The Heavenly Courtroom

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The Lord takes his place in court; he rises to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of his people: ‘It is you who have ruined my vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?’ declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.”
Isaiah 3:13-15 NIVUK

A courtroom scene emerges in Isaiah’s vision, and the people are in the dock. Initially, the Lord “enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of His people”. And the indictment includes vineyard ruining, plundering the poor people in the land, “crushing [God’s] people” and “grinding the faces of the poor”. Isaiah’s vision was presented with non-legal, pictorial language, and we have to unpack it to determine what the charges meant for the Judahites.

Firstly, the vineyard referred to God’s people, those who were governed and led by the “elders and leaders”. It has been estimated that there were about 100-120 thousand people in Judah at that time, people mainly involved in various forms of farming, and in Jerusalem, there was a royal administration and religious institution from which the people were governed. But according to Isaiah’s vision, they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do very well at all. In fact, it was worse than that because the vision continued with a reference to plunder. Instead of protecting God’s people from harm, these leaders had become the harm. They were the ones who had devoured the people’s resources. This could mean that they had taken the food from the people as a tax. The shocking statement regarding the “plunder from the poor” meant that the leaders had taken what little the poor people had into their own homes. Instead of protecting the poor, they were using their power to take from those who already had so little to provide for their own households.

The next part of the vision was perhaps inspired by the picture of a mill, grinding grain into flour. The kernels of wheat or some other cereal would have been crushed and ground between large and heavy millstones, and the Lord became indignant, angry even, with His charge that the elders and leaders were doing exactly the same to the people of Judah. We can imagine that Isaiah’s vision would not have been very popular with the higher echelons in Jerusalem!

So what do we pilgrims make of all this? Here in Western societies, there is not the same theocratic or authoritarian form of government that was present in Judah, Israel or most other nations at that time. Even today, there are authoritarian governments subjugating their people, such as in China or North Korea, Iran and elsewhere. Although some limited attempts at democracy emerged early in the 6th Century BC in Greece, modern democracies didn’t appear until the 18th Century. So there is not the same opportunity to suppress people as in the way they were treated in Isaiah’s vision, at least in nations such as the US and UK. But having said that, people in the West are arguably treated unfairly in more subtle ways, through unfair laws and taxation systems. Mostly, these are meant to ensure social cohesion, but they can be applied excessively. 

But the Lord gets angry if a country’s leaders treat their ordinary citizens unfairly. In Romans 13, Paul exhorted the Roman Christians to fully obey the authorities. He wrote, “For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4). But does that include the same level of obedience to a corrupt leader or government? Are they God’s servants as well? 

As we can see from the courtroom example in our verses today, there will come a day when bad leaders will have to face God’s judgement, and it will be a time of terror that precedes eternal punishment. But that doesn’t let the people off the hook, because they, too, can behave badly and will end up facing God’s judgement. We pilgrims are responsible for the way we treat others, so we put love at the forefront in our interactions with others. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” … And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39). Who is my neighbour? Well, Jesus answered that question in the parable of the Good Samaritan, as being the person who showed mercy to the man mugged and injured by thieves. Everyone we meet in our daily lives comes into the category of “neighbour”, and we treat everyone with respect and love in a way that shows how God would treat them. Yes, they may look different, dress differently, behave in a different way, and so on, but how does God see them? With love and compassion, and so must we. After all, He sees something that we don’t – what is in people’s hearts.

Dear Heavenly Father. We know that there will be a day of judgement for bad leaders, but we do not concern ourselves with that for now. Please help us to behave in ways in our societies that show Your love and compassion to everyone we meet. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Judgments

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide. So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.”
1 Corinthians 4:4-5 NLT

Good news and bad news are coming on the Day of Judgment when the Lord returns. This will not be the time of the Great White Throne judgment, when all those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will find out their ultimate destination, an eternity spent in the company of the devil and his demons in a place called hell. No, this will be the Bema Judgement Seat of Christ, so named after the Greek word “Bema” meaning “judgement seat”, that we find in Romans 14:10, which reads, “So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God”. Although this verse refers to God being the Judge, we know from John 5:22 that it will be Christ sitting on the Bema. This verse reads, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son”. So, the bad news for us believers is not having to fear the thought of spending eternity in hell, but that God “will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives”. That is for us pilgrims, and I don’t know about you, but the exposure of my “darkest secrets” will make for an uncomfortable time. The only mitigating factor is that everyone else’s “darkest secrets” are probably just as bad. But we also have some good news coming. Firstly, our salvation will be intact. This matter was settled by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf ( 1 John 2:2, “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world“) and our faith in Him (John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life“). Secondly, Paul wrote that “God will give to each one whatever praise is due“. Will this be the time when we will hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! ’”). 

