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.

As David is pursued by his
enemies, he calls out to God for help.

Using courtroom language,
David tells God that he is innocent.

David’s so confident in his innocence
that he even names his own punishment!

In light of his innocence David asks God to pronounce
justice against his enemies.

This is not an angry request for God
to go pick on people David doesn’t like.

David is simply affirming something within God’s
own character—that he is a good and just judge.

God judges the whole earth
and saves the “upright in heart”.

However, he brings “the violence
of the wicked” to an end.

God tests the minds and hearts of people
and returns their mischief on their own heads.

The wicked pit that David’s enemies dug out
for him will be the same trap into which they fall.

The psalm ends with David giving thanks to
God, the judge, because of his righteousness.

God is good, perfect, just, equitable,
and always right.

Everyone who sees him as a judge will
worship him, because who wouldn’t want

a perfect ruler, an impartial judge,
and a blameless lawmaker?

In Jesus we can make
the same claim as David.

We are innocent.

Now, Satan, our own conscience, and others often
accuse us, but we can have confidence we have

been declared innocent
before God by faith in Jesus.

Like David we can boldly claim our innocence
before this great and perfect judge.

Because Jesus was innocent, he was full of
integrity, and he was completely righteous.

And yet, he died for us.

Jesus’ death not only gave us his
innocence but he also his righteousness.

In a way, Jesus does the opposite of what David prayed
for. You see, David asks to be saved from his enemies because

of his own innocence, but Jesus leverages
his innocence to save his enemies.

Since we are innocent before God the judge, we can
also ask him to act against wickedness just as David did.

We can ask him to silence the
mouth of Satan, our accuser.

We can plead with him to silence the lies
of our own self-condemning conscience.

And we can beg him, as a good judge, to turn people’s
wickedness against them.

David gives thanks to God
because of his righteousness.

He sings praises because God is right to call
him innocent and bring his enemies to account.

And we can do the same.

We can worship God because of his
goodness in judging the wicked as guilty,

while judging us as
innocent because of Jesus.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see
God as the perfect and impartial judge over the whole world.

And may you see Jesus who was judged for us
so that we can live with clean hands before God.