In the Epstein Files?

You’ve probably seen the photo by this stage of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor being driven away from the police station after his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office after documents from the Epstein files were disclosed. The photo shows a man who looks like he’s just seen the future unravelling before him, in slow motion detail.

The Epstein files comprise thousands of documents linked to criminal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the American financier and convicted sex offender who moved comfortably among the rich and powerful. Court proceedings have established that sexual abuse occurred over a period of years, including on his private island. While not everyone mentioned in the files has a case to answer, to many observers, that secluded and tightly controlled environment appeared to operate as a place where extraordinary wealth and influence insulated wrongdoing from accountability.

Yet the face of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is a salutary reminder that there will not always be such immunity. The facts will come to light. I wonder what fear the files and his arrest has sparked in the hearts of others?

But what of those who have escaped justice? Epstein himself was found dead in his prison cell. Others will hide behind a wall of lawyers, or a pile of money. Victims will grow old waiting, bearing the scars; perpetrators will get on with their lives.

And all this is true, far beyond the Epstein files, of thousands upon thousands of victims in all sorts of cases across the world.

I was reading this morning these verses from the Bible, from Malachi 4:1:

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

There is a day coming when every sordid abuser, root and branch, will be exposed and judged. 

It has been said that the arc of the universe bends towards justice. But that is only because the arc of time bends towards the Judge. God has his files too. No one will escape. Nothing is lost. Nothing is misfiled. Nothing quietly disappears behind influence or wealth. There is comfort in this to all victims, everywhere. There will be justice.

That look on the face of the former prince—realising that scrutiny has finally arrived—is sobering. It will also be the look of those who mistake delay for escape, who realise too late that the wheels of God’s justice may grind slowly, but they grind nonetheless, and they grind relentlessly small.

The existence of such files is a solemn reminder that one day we will all appear before the Judge of mankind. “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened… And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done… if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:12-15)

There is only one way to be ready to face the Judge, and that is to already be forgiven by him. “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)