In Luke 18:1-7 we have recorded the Parable of the Unjust Judge. There, we are offered several motifs that pertain to the coming of Jesus (cf. Luke 18:8). The parable was delivered to Jesus’ disciples in the context of eminent suffering and judgment that was about to befall the Jews of that generation (Luke 17:24:37). The Pharisees had been aggressively interrogating Jesus concerning the coming of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, Jesus told them that they had the wrong idea about the Kingdom. It doesn’t come in a manner that can be observed (Luke 17:20). Rather, it would be found within man. God rules from the throne of a man’s heart, not from an observable throne in a palace (Luke 17:21).
In the Parable of the Unjust Judge that followed, Jesus told his disciples how they must be continually in prayer, because leading up to the day of judgment upon their enemies would be seasons of persecution and trouble they would have to endure (cf. Luke 17:22; Matthew 23:34-35). The motif of the elect’s troubles and their cries to the Lord for vengeance are depicted in the cries of the widow in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:3), and the unjust judge avenged her because of her constant cries for vengeance (Luke 18:3-5). The unjust judge points to the Father who promises to avenge his elect. At first, it may seem odd, perhaps even blasphemous, to say the unjust judge is a picture of the Father, but this is exactly how Jesus places him in the parable. It may be that this was how many Jews understood God in the first century AD, and hints of this understanding of God, as an unjust judge, can be found in the Old Testament.
Notice that Jeremiah thought God deceived his people (Jeremiah 4:10). Why would God do that? Moreover, Jeremiah later believed God had deceived him, because, although Jeremiah had faithfully preached the word God gave him, everyone mocked him, i.e. they mocked Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:7). Why would God allow that? Hadn’t he sent him to the people and told him what to say?
Another prophet, Habakkuk, complained to the Lord that he sent him to a wicked people who wouldn’t listen, for they intimidated the innocent and refused to enforce the Law (Habakkuk 1:4). Yet, when he cried out to the Lord on the behalf of the innocent, it was as though God wouldn’t listen. Why wouldn’t God intervene on behalf of the elect (Habakkuk 1:2-3). So, we are able to see that there is room for a mental picture of God as an unjust judge. Yet, in the case of the righteous, we have Habakkuk yielding to God’s wisdom by saying:
Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
So, Habakkuk and all the prophets looked for another day, for a better country, a better resurrection and better things (Hebrews 11:16, 35, 40). We have this motif of apparent injustice throughout the Bible (Psalm 6:3; 13:1; 35:17; 89:46; 94:3; Habakkuk 1:2; Revelation 6:10). The elect suffer, yet they are promised vindication. But “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood…” (Revelation 6:10)? God’s reply is when the cup of his wrath is full, when their brethren had suffered and been killed also (Revelation 6:11; cf. Matthew 23:34-35).
Jesus criticized the Jewish authorities for their unbelief and for their injustice toward their brethren, and he accused them of killing the prophets (Matthew 23:29-36). The time of the vindication of the innocent was placed at the coming of the Lord at the end of the age—the age in which Jesus was crucified. That would be the time of the vindication of the martyrs and those who suffered for the name of Christ. It would come with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD (Matthew 23:35), and upon that generation came the judgment for the blood of all the righteous from Abel until that time. The coming of Christ heralded the day of judgment, and the time of the resurrection when the martyrs would receive their reward—i.e. when God avenged them, speedily (Luke 18:8).
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