Isaiah 33:22: “For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.”
There is a strong tendency to look at judgment as a negative. We actually believe that when the judgement is against our position. However, when judges decide in our favor we love them. Several years ago they did an experiment where they took an American football game that many fans agreed was among the dirtiest of games and had fans of each team document all of the penalties that should have been called. The directions were very clear, they were to record ALL penalties. It likely won’t surprise anyone to discover that the fans of each team found and recorded more fouls on the opposing team. They were happy to overlook their team’s offences.
In many ways this is how we operate our life. We judge others and determine motives of others without looking at what they said or did. Ourselves though we give ourselves grace because we meant to be or do good. In our world we have human judges that must make judgements hampered by this human deficiency.
Is it then not simply incredible that we have a God who is all wise, all knowing as our judge? He loves us immensely and wants our life to be successful. His number one desire is that we accept the payment for our sins by Jesus’s death and resurrection. Also, among His desires in our life is that we live a life or great moral virtue and love of others. It is this commitment that pleases Him. Of course He loves us. I have told my children and grandchildren that I love them no matter what they do. However, I want them to live a life that gives me something to brag about to my friends and other family. In many ways this is what God is saying to us through His scriptures. He gives us the law to guide us. Paul refers to the law as our teacher. For those that would argue that we are under grace and not the law, I agree. However, the grace that Jesus presents in the Sermon on the Mount is way more challenging than that presented in Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament. The difference is that obeying the law of God in the New Testament is a result of truly loving God. In the Old Testament the law created a checklist that was a burden to carry.
God as the judge is giving us the law to help us to live a full and productive life. That productivity may not look like health and wealth in the material world, but in the currency of Heaven it is of the purest gold. Knowing that this is God’s heart I encourage you to submit to the King and worship Him with all your heart.
