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BY MARK HORNE
God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready (Psalm 7.11, 12).
David’s inspired lyrics do not sound very encouraging to modern ears–especially to modern Christian ears. The idea that God is a righteous judge is something we typically think of as threatening. If we are to be saved from God’s wrath we need protection from God the righteous judge. After all, David also sang, “do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous (Psalm 143.2).
The fact is that Christian believers can only avoid the fearful judgment of God because Jesus faithfully obeyed God and shed his blood on their behalf. Death is God’s curse on sin and Jesus’ blood demonstrates that the curse has already found a victim. If we belong to Christ then our sins have been dealt with on the cross.
However, many act as if this good news means we no longer have to deal with a righteous judge like David did. But this is not true. The fact that God is a righteous judge is precisely the hope of believers. Consider how the Apostle Paul uses David’s title for God in Psalm 7: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (Second Timothy 4.7, 8).
The good news is not that we no longer deal with God as a righteous judge. The good news is that God through Christ as a righteous judge promises to forgive our sins and reward our labors. Even though we sin and must rely on the forgiveness of sins continually, if we fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith, then the Lord Jesus is saving up for us crowns of righteousness which he will one day award to us.
David was quite aware that God’s character as a righteous judge was his only hope. He fully expected God to reward his integrity just as Paul knew Jesus would. Consider the consider Psalm 7.8-11.
The Lord judges the peoples;
Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous;
For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.
My shield is with God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
And a God who has indignation every day.
Even in Psalm 143 in which David confesses he is not righteous, he still believes it is God’s righteousness that ensures that God will not bring him into judgment: “Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is righteous” (vv. 1b, 2). God’s righteousness, like his faithfulness, means not only that he punishes sins, but that he keeps his promises. If God has promised mercy to sinners then God’s righteousness demands that he show them mercy. If God has promised to reward sinners with crowns of righteousness if they fight the good fight, finishes the course, and keeps the faith, then as a righteous judge he cannot fail to award them with those crowns.
Of course, there is still reason to fear the Lord as righteous judge. How many people make a profession of faith at one time and then later abandon the Christian life? They need to wake up and remember the other side of Christ the Judge’s righteousness:
If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword;
He has bent His bow and made it ready.
He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons;
He makes His arrows fiery shafts (Psalm 7.12, 13).
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