Ps 9:4b THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

“Thou satest in the throne judging right”

Ps 9:4b

(You have sat on your throne, judging righteously – NIV)

What a terrifying text! The Almighty Lord, Jesus Christ, is looking over your shoulder judging everything that you do! On what basis? He has left no one in doubt. He has inscribed His rules of conduct into everyone’s heart. St. Paul tells us that even those who do not know the Bible show the work of the law in their hearts, their consciences bearing witness. Love your Lord with all your heart, honor and obey your parents, lead a clean and decent life, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t covet. This is God’s will, and He does not ask us whether we like it or whether it interferes with the way we want to live. He simply says, “This is what I require. You violate what I say and I will remember and eventually punish you with everlasting death.”

One of the great deceptions of the devil is to convince us that there is no reason to be afraid when we do what we know is wrong. After all, to quote the Psalmist, “How does God know?” In reality this is like whistling in the dark. Our conscience is still there to terrify us, much as we would like to wipe it out.

An even greater satanic deception is to convince us that the divine Judge is open to bribery. Certainly, that is often true of earthly judges. In one place the Psalmist complains, “Their right hand is full of bribes.” The favor of the holy Lord Jesus, however, cannot be bought. Yet that is what people have been trying to do throughout the ages. The only way to get on the good side of the Lord, they feel, is to show Him how good they really are, and how they try to keep His standards at every turn. Anyone familiar with Jesus’ word to us in the Bible knows that such attempts at bribery are totally unacceptable: “for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”

Is there any hope? It lies in the last words of the text, judging righteously. These are words that tell us that God’s judgment not only is right and unchangeable, but that it is radically changed by the perfect life and death of Jesus Christ. When God judges righteously, He judges us on the basis of this work of His Son. The Son of God has met the standards that no one can meet so that faith in Jesus is the difference between guilty or not guilty, between life or death. St. Paul calls this our righteousness before God.

Are you terrified by this text? As a child of God there is nothing to be afraid of. Because of the righteousness of Christ, the heavenly Judge does not terrify you but speaks only kind words of love and forgiveness and everlasting life.