When the Bad Guys Seem to Be Winning

An abstract of TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus’ sermon on February 22, 2026, in the Book of Judges series. Watch the sermon video here.

God's sovereignty and justice are always at work—even when we can't see them and especially when we don't understand them.

If you've ever looked around and wondered where God is when the world feels dark and broken, Abimelech's story might feel uncomfortably familiar.

The Villain Nobody Stopped

Abimelech's story starts with ambition and ends with destruction. The son of Gideon (last week's complicated hero), Abimelech, convinces his hometown of Shechem to make him king. They finance his campaign with money from a pagan temple. He uses it to hire thugs. Then he murders 69 of his 70 brothers to eliminate any competition.

And nobody stops him.

Well, almost nobody. Jotham—the one brother who survives by hiding—climbs a mountain and publicly curses both Abimelech and the city that crowned him. He pronounces their destruction: they'll consume each other like fire.

Then Jotham runs for his life. We never hear from him again.

For three years, Abimelech rules. For three years, it looks like the bad guys won.

The Question We're All Asking

What was Jotham thinking during those three years?

Did he wonder if God was paying attention? Did he question whether justice would ever come? Did he lose hope that his brothers' deaths mattered?

We don't know. But we've probably all been there—in seasons where evil seems to flourish, where the wicked prosper, where God feels silent or slow.

The temptation is to think God isn't moving. That He's not paying attention. That maybe justice won't come after all.

But here's what the story shows us: God was working the entire time. We just couldn't see it yet.

How God Brings Justice

What happens next is surprising. God doesn't send a lightning bolt. He doesn't raise up a hero. Instead, He uses the mess itself to bring justice.

God sends an evil spirit to create division between Abimelech and Shechem—the very alliance that started all this evil. A rival named Gaal shows up and looks like he might be the answer, but he fails and flees. Abimelech turns on Shechem in paranoid rage, slaughtering the people and burning the city.

The citizens of Shechem—who funded Abimelech's murder campaign with temple money—die inside that same temple when Abimelech sets it on fire.

Then Abimelech goes to destroy another town. An unnamed woman at the top of a tower drops a millstone on his head. It's a fitting end—his brothers' blood, shed on a stone, is now avenged by a stone that brings his own death. The symbolism comes full circle in ways only God's sovereignty could orchestrate.

Jotham's curse—spoken three years earlier—comes true in specific, detailed ways.

God's justice prevailed. But it didn't look like anyone expected.

The Danger of Moral Decay

Before we even get to Abimelech's reign of terror, we need to understand what made it possible. Abimelech couldn't have become king without Shechem giving him the thumbs up, agreeing with his ambitions, funding his campaign, and crowning him. They were the enablers of his evil.

When we find poisoned ground, we shouldn't be surprised to see poisoned plants spring from it. Before Abimelech could murder his brothers, Shechem had to compromise their ethics, raid a temple treasury, and crown a killer. Moral decay doesn't happen overnight, and it never stays contained.

Churches and Christians aren't immune to this danger. When we see people compromising what is good and right and holy to get something they want—power, influence, comfort, acceptance—we need to pay attention. We can't passively allow moral decay to take root in our families, friend groups, communities, or churches. The cost is always higher than we think.

The Mystery of God's Methods

One of the most startling details in this story is that God sent an evil spirit to create division between Abimelech and Shechem. That's a difficult truth to wrestle with, but it reveals something crucial about God's sovereignty. He is in total control—not locked in some equal battle with evil, but directing even the darkest forces according to His purposes.

This doesn't mean God is the author of evil or that He creates it. But in His sovereignty, He can allow evil to accomplish what it already wanted to do, all while using it to bring about His just ends. When Abimelech destroyed Shechem, he wasn't thinking about God's will at all. He was acting out of paranoia and revenge. And yet he was functioning exactly as God intended—as an agent of judgment against the very people who had enabled his rise to power.

God's ways are higher than our ways. In a broken world, He brings about justice through means we'd never choose or understand. It takes a mature faith to hold two truths at once: God hates the sin committed when Abimelech killed his brothers, and God used Abimelech himself as part of bringing justice for that very sin. The mystery of God's methods is above us, and yet those methods direct the very course of our lives.

The Purpose of False Starts

Remember Gaal? Most of us probably forgot about him already. He showed up looking like the answer to everyone's problems—the guy who would finally take out Abimelech and end the nightmare. For Jotham and the people of Shechem, it must have seemed like deliverance was finally at hand.

