Christ in Judges: Our Righteous Judge

If you ever found yourself in a courtroom, wouldn’t you pray that the judge would be fair?  Whether you are the accused or whether you are the accuser, whether you are serving on the jury or one of the attorneys trying the case, or even if you are only a bystander, interested for whatever reason in the outcome of the case, wouldn’t you hope that the judge would be fair, unbiased, righteous, and not swayed by bribery or public opinion?  Wouldn’t you hope that the judge would know the law and hear the case based only upon the law that was in effect at the time of the offense, and that the judge would not change the law mid-trial to favor one side over the other? 

We have a Righteous Judge.  His name is Jesus.  The book of Judges tells us how God judged His people, Israel, when they were unfaithful to Him and the laws He had given them.

This book begins with the last events during the time that the Israelites were settling the land that God had promised to them.  He had warned them very strongly against allowing the conquered people to be an influence in their lives.  He expected His people to remain faithful to Him, worshipping Him alone and not allowing their worship to be tainted by the customs and false gods of those people whom they had conquered.  His laws were very clear.  Look back at the last chapter of Joshua.  Just before Joshua died, he warned the people to serve only the one true God (Joshua 24:19-22, New International Version):

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”  Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

 

But sure enough, the first chapter of Judges says at least nine times that, although the Israelites conquered the land, they did not drive the conquered people out of the land – they allowed them to stay.  So when we turn the page to the second chapter of Judges we read how displeased God was with His people.  Read Judges 2:1-3 (New International Version):

The angel of the Lord … said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors.  I said, “I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.” Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? And I have also said, “I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.”

 

Throughout the rest of this book we read a continued cycle of disobedience, repentance, sacrifice, and forgiveness.  God’s people continued to be negatively influenced by those who worshipped other gods rather than being a positive influence on those who did not know the one true God.  God, the Righteous Judge, continued to punish their disobedience, allowing His people to be oppressed by their enemies.  His people continued to confess their disobedience, temporarily repent, and He continued to forgive them.  Only to repeat the cycle again and again for between 330 and 450 years!

So what can we learn from this?  We have received the same command that the Israelites received.  The very first of the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:2-3 (New International Version:   “I am the Lord your God, … You shall have no other gods before Me.”  And yet we (and by “we,” I mean “me, too!”), many times, are influenced more by our society than our society is influenced by us!  We forget that God’s way is the only way we should live, that His laws govern how we should live, and that we will face consequences when we are not obedient to Him and His laws.  Do we worship the idol of “sleep” when we refuse to get up on Sunday morning to attend church?  Or is that idol our hobby that cause us to be “too busy” to worship Him?  Do we conform to the lifestyles of society rather than the lifestyle He tells us He expects from us?  Or are we influencing those around us so that they know, without a doubt, that we belong to Him?

I can hear what some people are thinking right now, “There she goes, another judgmental Christian.  What about, ‘Judge not, lest ye be judged?’”  The good news is:  I am NOT your judge or anyone else’s judge!  I will be judged, just like everyone else will be judged.  According to His Word, The Lord God is the judge of all the earth:

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them.  The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. (1 Samuel 2:10, New King James Version)

 

O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs — O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth!  Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. (Psalm 94:1-2, New King James Version)

 

For behold, the Lord will come with fire and with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire.  For by fire and by His sword The Lord will judge all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.  (Isaiah 66:15-16, New King James Version)

 

For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. (John 5:22-23, New King James Version)

 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.  (2 Corinthians 5:10, New King James Version)

 

God’s law is clear.  His law never changes.  Jesus is Our Righteous Judge.  He is longsuffering, merciful, and full of grace.  But He will judge.  Whether we are found guilty or innocent depends solely on whether or not we have honored the name of Jesus Christ by accepting His blood sacrifice as payment for our debt of sin.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23, New King James Version)

When my daughter was born, I named her Deborah after the judge in chapters 4 and 5 of the book of Judges.  The judge, Deborah, was a strong woman in a day and in a culture where women were neither valued nor respected, and yet she is immortalized in God’s Word as an obedient, faithful follower of God.  So I hope you will join me in my prayer of praise this week, taken from Deborah’s song in Judges 5, specifically verse 3:

“Hear this, you kings (and all my friends and family and neighbors)! Listen, you rulers!  I, even I (insert your name here), will sing to the Lord; I will praise the Lord, the God of Israel, in song.”