Just as an aside, consider this word “eternity”. The natural view is to look at it from our perspective of time, meaning “eternity” is time without a beginning or an end. But “eternity” does not consist, in my view, of clocks ticking away forever. I prefer a definition of “eternity” as a state existing outside of time, meaning it is not subject to the passage of time as we experience it. Imagine all the things that are subject to the ravages of time lasting for all “eternity”. Our eternal bodies will never wear out, and many things more, but “eternity” is something that we will not be able to get our human-bound minds around in this life, but there is a time coming when we will be able to. 

But Paul was reflecting on the human tendency to judge others. We go through our lives making judgments all the time, purely because we have to. It is part of human existence. For example, if we see a person walking towards us, we subconsciously make a judgment to protect ourselves, just in case the person approaching us wants to do us harm. Most of the time, no action is required, but occasionally we will think it prudent to cross the road just in case. Or in a conversation, a statement made by the other person will require analysis and judgment to extract what it means for us. For example, if my boss at work starts talking about redundancies, I will immediately start to judge what he is saying, whether it will impact me. But on a more negative note, all the time we have our value systems at work, we judge others against them. And that is where the problem can lie, because most of the time our values are based on how a person looks, dresses or behaves, rather than what really exists within their hearts. Our values are established from an early age and reflect what we have been taught in the nurturing years. But our values do not provide us with a system for making judgments that is worth anything. God is the only Person qualified to judge. His “value system” is true, righteous, and just.

So what will happen when we give an account of our lives to Jesus? He will inspect our work. What did we do with the resources God gave us? How faithful were we? Were we yielded to the Spirit, seeking to honour Christ and further His work in the world? Did we neglect our opportunities to serve the Lord? In Matthew 10:41-42, Jesus said, “If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded“. It doesn’t matter how small something we have done for Jesus is, because each act of service will have a reward. The converse is also true, with neglect leading to a loss of reward. 

So, Paul advised the Corinthians to not get ahead of themselves and instead leave judgment to the Lord. Only Jesus is qualified to judge, and this will happen one day. If people, particularly other believers, act in ways that violate our values, we must not judge them, and instead we must pray for them. And if we can do that, it takes the pressure off us. One day, everyone will have to stand before one of two judgment seats and starting that process ourselves ahead of time is pointless.

Dear Heavenly Judge. We know that it is only You who is qualified to judge the human race. Please help us to look at our fellow members of society, believers and unbelievers, through Your eyes. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Honesty

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“God is my shield, saving those whose hearts are true and right. God is an honest judge. He is angry with the wicked every day.”
Psalm 7:10-11 NLT

There is an old saying, “Honesty is the best policy”, and David uses the word “Honest” to describe God. Of course, God is in an unique position as judge because He doesn’t have to depend on the testimonies of witnesses, the statements from the accused in the dock, or the speeches of the prosecuting and defence counsels. God sees right into the hearts of the people accused of a crime. Such an insight in our courts of law would radically transform the dispensation of justice. And we would have nothing to fear from miscarriages of justice because God is “honest”. 

David also describes God as his shield, “saving those whose hearts are true and right”. In David’s day, a shield would protect a soldier from spears, swords or arrows, intent, in the hands of the attacker, in causing harm, piercing the hearts of the one being attacked. And so it is with our thoughts and actions in less tangible ways. David said that if a person is honest, then God will shield that person’s heart, their reputation and integrity, from the attacks of those who would claim otherwise. 

There are a wealth of Scriptures that extol the virtues of honesty. For example, Proverbs 12:22, “The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth“. Or there’s Proverbs 19:1, “Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool“. There are those who perhaps cover up a dishonest act, in the hope, even expectation, that they will never be found out. But, as David wrote, God sees all, and “He is angry with the wicked every day”. We pilgrims live lives of honesty and integrity, because we know that there is no other way. Even the smallest act of dishonesty will eat away at our souls and ultimately destroy our standing before an angry God. The sad thing is that many Christians founder on the rocks of dishonesty, starting in small ways and rationalising in their minds alternatives to an honest appraisal. There is no way other than the way of honesty. 

Dear Father God. Please help us to walk in honesty every day of our lives. Please point out to us any ways in which we fall short of Your standards. In Jesus’ name. Amen.