But Gaal failed. He fled. And we never hear from him again.

Sometimes what looks like the end of the story is really just the middle. Sometimes the solution we're counting on isn't the one God has planned. But here's what matters: Gaal's failed uprising triggered the events that ultimately led to Abimelech's death. He had a part to play, just not the part anyone expected.

There are times when it feels like deliverance is right at the doorstep. This person, this opportunity, this breakthrough holds all our hope. And then it disappears. What are we supposed to do with that disappointment? We need to recognize that even false starts are part of God's plan. He's working things out, but not always on our timeline or through the solutions we think are best.

The Glory of the Background

At the top of a tower in Thebez, an unnamed woman picked up an upper millstone—the heavy grinding stone used to make flour—and dropped it on Abimelech's head. We don't know her name. We don't know anything about her faith. We never hear from her again.

But she was the instrument God used to deliver the fatal blow that ended Abimelech's reign of terror. How could she have known that this mundane action—the kind of thing anyone under siege would try—would tie together threads that had been years in the making?

She couldn't have known. She was just doing the next right thing in front of her.

God loves to weave these kinds of people into His stories. The Bible is filled with unassuming, unlikely individuals who have their names written in His divine word because in the moment of consequence, they had faith. Not dramatic, showy faith. Just ordinary, everyday faithfulness—one foot in front of the other, doing what's right, trusting God with the outcome.

If you're waiting for the knight in shining armor to rescue you from your hard situation, what if God is calling you to that kind of mundane, everyday obedience instead? What if He wants to use your simple faithfulness in ways you'll never see or understand?

The Promise of God's Justice

When Jotham climbed that mountain and cursed Abimelech and Shechem, God was already paying attention. He didn't need Jotham's words to notice that 69 brothers had been murdered on a stone. He was already there, already working things toward their end.

The promise we hold onto is this: God's justice isn't just something He does. It's who He is. Justice is part of His divine character. He is the righteous judge. Evil does not escape His gaze. He will not let the guilty go unpunished.

But the means by which He brings justice often don't meet our expectations, because He's going to do things in His own way and in His own timing. Looking back, we can see that it was better for Abimelech to meet his end exactly as he did—through the very forces he unleashed, in ways that echoed his own crimes. But surely Jotham would have wanted a lightning bolt from heaven the moment he finished speaking that curse.

Three years is a long time to wait. Three years is a long time to wonder if God heard, if He cares, if justice will ever come.

But it did come. Every detail of Jotham's curse came true. God's sovereignty wove together events and people and circumstances in ways that proved once again: He is in control.

The Justice We Actually Deserve

Here's the hard truth we need to face: When you call for God's justice in this broken world, you're calling for judgment on yourself too.

Maybe you haven't murdered 70 brothers. But you've still broken God's commands. You've still fallen short of His standard. And God's righteous judgment for sin—any sin—is death.

That's what makes the gospel so stunning.

God is perfectly just. He must punish sin. But in His love, He sent Jesus to take that punishment for us. On the cross, God's justice and mercy meet. Jesus died the death we deserved so we could live the life we don't.

If you've trusted in Christ, when you stand before God's judgment throne, you won't have to answer for your guilt. Jesus already paid the price. You're covered by the blood of the Lamb.

But if you don't know Jesus as your Savior, if you're calling for justice everywhere you can find it, remember what you're asking for. You'll stand before that throne one day too. Even if you're a better person than Abimelech, you still have sins that need paying for.

Go to the cross. Find God's justice there—and find His mercy.

When You're Waiting

If you're in a season right now where it feels like evil is winning, where God seems silent or slow, remember Jotham's three years of waiting. God was working the entire time, weaving threads together, using broken people and dark circumstances, moving pieces into place. He's doing the same in your life.

The God who brought justice to Abimelech and Shechem is the same God who died on the cross for you. He's worthy of your trust—even when you can't see what He's doing, even when His timing doesn't match yours, even when His methods don't make sense. He is in control. He is working all things out according to His will. And He is just.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

If you're looking for a church community that wrestles honestly with hard questions and points you to the hope of the gospel, we'd love to meet you. At Topeka Bible Church, we're committed to helping people discover life in Christ, connect in community, and serve others.

We can't wait to welcome you this Sunday at 9:00 or 10:30 AM! Plan a visit today.