In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).
It is, in a way, a little foolish to daydream about having existed outside the time and place wherein the Lord has seen fit to bring us about. But I can’t help but rejoice that I dwell in these days rather than in ‘those days’, for despite the many blessings which came with being a dweller amidst the narratives of the Scriptures as they were being written, we who live in the rolling centuries Anno Domini have the completed Scriptures and the renewed, glorious light of the gospel, revealed as it has been through our divine Conqueror. Yes, Jesus Christ, praise His name, has risen again, and His shadow rests benevolently upon us who live after His Almighty victory at Calvary. Rather than a penman of Scripture or a confidant of a David or a Daniel, I am glad that I live in an age in which the Godhead, the Incarnate Deity, may say of this earth – Veni, Vidi, Vincit.
The Lord Jesus was on the throne in the days of Deborah, Gideon and Samson, just as He is today, albeit in His pre-resurrected, pre-Calvary reign. It was, therefore, due to a lack of faith on the part of humans who should have known better; a failure to perceive and trust in the true King, a fear and doubt that there was, perhaps ‘no king’ superintending Israel, the chosen nation. In fact, when in God’s time a king was granted to them, it was given more as a concession rather than a precept. The people would go on to desire an unspiritual, foolish king in Saul, revealing the inadequacy and lack of wisdom which characterises us all. The people who have lived AD have been no better. We gradually leaned upon the church ‘fathers’ so-called, and eventually created a ‘pope’ to satisfy our craving for earthly glory. We have had and still have our archbishops and our false apostles, even in this 21st century AD. Careful we must be not to make a pope out of a pastor. No faithful pastor desires to be a king, but ever points the way to the King of kings, diverting attention from self and to Christ, where it belongs.
Self-righteousness is a plague to us, even afer conversion. We too easily start to live in accordance with that which pleases us, in our eyes. Our lifelong goal, as Christians, is to strip away from us those clinging notions of self-righteousness and recall that, outside of Christ, we are nothing. It is a surprisingly hard thing to do. The more we advance in the faith, the more like Christ we become. But the moment we look around and compare ourselves with others, the subtlety of pride will drag us down to the depths of self-confidence and self-belief, and we need to start at ground zero again! However ‘right’ we feel ourselves to be, we must take all things to the touchstone of Scripture, to see if they are genuine or part of our phoney righteousness. We must then apply our thoughts and words to the whetstone of Scripture, purging ourselves of anything which isn’t as sharp and as true as it ought to be. In Christ there is really no excuse, and every incentive so to do.
If this means very little or even nothing to you, dear soul, then I urge you to have a frank and honest conversation with God today, in the name of the King of Israel. He will not turn you away if you are serious. Be serious, dear soul. This is no game, for we are standing on the cliff edge to eternity.
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