Guilty Until Declared Innocent
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”? Isaiah 40:27 NASB
Due me – Biblical justice is exactly the opposite of the guiding principle of American jurisprudence. The assumption of guilt is the determining factor in the Bible. No man is innocent! It is not necessary to prove we are guilty. That is our reality. What is necessary is to find a way for reconciliation, for restitution. What is necessary is to be declared innocent in spite of the fact of our guilty status. So when Isaiah states the excuse of the wicked, even that excuse contains an admission of guilt. The justice due me assumes that there is a standard that I have not met. It assumes that I deserve punishment. There is no protest against the rules, no class-action suit contesting a repressive law. The real situation is abundantly clear. I am guilty and I deserve to be punished.
But the wicked convince themselves that God doesn’t really care. The wicked are self-deluded, pretending that God is so busy running the universe that He doesn’t notice their peccadillos. They do not claim they are innocent. They know they are guilty, but they simply believe they will get away with it—that God doesn’t notice.
In biblical terms, this is called foolishness. We would call it insanity. Being a fool is not being slow of mind or dim-witted or incapable of reason. Being a fool is a moral category. It is the utter disregard for the absolute sovereignty of God. It is self-inflicted blindness to the moral structure of the universe. A fool is someone who knows what he is doing is wrong but thinks that his actions will evade consequences. There is no more pathetic person than this because his insanity prevents him from recognizing his own degradation. He is mortally sick. He knows he is mortally sick. But he thinks being mortally sick doesn’t really matter. Consequently, he refuses to see the doctor. And he dies.
The fortieth chapter of the book of Isaiah is homage to the sovereignty of YHVH. Verse after verse extols the majesty of His total control over all the earth. Isaiah explains that YHVH gives life, power, strength and understanding to those who humbly call upon Him. His watchfulness knows no limits. His care no bounds. Anyone who thinks otherwise makes a terrible mistake, a tragic defective assessment of the character of YHVH. The “watcher of men” is the God of paqad (Exodus 34:7) whose actions continuously demonstrate hesed and hen, but who will not let the wicked go unpunished.
“God, be merciful to me a sinner!” is the first step toward being human in a world filled with homo sapien animals. In fact, it is the only step that a yet-to-be-human can make. Wake up, Jacob. Arise, Israel. The Lord YHVH sees.
Topical Index: due me, justice, sovereignty, guilt, Isaiah 40:27
Isn’t there a distinction between the ones translated “wicked” and the ones referred to as “heathen”, in that the wicked know better (rebels and backsliders), but the heathen are just ignorant? My understanding is that neither are ‘human’ but the wicked are much more guilty!
The other thing that this most excellent summation leaves me with is that what I run into with people who have rejected THIS G-d and have gone on to another god (usually to the New Age) is that they cannot bear being thought guilty. They explain that that makes them feel that they are defective and ‘bad’ and they just got tired of the shame of it all, and never feeling ‘good enough’. What I hear out of that is that people are starting out from the devil’s classic bait-n-switch where he has palmed off this idea that perfection (or imperfection) is a statement about who I AM. These precious people, I have noticed, are so often victims of more or less horrible treatment or situations, which have had the effect of shaming them, and leaving them feeling ‘unclean’ or defective (fractured from relationship) in some way. The message that they then get from Christianity about being GUILTY gets transmuted over into this interior SHAME that they already suffer from. This is a burden that no one can bear! How do you ‘repent’ for this interior shame (which literally can bring your entire life to a grinding halt) if it sits in the places that non-shamed people normally go looking to find their SINS (actions)? There is a world of difference, in my book anyway, between a SHAMED person, who is a victim of another’s sin, and a GUILTY person. A guilty person knows they did something wrong. A shamed person just feels wrong. These shamed people are such fragile, beautiful people, as a rule, and I know that they are loved, but how do I get behind this you-can-be your-own-god thing, when the way back is to have to plow back through that shame? I have been going at this hard for a while now. Skip has been helping a lot with correcting that pagan base. Thank you!
