-
Not Judge Judy! Judge Jehovah
Contributed by Jason Bonnicksen on May 15, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: Conveying a message of hope that if we're saved in Christ, then there is no fear of one day having to face Judge Jehovah.
THE WHY
I think we should ask why the second and third generations into the land failed to know God. It’s a question that needs to be answered, because the answer holds the key as to why the subsequent generations failed to know God. Did their elders fail to pass on their faith? Did the younger generations simply walk away and not listen? Did the people simply not care -- for they had received the blessings and now lived in times of prosperity?
Judges Chapter 1 provides the answer we seek. Chapter one states Israel moved into the Promised Land; but they failed to eradicate the occupiers of the land, the high places, and the idols of bronze, gold, and wood the occupiers worshipped. Verse 19 says Judah failed to drive out the occupiers. Verse 21 says “The Benjamites, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem.” Verse 27-33 specify that neither Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali drove out the Canaanites. And lastly, verse 34 says The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. So, to make a short story long, Israel failed to completely drive the occupiers and their pagan ways from the Promised Land. In short time, the culture and religion of the Cannanites, Amorites, and other pagan nations made their way into those of Israel. ]
Because of all this, the subsequent generations failed to follow God and the Covenant -- the covenant confirmed and read by Joshua just years earlier. In not following God, the people turned away from God and back to the old laws of human depravity -- to the laws of selfishness, unrighteousness, and ungodliness. And because of this, God needed to bring people back to him -- even if that required God to severely rebuke and judge his children. For his covenant was unilateral, but not, unconditional.
I think it’s really easy for us as a people living today, right here and now in America to identify with Israel in this era. Like them, we like to cyclically turn away from God and follow the desires of our own hearts -- even after God’s wrote his laws onto our hearts, saved us through the blood of his Son on the cross of Calvary, and leads us from one place in life to the next through his Holy Spirit. We’ve already seen how the cycle of sin repeats with past generations, and as it was with them, this generation was no different -- likewise, I would say that as a human race, we’re all no different. And it’s really for this reason -- this cycle of sin -- that God chose to chose to judge Israel.
But, the how God judged is less important than who did the judging. Let’s continue reading the text from where we left off. -- READ VV 16-19
THE WHO OF THE JUDGES
THE WHO: The judges were not necessarily judges as we might think of today within our judicial system. I guess the best way to describe the judges is like this. They were 11 men, and one woman, who God raised up to lead the nation into a new time of salvation history. However, let it be known there was another who did evil, and for that reason I am not sure it safe to call him a judge. But of the 12, it has been said that, at least in our own language, their title of judge could be better translated as deliverer or savior.