A Strong Judge

Isaiah 11:3-5
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Devotional
I once attended a conference where the speaker put up a slide with a painting of Jesus softly petting a sheep and asked, "Is this what Jesus is like?", before shouting, "No! Jesus is like this!" and going to the next slide filled with pictures movie action heroes and the main character of the Halo video game series.

Jesus is stronger than Satan. That was the speaker's point. Jesus is strong and ready to rumble against sin in your life. He's going to conquer it, beat it, knock it down and throw it out because he wants to save you.

God is patient, but in the end he will judge the earth. He will punish sin, he will redeem the righteous. Nobody gets away with anything: either Jesus pays for your sins on the cross, or you pay for them yourself. Jesus gave himself up for guilty people, but he is a just judge for those who reject him.

Don't mistake Jesus' meekness for weakness. Don't mistake his humility for timidity.

He is strong. He is righteous. And he is coming to end injustice and sin everywhere.

Prayer
God, teach us to turn from sin and turn to Jesus. Teach us to be ready for his return. May he come soon to set the world right. Amen