The biggest tragedy I see when I view the pagan idea of sin or righteousness as being statements about who I AM vs. statements about what I DO is that in a pagan mind, I literally become sin! This may be the dirty little backside of the coin that paganism offers in its seductive claim that humans can become gods; but that is the siren call I keep seeing people fall for. They think they see the choice of either putting themselves under a SHAMING G-d with Christianity, or getting to start off with a leg up in this perfection business. The idea that they can attain godhood, or, perfection, pagan style, is a seduction that I am having a really hard time combating!
What I think keeps getting lost is the understanding that perfection (righteousness) is a description of RELATING correctly, and not a description of who I AM. In the Hebrew, I can see that I am what I DO. In the pagan, I see that I do what I AM. Sigh. Somewhere in there, the relating stuff keeps getting just plain lost.
I will probably be in a different place tomorrow, but today I am kinda at a place where I see shame as a person experiencing a place of being fractured FROM, and guilt as being the person who is DOING actions of fracture. What I am trying to do is get back behind all the pagan lies and seductions, and start again in the presentation of the Good News. Until then, I feel I am just attempting to teach a reading class using the devil’s dictionary!
P.S. I really hope that this new way to prevent spam is working, because I appreciate all of you, including Mark, for fixing the last posting problem. Thank you!
I suppose I might wonder why the one who wants to attain godhood thinks that it will be a good thing if the divisions we all have are amplified to the point that we all can enforce our own will with that power. Isn’t it bad enough already? 🙂
YHWH bless you and keep you…….
Oh, dear, Robert, most excellent point! But, then I get the nirvana, all-is-one, lose yourself in the god-consciousness, etc, Somewhere between these bipolar opposites will the real and present person please answer for yourself right now!
Is shame a type of idolatry ? I think it’s impossible to be in a relationship with someone controlled by shame. Shame is as addicting as cocaine. What do you think ?
More to come on this. Shame is a natural emotional response to particular circumstances, but how we deal with it can certainly be addictive.
It is tempting to say that people are so much further away from God today than back in biblical times but that isn’t true. The wrapping may be a little different but the teacher tells us there is nothing new under the sun.
There is a fundamental failure to recognize the Creator of us humans. A lack of fear and wisdom not to mention humility. Why?
Following God and taking control of your thoughts is no easy task. The enemy knows this. He is a perfect example of losing control of his thoughts and thinking he was equal to God. Look where he is and what he has been given for now.
I know many who struggle with self worship which by the way takes on many forms. I did it for years and thought I was getting away with it. Looking back I see a woman out of control and worshipping herself in many ways. I did exactly what I wanted to do regardless of the cost. Pretty empty place to be.
God let me get pretty low before he called to me. I am stubborn if nothing else and I began to follow that call and learn of Him. What changes He has helped me make! I would not know the difference had I not walked where I did.
But that is my story and we each have our own.
As long as there is breath there is hope of redemption and learning new ways.
The world offers up every dainty and morsel imaginable to man and men being what they are often partake, some knowingly and some ignorantly. Again we come to choices as God has left us without excuse. Deep down we all know what is right and good but there are a lot of fools out there.
Living life like we belong to Y-H is the best example we can give those fools. Demonstrating hen and hesed because it has been shown to us is an amazing thing to behold. It makes a difference even if we can’t immediately see it ourselves. Stay the course because the one you belong to is forever- beyond this world.
Is Peace Possible?
~ For God is One, [Yes, Israel, the LORD our God is One..] and The Mediator of God and the sons of men [also] is One: [That Mediator, and our Representative and only Hope is] —The Son of Man, Yeshua The Messiah ~ (1 Timothy 2.5)
Paul, (formerly known as Saul) has written — “all have sinned..” ALL* have come up short — have fallen short of the mark! — have been “weighed in the balances and have been found wanting..
There is (Houston, we have) — a universal problem, (therefore) there must be a universal “solution.”
And (Hallelujah!) — there is!!
[Abraham..] -God HAS provided Himself the Lamb! There is no forgiveness, healing, deliverance or salvation without the blood of the sinless One, the LORD Jesus, (who is the) Christ.
Apart from the tslav (the execution stake, the cross) of the Chosen One, we have zero hope.
Is it (even) possible that someone such as myself – (a known sinner) may be reconciled to the Holy and Sovereign One??
