The big idea of this series, “From Bad to Worse”, is,
“A call for people to centre their lives on the Lord Jesus above their circumstances.”
Judges is a negative illustration of this truth, that is, the people of Israel at the time of the Judges DID NOT walk this way, and suffered the consequences of that. This culminates in the last four chapters (17-21) recount the confusing horrors of the debacle of the Levite and his concubine and the response of the nation to the tribe of Benjamin as a result. As is written four times in those chapters, “in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (21:25). In this sense Judges is a story of the nation in a downward spiral (“from bad to worse”).
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The big idea of this series, “From Bad to Worse”, is,
“A call for people to centre their lives on the Lord Jesus above their circumstances.”
Judges is a negative illustration of this truth, that is, the people of Israel at the time of the Judges DID NOT walk this way, and suffered the consequences of that. This culminates in the last four chapters (17-21) recount the confusing horrors of the debacle of the Levite and his concubine and the response of the nation to the tribe of Benjamin as a result. As is written four times in those chapters, “in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (21:25). In this sense Judges is a story of the nation in a downward spiral (“from bad to worse”).
This cycle, although under the Lord’s rule, is not an experience of life where He is first above one’s circumstances. Unfortunately too many people’s lives, Christian or not, mirror this cycle. This sort of cycle, as we can see from the Israelite perspective, uses God as a Saviour alone, and is defined and directed by circumstances. Judges reveals the direction of this life: downwards.
At the same time Judges is a positive illustration of the truth that God is the hero, even in the middle of the Israelites, and our, struggle. Hebrews 11:32 refers to the judges this way,
“And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions ...”
Including these references to the Judges in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 affirms their wonderful faith and trust in God to be used by him to defeat Israel’s enemies. Did the writer of Hebrews have it wrong? Or are we wrong to see the Judges negatively? No on both counts. Both are true: a person (both then and now) can be a person of faith and used by God, even though that person (then and now) can also be caught up in the human centred cycle referred to above. Does this mean that it doesn’t matter whether we are in the cycle of not? No. And we come to that answer when we see the Lord at the centre: both in the story of Judges and in our own lives.
God is the hero in Judges, not Samson, or Gideon, or Deborah or any other person. In the midst of their flaws and self-centredness, God maintains his commitment to His people and His eternal covenant with them. It is His grace, initiative, mercy and justice that prevails and maintains the nation.
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