Day 22: A Righteous and Just King

When we picture Jesus as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, perhaps our first thought is not of Him as a powerful and victorious King who reigns forever and ever. This mighty King will do what is just and right in the land by making every creature give an account of what they have done and demanding justice for every evil thought and deed. And yet, that is part of the character of Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man.

Oftentimes, we focus on the love of God and forget that He also demands justice. It would be out of His nature not to. The Bible clearly describes him in a scene from the throne room of Heaven found in Revelation 4:8, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”What does it mean to be “holy?”

The word “holy” means to be separate or set apart. God is holy in that he is set apart from everything that is not of God. Sin and evil is part of that “everything,” as God does not have them in His character. There will never be a day when He is not holy. Jesus clearly told us how we can be in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I do not fit in the category of perfect. I mess up. I sin. And yet, Jesus was the one who made a way. When we accept Him as Lord and Savior, He gives us His perfect life and takes our imperfect ones. When God sees us from that point forward, He sees the perfect life of Jesus.

It is comforting to know that all the evil we see in this world will be paid for. Jesus does not turn a blind eye to any of it. Because of His holy nature, He will judge every person. If their name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, they will be pardoned as Jesus took those sins upon Himself. But if their evil is unpaid for, they will pay for it themselves. The apostle Paul writes about our righteous and just King that He “will repay each person according to what they have done” (Romans 2:6).

When we are forgiven and saved, we can’t help but sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!” Our righteous and just King came that first Christmas to make a way for us to be blameless before a holy God.

“O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace.”
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel