"to judge, to save"

The Word for today:
Psalms 58, 59

mark this: Psalm 58:11 --
So that men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth."

Q. In the Psalms, David often prays for God to judge his enemies. Is that a bad thing for David to pray?

A. No. Without judgment, there is no salvation. Unless Jesus is Judge, he can't be our Savior.

Q. How's that work?

A. Here's an example:
The judgment of Pharaoh's army, drowned in the sea, was the salvation of the children of Israel (1). The very same thing that was salvation for one was judgment for the other (2).

Here's how Psalm 76 explains it:
From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet--
when you, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land (3).

But the picture of the salvation of Israel at the Red Sea was just a foretaste of the cross--when God judged Jesus in order to save us. There is no salvation without judgment.

Jesus came the first time as the Suffering Servant (4), in order to save us from our sins. He will come a second time as Judge (5), in order to save us from our enemies.

Whether Suffering Servant or Judge, he's our Savior.

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(1) see Exodus 14; (2) see 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (3) Psalm 76:8-9; (4) see Isaiah 52:13-53:12; (5) John 5:22-27