What!?? What is this “good news?” *Christ died for (ungodly) sinners! (1 Timothy 1.15)
What? — What was the (grumbling) testimony of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law?
~ And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, *This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them! ~ (Luke 15.2)
Sinners Jesus will receive;
Sound this word of grace to all!
Who the heavenly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Sing it o’er and o’er again;
Christ receiveth sinful men;
Make the message clear and plain:
Christ receiveth sinful men!
Come, and He will give you rest;
Trust Him for His word is plain;
He will take the sinfulest;
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Now my heart condemns me not,
Pure before the LawI stand;
He who cleansed me from all spot,
Satisfied its last demand.
Christ receiveth sinful men,
Even me with all my sin;
Purged from every spot and stain,
Glory!, — I shall enter in!
Friends,~ God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him ~ (2 Corinthians 5.19-21)
But wait!! — there’s more!! (so much more!!)
Much more then, — having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, *much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our LORD Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation!
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say,
It is well, — it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And has shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the LORD, praise the LORD!, — O my soul!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
You shall whisper Your sweet peace to my soul.
But, LORD, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The Sky, not the Grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, Voice of the LORD!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
And LORD, haste the day when our faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the LORD shall descend,
Even so, — it is well with my soul.
~ Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, — eager to do what is good ~ (Titus 2.14)
Has anybody watched the film “The Gospel of John The New International version?” I watched it over the week end and it was refreshing. The entire gospel was narrated with the film playing out in the background. The characters spoke Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic in the background muffled enough to hear they were speaking but not loud enough to understand them easily.
The refreshing thing was that Yeshua was played by someone that actually appeared Jewish. He also spoke, argued and was portrayed as a real person. No false Hollywood expressions or tones in his speech, behavior and actions. Watching him showed what I would think was a real rabbi discussing and dealing with real Jewish people, culture and societies. This Yeshua actor demonstrated real anger, real life situations and real back and forth dialogue.
As I said, it was refreshing as opposed to all these ‘biblical’ depictions that simply give some tongue-in-cheek interpretation of a loving, sweet, ‘humble’ Jesus figure. The guy playing Yeshua in this film seemed as someone that could, as a carpenter or stone master, wrangle a piece of wood or stone in a matter of fact, get it done well type of way. Like he knew what to do and wasn’t hindered by some “holy” hollywood way.
I saw it on Netflix after watching some British characters give their interpretation of a Jesus. The different versions were a stark contrast. One engaging, the other laughable.
Just an FYI wondering if anyone else had watched this particular version and their thoughts.
Expanding on the idea of the principles of American jurisprudence the US Supreme Court has expanded the 5th amendment of Constitution to include the drill we all know from watching crime/cop shows on TV…”you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Just as your point about our presumption of innocence is God’s assumption of guilt so that “opposite principle” can be employed here as well. While we have been trained to think that it is in our best interest to remain silent, lest we incriminate ourselves, in the Heavenly Court we had best confess quickly, fully and loudly.
Following these same lines of our 5th amendment rights we also have the right to an attorney, even though we may not be able to afford one. Instead of getting a court appointed, freshly minted law school graduate or an overbooked,
burnt-out social activist we get the best court appointed advocate – Yeshua. Follow His advise. In the true High Court, like earthly ones, “he who represents himself has a fool for a client”, as Abraham Lincoln noted.
P.S. Now I confused myself with all these opposite opportunities. So
when I hear the booming voice of the angelic clerk calling to order the Heavenly Court saying: “ALL RISE” … should I fall on my face?
LIKE!!
I love TWs like these, down to earth. If we can’t get such foundations right-
“The justice due me assumes that there is a standard that I have not met”, and,
being “a fool is a moral category. the utter disregard for the absolute sovereignty of God” “… who will not let the wicked go unpunished.”
“A fool is someone who knows what he is doing is wrong but thinks that his actions will evade consequences.”
We suffer the consequences of our doings, no doubts with that, and YES, YHWH sees all. I sang this Psalty’s kids’ praise with my 1 1/2 year old granddaughter -“don’t play hide and seek with the LORD who loves you, ………. for you can’t hide from Him!!”
Shalom.