Righteous Judge

John 5:22-23King James Version (KJV)

22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

In our form of government there is what is known as "The separation of Powers." Each branch of government is supposed to have a specific function.

The Legislative branch - Our Congress their job is to make the laws The Executive branch - The President - he is to implement and uphold the law The Judiciary branch - Our court system - their duty is to interpret the laws and decide legal controversies.

In the Biblical world the picture of a judge is not only bound to the idea of judicial duties, they were also responsible for making laws and ruling people. Many times in the Bible a "judge" fulfilled the duties of all three major branches.

When we talk about God as Judge we need to see him functioning in all three capacities. For many Christians, thinking of God as a righteous judge is the most problematic of all the portraits of God. Judges consider evidence.

They find some people guilty and others innocent. They condemn the guilty to punishment and release the innocent into freedom. Nobody wants to be judged! Of course, we don’t usually hesitate when we judge others and we usually like to think that, in the end, the bad guys will get their just dues! When we come to the Bible, we cannot escape notions of judgment, guilt, sin, innocence, punishment, reward, and so on.

If we try to skip over this portrait of God, much of the Bible becomes incoherent nonsense. In the Bible, “righteousness” is virtually synonymous with “justice.”

Since righteousness is an expression of God's holy character, it becomes the standard by which God expects everyone to live if they are to be a holy people,

the righteous law of God becomes a written description of the holy character of God, to which people must conform their lives if they are to be called by his holy name. Accordingly, the Lord can instruct Israel, "You shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God" (Num 15:40). God's people cannot be holy without conformity, i.e., obedience, to the law of God. "The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself ... if you keep the commandments of the LORD" (Deut 28:9). From the beginning God declares that this conformity to his standard is to be both external and internal if his people are to be holy. "This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul," so that "you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God" (26:16, 19). Saying that God is righteous is to affirm that God is the perfect standard of what is right, what is good, what is just, and what is true. God’s righteousness is closely aligned with God’s holiness and is demonstrated by his faithfulness to his covenant. God’s righteousness is seen in his moral character and as we grow in holiness, we grow in righteousness. Much of the biblical use of “righteousness” is taken from the Hebrew Law Court and God’s righteousness often refers to God being a fair and impartial judge.

In ancient Israel, law courts worked differently than in our day. Rather than using public prosecutors and juries,

there were three parties – a judge, the plaintiff, and the defendant. A judge was a good judge (a righteous judge) if

he tried the case according to the law, if he was impartial, if he punished sin, and if he protected the weak and defenseless. Thus, as the righteous judge, God is true to his word and judges impartially, for Jew and Gentile alike. Through the faithfulness of Jesus, God has dealt with sin and vindicated the helpless. He has declared innocent (“justified/made righteous”) those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Just as we can trust God to keep his promises, we can trust that God will always be just!

Though we often think of God the Judge being pretty much an Old Testament idea, we couldn’t be more wrong.

In one of his strongest claims to equality with God, Jesus says that the Father has given him the power of judgment, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:22-23). Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 24:31-46) is about the final judgment and Jesus the judge I've been doing most of the talking during this study of the portraits of God - I want to ask you two questions and stimulate a little discussion in closing.

Ecclesiastes 3:17 says, "I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work."

How will God judge the righteous? How will God judge the wicked?