God who is Judge
Psa
7:6-8
Awake, my God; decree justice.
Let the assembled peoples gather around you. Rule over them from on
high; let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD
These
verses introduce us quite clearly to a new description of the Lord:
the Lord who is a Judge. What does a Judge do? He (or she) assesses
a case in the light of the Law and pronounces a verdict based on that
Law. For the Lord this is a circular thing for the Lord designed the
world in accordance with His character (perfection) and decreed the
Law to ensure people lived in accordance with that design. Now
He judges according to that Law, according to that design, according
to His character. Justice is weighing actions in the light of
that Law and bringing appropriate action to bear on the miscreant
to make right the situation.
Now
with the Lord, nothing can be hidden. The writer to the Hebrews
was able to write: Nothing in all creation
is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare
before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Heb
4:13). So, when the Lord assesses the situation He does so with
full and complete knowledge. But there is more. Paul described the
Lord as, the only wise God
(Rom 16:27). The Lord is the only one who not only knows all
things but knows that is right to do in every situation. (Wisdom
is knowing what to do). Therefore the Lord looks, the Lord knows,
and the Lord knows how to respond. The one thing we will never
be able to do when we get to heaven, if the Lord should allow us full
vision of all that has happened, is criticize anything the Lord has
said or done. His ways are perfect (Deut 32:4). Thus in
heaven they cry, Just and true are your
ways (Rev 15:3).
So
it is, that when we come before the Lord we may never fear injustice.
But do we want justice? Do we want to be judged by the One who
sees all things, every wrong thought, every wrong word, every wrong
deed? If every such thing throughout our lives were brought out for
accounting, it would truly be a terrible thing. There would
be no doubt; we are guilty! Piled up before, us all these
things condemn us. It's all right for David in this one situation
to say, Judge me according to my righteousness.
Oh, yes on specific occasions we can say, well, yes, I was
righteous then, I did respond well then. But what about all the other
times when we were not so careful, the times when we do not quite
come up to the mark, or even fell well short of it?
Yes,
this is why we need an advocate, one who will step in and speak up
for us. But what could he plead? Extenuating circumstances?
No, there were none. We were guilty, it was our fault!
No, there is only one ground on which he can plead that he
himself has already stood in for us and taken our punishment and the
penalty for every sin has been paid. That's what John had in
mind when he wrote: if anybody does sin,
we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ,
the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not
only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1
Jn 2:1,2)
Here
is the advocate speaking for our defence and here is the one who has
paid for our sins and they are one and the same person, Jesus Christ.
Thus when God stands as Judge before the whole of Creation, He CAN
bring justice, He can decree rightly in respect of our sins. There
is no letting us off', there is no turning a blind eye. The judgement
is given, justice is done, the sins are paid for. It has been
done! The Judge does give a right judgement and we are released!
How wonderful!
Response:
Pause up and briefly thank the Lord, right now, that He's
made it possible for you to stand before Him without fear, because
your sin has been paid for. Live in the wonder of that today.