The Lord Himself does not faint (burn dimly) nor is He discouraged (bruised), until He has established justice in the earth (Isa. 42:4a). The Hebrew word for "faint" is the root of the word for "burn dimly." That means He was a torch made of flax who did not burn dimly. To burn dimly is to faint. Christ never fainted. He does not extinguish the dimly burning flax, but He Himself never burns dimly. To be discouraged means to be bruised. Christ was never discouraged.
He will never faint or be discouraged, until He finishes His commission to establish justice in the earth. Justice here refers to salvation as the result of judgment. Our salvation, the salvation which we have received, is the result of God's judgment on Christ. Christ as our substitute was judged by God according to His righteous law, completely fulfilling all the requirements of that law. The result was salvation to us. To establish justice in the earth means to establish God's salvation, which is the issue of God's judgment on Christ. His commission was to establish such a salvation in the whole earth. Christ will come again when He finishes the establishment of God's justice, God's salvation, in this earth.
Justice is righteousness passing through judgment. A person may be righteous without justice being exercised with him. When he is brought to the court, the judge makes a judgment that he is just. Thus, justice is the issue of righteousness through judgment. In the Recovery Version of Isaiah, 42:1 says that "He will bring forth judgment to the nations." Verse 3 says that "He will bring forth judgment in truth," judgment in reality. Verse 4 says, "Until He has established justice in the earth." Judgment and justice are the same Hebrew word in these three verses.
Justice is righteousness under judgment. When righteousness has been judged, it becomes justice. Justice is the verdict of the judgment on righteousness. I may have righteousness, but if I have never been judged, I cannot have justice. After my righteousness has been judged, the result of that judgment is justice. The justice in Isaiah is equal to salvation. To establish justice on this earth is to establish God's salvation in this earth. To bring forth justice is to bring forth God's salvation to the earth.
Justice is the salvation of God and the verdict of the judgment of righteousness. Righteousness is the fulfillment of God's law. If you have any item that does not fulfill the law, you are not righteous. If your being and your behavior fulfill every part of the law, you are righteous. If this passes through judgment, your righteousness becomes your justice, and this justice is your salvation. Without such a justice, you will be condemned. Today we can proclaim that on the whole earth there is justice! This justice is the verdict of God's judgment over the righteous One, Jesus. The declaration of this justice is the preaching of the gospel.
Salvation in God's gospel is very lawful and very just. I did a lot of preaching fifty years ago in China. The Chinese are very logical. Some would ask me, "Do you mean that if I were a bank robber, I could be saved? If so, your God is not righteous." This is quite logical. How could a bank robber be saved? If you said Confucius could be saved, that might be logical to these Chinese, but what about a bank robber? I answered them in the following way. A bank robber should be sentenced to death. But this bank robber has a Savior, and the Savior died for him. This Savior not only died for him but also paid back all the things he had stolen from the bank. Now the judge must forgive the robber. Is this not righteous? This is not just righteousness, but also justice declared by the verdict issued by the judge in the court. My explanation did much to convince these logical Chinese. They were convinced that the God whom I preached is a righteous God, a just God, a God who carries out judgment.
Sinners have been redeemed by One who is qualified to die for them and to repay all their debts. Based upon Christ's death, God forgives all of us, the believers. This is logical and just, and this forgiveness is a kind of justice. If God would not forgive us now that our debt has been paid by Christ, there would be no justice. We may say that this justice is forgiveness and salvation. Now the salvation, or the gospel we preach, is this kind of justice that comes out of God's judgment over Christ's righteousness.