who have sent me. Say to them, ‘your harshness has released knaves upon the kingdom, and you shall suffer the punishment of a knave!’ if you so deign. Only do not permit Caesar and his republic to persist: cleave his head from his shoulders, and crush the republic beneath your boot.”
This, too, the king hears gladly, being impressed by Cicero’s flattery and finery of argument. While he is inclined to favor the party of the barons, he is too affixed by sentiment for the cause of the peasants, and dislike for the lawlessness of the barons, to make a judgement immediately. Therefore, he declares that he shall judge between Caesar and Cicero tomorrow, and not today, sending the two away to their own camps. As it happens, the king has a brother, who is rightful duke over all the lands bound in the republic, and three quarters more. After the retirement of Caesar and Cicero, the duke sends a spy into the king’s council, only to hear that the king inclines towards the arguments of the barons. Hating the barons, and already having many grievances against the king, the duke takes up arms against his brother that very hour, sending word to all his allies that the time has come for war. The court of the king dissolves, Caesar and Cicero returning to their own places.
The barons, knowing the hatred of the duke for their lawlessness, raise up arms in favor of the king, and seize properties that are the duke’s by right over the course of the war, yet still fearing to tread into the territories protected by the grand republic. Caesar’s cities, towns, villages, and hamlets are true to their pact of mutual defense, and the burghers delight in Caesar, for he imposes no tax, nor makes any demand of them save that they should stand for the defense of the undefended, which they do willingly, finding the alliance in their own interest. So it happens that the war between king and duke continues, and the duke finds himself outmatched by the king’s might. In desperation, he seeks out Caesar by way of a messenger, and appeals to him that the grand republic should align with his cause, and overthrow the king. If they should do so, the duke promises, the republic will find the duke as their personal patron, and he will protect their rights with his own soldiers, and he will absolve their murder of the tyrannical baron who began their oppression. Hearing this, Caesar calls a general assembly of all the republic’s cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, and places before the delegates the duke’s proposal. A majority pledge themselves to the duke, yet not a unanimity, for there remain some who are steadfast to the king. Caesar negotiates, at least, that the settlements of the republic should not wage war against each other, but that those who wish to fight for the duke may do so.
With the help of Caesar and the greater portion of the republic, the duke turns the tides of war, and the king is overthrown. After this, the duke says to himself, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For He has regarded my low estate as Duke, and made me a mighty King in all the lands that my brother once ruled. Behold, henceforth all generations will call me Rex.”5 And Rex therefore summons once more Caesar and Cicero to his court, to offer the delayed judgement between their causes. Cicero arrives after Caesar, and makes a deep bow before Rex the king, who then says to him, “I judge that all of barons who you represent are traitors and thieves, who have been unsatisfied with the revenues afforded to them out of my coffers by their rights, and have taken to the properties of the peasantry, thereby provoking them to violence. Their rights have ceased. I will no longer respect them; and furthermore they shall all be killed. As for you, Cicero, who dares to justify the wicked barons, and to condemn Caesar the Just, you are an abomination to me.6 This night your soul will be required of you, and your children will beg for bread all the days of their life.”
Then Rex turns to Caesar, and says to him, “summon the assembly of your republic, that they should all come to my court and make oaths of loyalty.” So Caesar does as the king commands, and the multitude of the leaders of the cities, towns, villages, and hamlets of Caesar’s grand republic are standing in a mass before Rex the king; and among them are those who fought against Rex during the war for his ascending. Rex therefore says to his captain of the guard, “Bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.”7 Caesar protests this, saying, “What cause have I given you to treat me so harshly?” Rex replies to him, saying, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.8 Yet where you stood for me, as a faithful servant and friend, these fought against me, and opposed me bitterly, and spoke ill of me before my coming. Truly I say to you, I am Rex; I am just, for my will is the justice of the land. I have justified you, for you put your faith in me, and stood by me though I appeared as one weak. Now that I have come into the fullness of my power, should I not have beheaded Cicero and all his beneficiaries?”
What is the meaning of this parable? I will tell you: that when a man with an army conquers a region, and enforces his law upon a place, he declares that he, himself, is just, and thereby justifies the cause of all those who stood with him. There may be some among the conquered who disagree with his judgements, but what are their opinions against his blood and iron? Only when the dissenters raise for themselves an army of some kind, and frustrate the rule of their conqueror, have they become moral philosophers, declaring themselves to be just, and justifying those who stand with them.
Truly I say to you, God is God because He is mighty. His is the right of the Stronger Man to the Strong Man’s goods;9 the ability to take them, makes them His. His judgements are beyond questioning, because what good is the question? What can avail the opinions of men, who are concerned with matters of whether God has been “ethical” in one way or another, against the world-shattering might of the All-mighty? Is it not written, “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”?10 Will man stand in judgement of God, sifting from deed to deed, approving or disapproving of them as he wishes? Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook?11 God’s is the right of conquest, the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever, because none are, or ever shall be, strong enough to take them from Him.
I have made slight alterations to the NKJV text for stylistic purposes.
1 Kings 12
Luke 19
Luke 20
Luke 1
Proverbs 17
Luke 19
Luke 15
Luke 11; can you tell I read Luke recently?
Matthew 10
Job 41
Very interesting parable, to be sure. Yes, the special section of Luke has great parables that do not appear in the other gospels. My personal favorite is the Unjust Steward.
Is God's kingdom a hierarchy of control, with God at the top of angels and then humans? Some theologians (Michael Heiser for example) claim that this is what Jews of the Second Temple era believed Heaven to be. And it is what the Romans (Constantine, Augustine, et al) wanted Christianity to be, a hierarchy of control with the Pope at the top.
But IMO Christ came to change many things, and one was that idea of a God in control of a dictatorship. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Jesus was the servant of many. God's realm is not about control. Just saying.