Isaiah 33:22–What Right Does God Have to Judge

Isaiah 33:22: "For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us."

I hear this complaint more often than I can count about sin and justice.  Although it finds itself in many variations, it usually renders itself as something like this: "what right does God have to judge me?"

While it can be easily ascertained that the heart content of this protest is one of pride and deflection, its sincerity should not be quickly snubbed.  To be honest, it is a simple and good question to ask.  One that does demand a verdict of the highest order.

The answer comes to us, at least in large measure, in the above verse.  God, being the Creator of all creation–not the least which being humans–has it in His full rights as Creator to set certain parameters, specific guidelines for His creatures to adhere to.  We call them commandments and laws.

By virtue, then, of His position as the supreme Creator, He also takes the stand as supreme Judge. This means, most acutely, that God has the right to judge us as He sees fit.  The importance of this assertion cannot be overstated so I'll try to say it another way: God is not obligated to judge us by our own standards.

So, as we would like to be judge and jury of our own lives, when we face down the ultimate righteousness of God Almighty, we can only quake at the reality of that judgment and rest our hope not in our own goodness, but in His graciousness as a good and loving judge.

In the end the answer to the question "what right does God have to judge me?" is that God's right comes quite simply: He's God and we're not.  We should never, not ever forget this basic truth.

Justice & Sin

Two men, similar in every conceivable way, are pulled over in their respective cars and immediately arrested.  They are taken to jail and, though they each repeatedly cry out for justice and that they were arrested for seemingly no reason, they are thrown into cells to await going before the judge the next morning.  Just after dawn the next morning, the two men are taken before the judge.

The judge looks boldly at each of the men and, one at a time, explains that they are both being charged for the countless crimes that they've committed and being sentenced to the death penalty.  One of the men immediately falls to his knees before the judge and cries out, "Judge, I am a sinner and I wish to repent.  I see that apart from your mercy I deserve the due penalty for my crimes.  I fall prostrate before your gavel and besiege your mercy upon my wretched state."

The judge steps down from his bench and leans over the kneeling man, lifts the man's chin with his hand, and says gently, "Young man, your slate is wiped clean.  Because of your penitent repentance you have been forgiven."  The man stands up crying and the judge hugs him, throws his robe over the man, and sends him out.

The other man, expecting a similar hearing and verdict, walks haughtily over to the judge and, with pride says, "Now judge, I didn't do anything wrong.  I've committed no crimes and I don't deserve this."  The judge looks plainly at the man and says, "You are guilty of crimes committed, sin both known and unknown, and you must pay the penalty.  Bailiff, take this man away, my verdict is guilty; the sentence is death."  The man is pulled out of the court room violently swearing and going on about his innocence and how unjust the verdict is.

In reality, we all face judgement for the lives we've lived.  And we have a choice: either we can fall prostrate in humility before the Holy Lord and cry out for His forgiveness, or we can stare at God with pride and altogether deny our sin.  The choice truly is ours.  This is a stark truth not to be taken lightly.  But our eternal life is dependent upon our willingness to be humbled before God, the Almighty Judge.