January 23 - Here Comes the Judge

 Read today’s texts first: Exodus 6-8; Luke 23

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

We deserve God’s judgment and He deserves our fear, but Jesus took our judgment and replaced
our fear with His love!

In assuring Moses of His continuing presence, the Lord keeps repeating that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But He says something surprising in 6:2:  His name [Yahweh] was not fully made known to them.  Moses was going to learn something about God as Judge and Deliverer that no one had seen to that point.  As we read about the incredibly frightening and destructive plagues that ravaged Egypt, we gain new insight into the kind of God we serve.  He is worthy of our respect, and yes, down-right fear!

Now fast forward to Christ’s crucifixion in Luke 23.  What He endures is even worse than the plagues of Egypt.  It is an assault on His body of unimaginable pain.  It’s also an assault on His dignity as He is stripped and hung as a public spectacle, mocked by the very people He had come to help.  Worse yet, it is an assault on His Spirit, separating Him from His Father for the first time.  All of this happened as punishment for sins He never committed.  This is God executing His wrath, His judgment, on Himself, for us.  This is part of His name and His character that even Moses didn’t get to see – His mercy.

“Lord, I deserve Your judgment and You deserve my fear.  But because of Jesus, who took on Himself my judgment, all fear is gone.  His perfect love has removed all my fear!  I no longer face Your judgment, but Your reward.”