Friday, December 5, 2008
Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.
A HELPER JUST HE COMES TO THEE
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman are all members of what outfit? Your answer depends on your age and your reading/viewing habits as a youngster. They were all in the Justice League of America, a crime-fighting creation of DC Comics. And, of course, before that on radio and TV The Lone Ranger "fought for justice in the American West."
We humans do have a preoccupation with justice, don't we? And since none of us sinners are just, one might wonder if the popularity of such fictional characters doesn't reflect fallen man's yearning for what was lost in Eden.
The hitch, of course, is that we want justice for Hitler and serial killers but not for gossips or greedy folks like ourselves. For we agree with David of old: "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (Psalm 130:3).
But our King IS just -- and we welcome His coming. For not only does He rule with fairness and impartiality, He places His utterly just, completely righteous self on the line for us, "the just for the unjust, the He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).
King Jesus is exactly the kind of King we need, as the prophet of old proclaimed, "Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9).
A Helper just He comes to thee, A Helper just He comes to thee,
His chariot is humility, His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress, The end of all our woe He brings;
Wherefore the earth is glad and sings:
We praise Thee, Savior, now, Mighty in deed art Thou!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 73:2)
