“Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.” Isaiah 41:1 ESV
Reflection: why should we be concerned with righteous judgments?
One of my favorite movie genre is a legal case argued before a courtroom; in particular when the final judgment is righteous and fair. Often the story and drama involves an innocent being accused, with lack of, or even deceptive information being presented to the court. But as more and more facts are uncovered in the case, the truth eventually appears, with a final verdict. I am probably not alone about enjoying such drama, as there are countless movies made within this genre. It seems as if there is a law written on our hearts about fairness, even righteousness. We instinctively seek and know what is fair and unfair, and we desire someone’s right to be exercised, for all people. We want fairness; righteous judgments. Jesus even said “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”John 7:24 ESV
This pursuit of what is “right” extends to all parts of society and life; in our relationships at home and between friends, in the neighborhood, at school, at work, even between countries as we have witnessed lately. And, while most pursue what is right, there are also those who try to get away with “bending” the rules. Sometimes using deception; saying one thing while doing something else. And some become very good at it, perhaps starting with something very small as a child; perhaps trying to fool their parents or teachers. Taking a bit more than what is theirs. Cheating on a test or a report at work, even getting others to do the work for them to get a better result. Telling half-truths. Looking for loopholes in the system, in the law, to gain something personally. We can go on and on; you know exactly what I am talking about, which really is what the Bible calls
The practice of lawlessness.
We are talking about sin, doing what is against God’s will; breaking God’s laws. For some laws, like “do not murder”, we thankfully have man-made laws and a legal system to enforce such law. But what about laws like adultery, lying, or even coveting? Jesus taught us that God’s laws are broken already in the heart, before they become action. He said ““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Matthew 5:21-22 ESV. Therefore, in the courtroom of heaven, none of us can measure up. We are all guilty as charged.
But, thank God that is not the end of the story.
We read something very beautiful in the beginning of chapter 41 of Isaiah. “Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.” Isaiah 41:1 ESV. What the Lord is saying here, is that He will go together with us, to plead our case before the courtroom of heaven, to get a righteous judgment. Now, we know in ourselves we deserve the guilty verdict. But, we also see here, even 100s of years before Jesus came into this world, that God had already made a plan. That there would be a way for both a righteous judgment and our freedom; He would take the punishment we deserved, while we would be set free. It had to be this way, for the judgement to be right and at the same time offer us freedom.
We also see the beautiful words of the Lord here, not to be missed, saying “let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak;”. It is about each of us pleading our case; together with the Lord. John wrote “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2 ESV. Our advocate, our defense lawyer, is Jesus Christ himself, who paid our debt, our punishment.
So, how do we then even speak before the courts of heaven? How can we plead our case? We point to Jesus Christ, and speak with confidence of Him who did it all. Paul wrote “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:33-37 ESV
