Not necessarily right or wrong

“There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots… and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.” (Isa. 11:1,3,4).

The requirement for the judges was that they would only justify the righteous, but never the wicked. “If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” (Deut. 25:1).

This seems so cut and dry, so textbook perfect. In reality, is anyone truly perfectly right? What about David’s and Paul’s assessment of every member of the human race? “God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Ps. 53:2,3). “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.” (Ps. 58:3).

“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin...

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Their feet are swift to shed blood:

Destruction and misery are in their ways:

And the way of peace have they not known:

There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:9,11-18).

Then, back to the original question, how can a judge call one man righteous and another wicked? How can he justify one and condemn the other? It is possible for a criminal act to happen 100% unprovoked. Fraud happens every day to completely unsuspecting victims. But, there are many other cases where the victims did provoke the attack. Can’t we say, by Romans 3:11-18 authority, that 99% of sinful acts come provoked?

One thing we can surmise from Revelation concerning the causes of sin, is that we live in a world of sin that is getting increasingly worse. The cause of sin is growing more complicated and confusing, with both parties at fault. “Babylon the great…is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” (Rev. 18:2).

I realize I have no statistics upon which to base my assumption of 99% provoked sin, but it seems, based upon the opening text from Isaiah 11:3, 4, that Jesus worked off of that assumption.

It did not say that Christ would judge by seeing or hearing any testimonials. None at all. Why? Because everyone would be corrupt, and all of their testimonials would be corrupt, too.

“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” (Matt. 7:17,18).

“Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.” (John 2:24,25).

What was His basis for judging? What did He look for? The meek. He looked for the person who was humbled. The prophecy said that His equity in judgment would be in favor of the meek. Who had been the whip and who had been the whipped? Who was the oppressor and who was the oppressed?

“And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” (1Ki. 3:25). Which one was righteous? Neither; they were both prostitutes. But, which one was truly oppressed by the other? The one who was broken and who sobbed out a real surrender of her baby. She had ceased to think of herself; she had won the victory over self. Life had humbled her, and she was now meek. She won the case.

In the case of Hannah and Peninnah, which one of them was right and the other wrong? Neither; but, one was oppressed and the other was the oppressor. And when did Jesus judge the case, at the beginning of the oppression or at the end? At the beginning there was no one meek, so He couldn’t pass judgment then. Hannah wasn’t meek yet. She wouldn’t become meek until after years of oppression. “And as he did so year by year [her husband taking them up to the big feast], when she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.” (1Sam. 1:7).

We all want to be right, and never wrong. We want to believe we have the right to hurt others, but avoid all blame. We want to be justified by faith, and never condemned. But, we also don’t like the rigorous trials that make us “the meek”. And most people jump out of the crucible before Jesus is finished with their disagreeable humbling process. They therefore never become meek, and Jesus can never justify them. They will spend their life believing they are meek, and justifying themselves; but, they never get God’s justification and are never turned into another person with a new heart. They never receive His Holy Spirit into their hearts and His power to become sons of God.

They live in a delusion; they deceive themselves. They are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2Tim. 3:4) because they would not love Him enough to stay with His training through thick and thin. They can’t endure His hardship.

“For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye [illegitimate], and not sons.” (Heb. 12:6-8).

It’s not until we endure the whole purifying process, which our wise heavenly Father knows we need, that we are then humbled and meek. But, once we are humbled, He immediately turns the tide of the enemy’s battle and comes for our rescue.

“And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7,8).

As for the real mother, “then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.” (1Ki. 3:27).
 

As for Hannah, “she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget Thine handmaid, but wilt give unto Thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life.” (1Sam. 1:10,11).

Hannah was justified after Jesus humbled her, when she had endured the full length of His test. We see the same life lesson learned in the holy men of old. Job and Abraham and Jacob, Judah and Joseph, Moses and Aaron, the disciples.
 

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might be glorified.” (Isa. 61:1-3).

“Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.” (Isa. 40:1,2).