This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

The book of Judges
has two introductions.

In the first, Joshua’s death is followed by
a series of military conquests and defeats.

The defeats signal that not everything is
as it should be in Israel.

When Joshua ruled,
Israel was undefeated.

God fought by their side in every battle.

Their obedience and faith meant every
enemy fell before Joshua’s sword.

The fact that every tribal leader after Joshua
experiences military defeat signals that

the faith and obedience that marked
Joshua’s leadership has dissolved.

Israel disobediently enslaves the
Canaanites rather than drive them out.

And soon Israel will join Canaan in her
child sacrifice and sexual exploitation.

So, an angel of the Lord who first showed up to Joshua,
now tells Joshua’s successors to expect judgment.

When the angel spoke to
Joshua, he warned that

he wasn’t fighting on Israel’s
side of the battle, but on God’s.

The angel reappears in Judges because he
is no longer fighting for Israel, but against her.

In the second introduction we are shown a pattern
that will repeat throughout the rest of the book.

God’s chosen leader will die.

Israel will then abandon God,
join in the Canaanites’ immorality,

and experience God’s anger
in the form of an invasion.

But the Lord will appoint another leader to rescue
Israel from her enemy and reinstitute God’s laws.

This pattern also becomes a downward spiral.

Israel’s evil will intensify with each generation.
But strangely, so will God’s mercy.

[music]

We’re told that Israel’s pattern
of death followed by disobedience

followed by God’s anger followed
by God’s mercy is meant to test Israel.

Again, and again, God
offers Israel the opportunity

to listen and obey him rather than
chase after the gods of the Canaanites.

But in Judges, Israel never passes
this test and never breaks the cycle.

While a good leader might lead Israel to faithfulness
for a while, that leader’s death would also
plunge Israel further down the spiral.

And we know what that’s like.

Our lives and our churches experience
decay, death, corruption, and scandal.

Sadly, many pastors and
leaders do not pass the test.

More often than we care to admit, their legacies reveal
deeper scandal and division than we thought possible.

And every Christian leader who falls proves we are still
stuck in the same pattern the book of Judges describes.

But Jesus is the Judge who breaks the cycle.

He is the only leader who can rescue us from judgment,
reinstitute God’s laws, and guarantee God’s mercy.

That’s because Jesus passes the test
that Israel’s leaders couldn’t—and we can’t.

He listened to and obeyed God,
not just in his life but in his death.

He didn’t succumb to the forces of decay, corruption,
and scandal, so God raised him from the dead.

Jesus now lives forever.

He’s the eternal leader whose legacy
is peace, obedience, and justice—

not violence, corruption, and abuse.

Like the angel who said his allegiance
was neither with Canaan or Israel,

Jesus said his Kingdom is not of this world.

It cannot be won through violence and
political power, but by God’s sacrificial love.

The book of Judges makes us hope for a leader,
and Jesus is that leader!

By faith we have citizenship in a
Kingdom Israel never fully entered.

Under Jesus’ rule God’s peace is guaranteed.

By Jesus’ judgments he condemns
evil and vindicates the abused.

By Jesus’ Spirit he breaks the cycle so
that his people can rule with him forever.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes
to see the God who tests his people.

And may you see Jesus as our
Judge who passes God’s test

and brings his Kingdom to all
people who trust and love him.