In this life it seems that evil prevails – but justice will come:
We just learned that one famous victim of the infamous Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and their wicked group of sexual traffickers has taken her own life. Just three weeks ago Virginia Giuffre was in a traffic accident in Western Australia and she said she had only ‘four days to live’. Well, now she is gone, having taken her own life.
Let me present the story from one media outlet:
Virginia Giuffre, the American-Australian woman who accused paedophile Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her, has died by suicide, her family confirmed. Ms Giuffre was found unresponsive in the Western Australian farming area of Neergabby, about one-hour north of Perth, where she had been living. The family announced “with utterly broken hearts” that Ms Giuffre died on Thursday.
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” the family said in a statement to American news outlet NBC News. “Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure. The light of her life were her children Christian, Noah, and Emily. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels.”
Ms Giuffre rose to global prominence after accusing convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein of trafficking her to powerful men, including Prince Andrew. She alleged the Duke of York sexually assaulted her when she was 17 at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s long-time associate convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.
Prince Andrew has always denied all allegations. In March 2022 the Duke and Ms Giuffre reached a settlement out of court. The amount is not known, but it is understood it went to charities. Epstein was found dead inside a New York City jail in 2019 after committing suicide while waiting for trial on child sex trafficking charges.
There are so many questions of course that arise here. Just how many other victims are there like this, perhaps some of whom we have never heard of? How did Epstein die? Was it really suicide? What about Prince Andrew? Will he get away with all this as well? Evidently there are Epstein client lists available, not only of victims but of the rich and famous (politicians, Hollywood celebrities, and so many others) who took part in this. Will we ever learn who these people are?
And the Christian also has so many questions, although we do have at least some general and broadbrush answers. For example, while we do not have all the details of Giuffre’s situation (and even if this was really a suicide), and so many others like her, we do know some truths:
-Evil exists, and we see evil people doing evil things every single day.
-There are very rich and powerful men (and women) who do some horrific things, and even get away with murder, quite literally.
-There may be no or little justice for their victims in this life, but rest assured they will ALL stand before the living God one day to give an account. Justice WILL be served.
In this life justice too often eludes us. History has always been full of people (mainly, but not always men) who because of their great wealth and inordinate power and control over others can really get away with whatever they like. Whether it is actual murder, or things like sexual trafficking, or countless other crimes against those who are too poor or powerless to defend themselves and get justice, they seem to do great evil with impunity.
It remains to be seen how this very sad story of Giuffre will further develop. But it is so tragic that evil people seem to get away with horrible crimes, but it is the victims who mainly suffer and have to pay the price. But we know that a God of justice WILL prevail, if not always in this life, then certainly in the next.
A biblical case in point
Many stories in Scripture about evil rulers and others oppressing and abusing people can be mentioned. One classic example of this is found in 1 Kings 21 where we read about the evil Ahab, king of Samaria, coveting Naboth’s Vineyard. His equally wicked wife Jezebel urged him on in this endeavour. As we read in verses 7-9:
But Jezebel his wife came to him and said to him, “Why is your spirit so vexed that you eat no food?” And he said to her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, ‘Give me your vineyard for money, or else, if it please you, I will give you another vineyard for it.’ And he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” And Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern Israel? Arise and eat bread and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
So she did the dirty work for him, getting false witnesses to frame poor Naboth, bringing false charges against him. As a result he was put to death, and Ahab got what he wanted. But in verses 17-19 we read this:
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.”’”
Some repentance on the part of the king resulted in a brief delay in justice. We read: “I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house” (v. 29). In 2 Kings 3 we read about the death of Ahab, but in 2 Kings 9 we finally see the prophetic word fulfilled concerning Jezebel. She was thrown out of a window and died:
But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel, and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.’” (vv. 35-37)
Justice ultimately prevailed. It may not have come quite as quickly as some liked, but it did come nonetheless. For other evildoers, it may seem like they simply get away with it. Hitler did not have to face a court of law – he took his own life. But he, like Epstein and everyone else, will stand before the Righteous Judge and face the music.
2 KINGS; THE POWER AND FURY (Focus on the Bible Commentaries) by DAVIS DALE RALPH (2009) Paperbackby unknown author (Author)
But getting back to the biblical story, Dale Ralph Davis in his commentary on 2 Kings first offers three inferences from the material found in Chapter 9. Let me just list his headings:
-The word of God is the catalyst of history.
-Politics, the realm of the bleak and the boring, stands under the judgment of God.
-Yahweh is vigilant to avenge his suffering people.
As to the fate of Jezebel, he writes:
The demise of the wicked should be the joy of the righteous. It may sound crude put it that way but that’s only because the church has stopped living in, for example, Psalms 83 and 94 and has been sucking up the bland milk of tolerance from the breasts of an anemic culture for far too long. There is no biblical spine in our theology.
Admittedly sometimes we’re a bit shocked by the biblical attitude in these matters. I recall a time when our boys were young and I would read them Bible stories before bedtime. After the story we would pray. One evening the story was about Elijah and Jezebel, and it told about how Jezebel was flipped out of the window to her death. I put aside the little book and we went to prayer. Our oldest boy usually tried to reflect what we’d read in our story in his prayer. And it was so this night. Luke prayed: ‘Dear God, thank you for letting Jezebel die.’ I remember being somewhat jolted by the straightforward gratitude but, thankfully, said nothing. Later I realised that Luke was exactly on target. It is always good news for the saints when their oppressors are judged and removed. That’s the word of 2 Kings 9: ‘Joy to the church – the queen is dead!’
Philip Graham Ryken also comments on her end, and reminds believers today that what God promises, that he will do. He did judge the evil Jezebel, and he will judge again at the end of history:
We have God’s word for it: the day of judgment will be a day of vengeance. Few things are explained as frequently and as fully in the Bible as the certainty of the final judgment. J. I. Packer writes, “When Christ comes again and history is completed, all humans of all ages will be raised for judgment and will take their place before God’s judgment seat. The event is unimaginable, no doubt, but human imagination is no measure of what a sovereign God can and will do.”
Know this: the final judgment will be all for the glory of God. Near the end of his apocalypse, John heard “the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven.” They were crying out:
Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
for his judgments are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. (Rev. 19:1–2)
It is so sad that Giuffre had to go through all that she did. It seems like for her there was no real justice. But rest assured: full justice, and just deserts, will be meted out to every man, woman, and child. The Christian knows that there is a double work of justice to be aware of:
At Calvary, Jesus died for our sins, so that those who come to him in faith and repentance can receive mercy instead of justice. They can receive pardon instead of punishment. But all those who refuse this offer of grace today will face the full justice and wrath of God in that day.
We all must choose wisely here. In the meantime, we can keep the family of Giuffre in our prayers, and all those others who suffered so greatly at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the sex traffickers. Their sins will NOT go unnoticed and unpunished.
