GOD'S FINAL VERDICT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge - whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults - take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.”

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Chapter 16, we saw guidance provided for those who would be judges over Israel once they enter Canaan. You’ll recall that they were expected to “judge the people fairly…not pervert justice or show partiality…(and) not accept a bribe”. They were to “follow justice and justice alone” in all they would do.

But what would happen if they had a case where they just didn’t know how to rule on it? For they were under clear direction from the Lord to follow justice and failing to do so would bring God’s judgment upon them.

Well, as we see in today’s scripture passage, the Lord provides guidance for those instances when the appointed judges would get stuck when trying to render a decision. Look again at those words here:

“If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge - whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults - take them to the place the Lord your God will choose. Go to the priests, who are Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they direct you to do. Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left. The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel. All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.” Deuteronomy 17:8-13

Note here that in instances where they had a case too difficult to judge, they were to take the case “to the place the Lord” would choose. Once there, they were to “go to the priests”, the Levites, and “to the judge who is in office at that time” where they would “inquire of them” and get a verdict.

We need to stay centered on them going to the place that the Lord chose for this was akin to being the place where He would abide and preside over the legal proceedings. Given this, we know that the Spirit of the Lord was advising the officiating judge and the priests which made the decision they made His, their verdict, His verdict.

This is why there was so much emphasis placed on how the verdict was to be received by the accused. They were to “act according to the decisions” made “at the place the Lord” chose and “be careful to do everything they direct you to do”. They were to “act according to the law they teach you and the decisions they give you” and “not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left”. In other words, nothing but full obedience and compliance with the verdict was acceptable for we know well from the scriptures that God doesn’t tolerate disobedience.

So what would happen if the accused rebelled against the verdict?

Nothing good, that’s for sure.

For we read that if any man showed “contempt for the judge or for the priest who (stood) ministering….to the Lord your God”, they were to be “put to death”. This is how much God despised disobedience, viewing it as a disrespectful evil, an evil that He tasked the Israelites with purging. In the end translation, the Lord continued to drive His people toward obedience and reverence for Him. He wanted them to “hear and be afraid…and…not be contemptuous again”.

Now, can you imagine if we were executed by this standard for every time we received righteous judgment for our actions today? Would any of us escape the death penalty?

The answer is a definite “no” and God knew this so He did something about it to save us from perishing. He sent His one and only Son Jesus to purchase our pardon from our transgressions. Nailed to Calvary’s cross, He bore our sins and took the suffering that was rightfully ours.

Indeed, God allowed Jesus to be executed instead of mankind who chose to defy and sinfully break His commands and expectations, over and over and over again. As the old hymn proclaims, “Jesus paid it all” and took the our punishment for disobedience, and God hoped that this unjust sacrifice of His perfect, blameless Son would lead His people to live righteous and holy lives as a sign of gratitude, appreciation, and respect for His gift of grace and mercy. Additionally, Jesus’ subsequent resurrection three days after His crucifixion would open the gates of Heaven for anyone who would place their belief in Him and become a co-heir of the Kingdom as well as a legitimate child of the God Most High.

Going back to the legal theme of this scripture passage, the case against mankind was sin and the proper, just penalty was death. But God rendered a different decision, a decision that essentially said:

“No man who believes in My Son will die because my Son died in their place.”

It was God’s final verdict on the matter of who will reach Heaven or Hell and as believers today, we need to be hyper-sensitive to  any sin opportunity that presents itself to us in this worldly life. For we can never afford to send a message to God that He allowed His Son Jesus to be sacrificed in vain and so anytime we feel the urge to think, say, or do something dishonorable to our God, let us turn our eyes to the cross and then do as our Savior would do, fully allow the will of the Father to be our own. It’s the only way that we can ensure that we’ll always be living in a way that is pleasing in His sight.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.