Weekly Meditations: Judges 9; The Ultimate Judge

Sorry for the delay but as I said in my Disneyland post I got in late last night.

Today I want to talk about the ultimate judge.  Now the word ultimate can mean two things; first it can mean final and second it can mean greatest.  I think that both definitions can well describe God but the point I want to make today is in God's ultimate judgement as he is the final judge.

I will quickly summarize what Judges 9 is all about but hopefully you've read it.  Essentially Gideon's son Abimelech goes to his mother's brothers in Shechem where he persuades them to make him the leader of their city.  Upon his "election" he then takes a band of mercenaries and murders all of his half-brothers.  Jotham however escapes and hides.  Jotham eventually gives a speech to the Shechemites foretelling their doom.  Abimelech and the Shechemites eventually begin bickering which ends with Abimelech murdering the city folk.  While he is attempting to finish them off a women drops a millstone, it hits Abimelech, and he has his servant kill him so as not to be killed by a women.  In short, Abimelech and the Shechemites do some bad stuff, Jotham gives them a chance to repent, they don't repent, live on for a little bit and then die, fairly horribly.

I think in life it is easy for us to want justice a little too much.  I know there have been times in my life where someone has wronged me, very minutely, and my first thought is how to get back at them.  A snide reply, a honk or yell at a biker, the list could go on.  When someone wrongs us, we want them to be judged.  We want justice right?  I think Judges 9 is a good picture for us to look at though.  Jotham was thoroughly wronged yet he 1. offered his enemies a chance to, essentially, repent and 2. did not seek revenge.  I think we should do the same.

1.  As Christians we know that we have thoroughly wronged God, yet God in his mercy has told us to repent and believe in him to fix our broken relationship with him.  I think likewise we should always be forgiving of others, no matter how hard that is.  Remember, Jesus said those who do not forgive will not be forgiven.
2.  We shouldn't seek revenge.  We should want justice, but we need to realize that it is not our job to bring justice.  God will ultimately bring justice at his appointed time so us replying with an insult, punching back, etc will get us no where and will definitely not reflect Christ.  Justice will come, but for now we need to act in love and try to show those who have wronged us that they need to repent just as we have done as Christians.  While they wrong you or me, they are wronging God even more so.  As Christians we know that we were once enemies of God but have believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save us from God's judgment against us.  Likewise we should share this gospel, even with our enemies.

God will ultimately judge everyone's wrongdoing, even Christian's.  Instead of plotting revenge, let us act in love, sharing the love that Christ himself showed us through his servant's death on the cross.