Christ is our Judge. Judges 2.7-19
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Joshua, Judges, Ruth (5)
Pray Psalm 139.23, 24.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Sing Psalm 139.23, 24.
(Ripley: Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul)
Search my heart, O LORD, and know me, as You only, LORD, can do.
Test my thoughts and contemplations, whether they be vain or true.
Let there be no sin in me, LORD, nothing that Your Spirit grieves.
Lead me in the righteous way, LORD, unto everlasting peace!
Read Judges 2.7-19; meditate on verse 18.
Preparation
1. What did God provide for His people?
2. How did they respond to this grace of God?
Meditation
Reading the book of Judges can be frustrating. Israel never quite gets it, and the less they get it, the worse things get. Not even faithful judges can keep this people within the framework of God’s Law where He can reach them with His love.
Every city and town and village in Israel was to appoint judges to shepherd their communities with the staff of God’s Law. The judges raised from time to time in the book of Judges served on a larger, more national or semi-national scale, which itself is evidence that the system of judges was not working locally. The people thus paid little heed to God’s Law, got themselves in all kinds of trouble, cried out to the Lord, and He delivered them. For a time.
This pattern points us forward once again. The people had no heart for the Lord, as we have seen. And their judges could not help them live within the gracious Law of God for very long. They needed better judges, but every generation of them and of God’s people was merely better than the next.
Jesus came as the best and final Judge, to judge us by fulfilling the Law and giving us a new heart to learn and obey it. He judges us day by day by His indwelling Spirit (Jn. 16.8-11). And He guides and directs us by His Law and all His holy Word along the path He Himself walked (1 Jn. 2.1-6), the Jesus Path—the path along which we become more like Him and that ends up with our seeing Him and being like Him forever.
We submit daily to Jesus’ judgment, looking to His Word, listening for His Spirit, and encouraging one another to walk the good walk of faith and obedience. For a day is coming when Jesus will come as the final Judge to judge the world and all its peoples and nations. And, at that time, we who submit to His daily judgiment will find safe harbor from the storm of His wrath.
Submit to Jesus’ judgment now, and you will not have to endure it later.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
The horrific book of Judges should not be a surprising read for any of us who have been alive longer than 5 minutes. The changes that have taken place in our lifetimes are ripped directly from the headlines of Judges.
The slow drip of falling away from righteousness has happened right before our eyes…and we, as God’s people, are culpable.
For when we peer into the abyss of what passes for “christianity” today, we see the people of the book of Judges front and center. People who have forsaken the God of our fathers, who follow other gods, and who do not obey the commandments of God, nor do we preach their importance. It’s just all sort of “whatever”—a morality that suits the whims of the folks; “worship” that is not even close to real worship; and a “gospel” that must, by any means necessary, make me happy.
“They forsook the LORD…” (Jdgs. 2.13). Guilty as charged.
But it does not have to be this way.
We who love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength
can stand up for righteousness (Matt. 22.37-40).
We can follow God’s Law (Ex. 20.1-17).
We can proclaim the importance of holiness (1 Pet. 1.16).
We are filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.8), whereas the people of Judges were not.
We have “a great High Priest Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God…”
“For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4.14, 15).
It is telling, indeed, the words used to describe our perfect Savior. He can sympathize with us—feel sorrow over our humanness, our foibles, and misfortunes—but it was never said that He could empathize with us. Empathy would mean that He could share and understand our plight because He had experienced it Himself. He was without sin. His holy humanity allows Him only to sympathize but not empathize. A major difference. A saving difference.
Jesus calls us to a victorious life through Him and the power of His resurrection.
To do so, we need to embrace an attitude antithetical to the one we see on display in Judges.
Paul did, we can too: “I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3.8-11).
When we have set our sights on living within the Kingdom of God here and now, and there and then, we rejoice to anticipate the fulfillment of God’s Promises personally and for many in our Personal Mission Field:
Psalm 45.10-17 The Ailbe Psalter
(Manoah: When All Your Mercies, O My God)
Let none keep us from hearing You; desire our beauty, LORD!
We bow, submitting humbly to Your ever-faithful Word.
The Church in robes of woven gold assembles to the King.
With joy complete and gladness bold His praise she e’er shall sing.
When we at last Your palace gain, and others take our place,
Then let our children with Your reign, a legacy of grace!
Reflection
1. Why did people in the days of the judges find it so easy to turn from the Lord?
2. Each of us must judge the state of our own souls (Prov. 4.20-27). Why is this important, and how should we do this?
3. Meditate on John 16.8-11. How does the Holy Spirit work in us as our Judge? Why do we need this work?
We need to examine how matters stand with ourselves, and to pray without ceasing, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. Let us declare war against every sin, and follow after holiness all our days.. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Judges 2.6-23
Pray Psalm 139.11-18.
Remember that the Lord Jesus is our Judge, that He is with us always, sees us continuously, and is true and loving. Call on Him to judge you throughout this day, to shine the light of His Word into your soul and to cause His Spirit to revive and move you for good works of love.
Sing Psalm 139.11-18.
(Ripley: Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul)
Neither light nor dark conceals me; day as night is with You, LORD!
All my inward parts You fashioned by Your all-decreeing Word.
Praise the LORD, for You have made me; all Your wondrous works I’ll tell!
All Your works declare Your glory, and my soul knows this full well!
All my unformed frame You witnessed when You destined all my days.
Precious to me, LORD, Your precepts; all Your wondrous Word I praise.
More than sand, Your thoughts to me, LORD, far too vast their sum for me!
When the morning breaks upon me, in Your Presence I shall be.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
