For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; it is he who will save us. – Isaiah 33:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 6, 2013): Isaiah 33

In Western Culture, we have come to believe that a separation of power is necessary for our culture to function properly. Maybe the most common expression of this is that the people who give the laws are not the people who serve as judge over the law. In Canada, where I reside, right now we are going through a very public controversy over Senate expenses. Three prominent Senators have been recently censured and suspended from the Senate without pay as a result of what has been perceived as a mishandling of expense claims. (Just a note for those of you outside of Canada. In Canada, the Senate is an appointed body rather than an elected body. So Canadian Senators never have to confront the public in a vote the way that they do in the United States.) But there are rules with regard to which Senatorial expenses are eligible for submission to the government for reimbursement. In this case, it is believed that these three senators had violated these rules. All three Senators have denied having broken these Senate rules.

But this is also where this process breaks down. I started by saying that in Western Culture we believe in the separation of power. So we believe that we have a body that makes the rules (in Canada this would be the Parliament and the Senate), a body that enforces the law (again in Canada this would be the Police Department, including but not restricted to the RCMP), and a body that judges those who have possibly broken the law (the court system). Separate people fulfill separate functions with regard to the law. The reason for the separation is that it would seem to be impossible for any of us to be objective on any subject. But with these Senators, the Senate had created the law, it is unclear how much of this situation had been investigated by the RCMP before the Senate judged the Senators and issued the penalty. For some, this is a positive – the Senate has learned to judge itself (or more commonly termed “police itself.” But the Senate cannot be objective. The reality is that three Senators have been denied the right to have an independent judge sit over the case and declare them either innocent or guilty, but maybe more importantly, the Canadian Senatorial system has avoided a very public scrutiny into the ways that it carries out its own affairs. And I really think that is why the Senate moved to censure – they did not want the public scrutiny that would result if they had not taken action against the Senators. As a result, the entire system did not operate the way that it was designed.

Our reality is that we can’t be objective. As people, and as political entities, we need the checks and balances. In a democratic society, we need the public scrutiny that the Canadian Senate avoided in this case. But Isaiah reminds us that there is someone that is objective enough to be both the lawgiver and the judge. And because he is both the lawgiver and the judge – he is the only one who can save us. God gives the law. God is righteous, he understands right and wrong in a way that we probably never will know. But God is objective enough that he can also judge those under the law – which includes us. We still have a very clear idea of right and wrong. But Jesus says that he had come to fulfill the law – he had come to save. The reality of the biblical story is that we know we can never fulfill the requirements of the law – it is beyond our ability. And so the Messiah came and fulfilled the requirements of the law (he died on a cross), so that we can fulfill the righteousness of the lawgiver and the justice of the judge. And only through this action of the righteous lawgiver and the just judge can we ever truly be saved.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 34

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) message "Struggling with God" from the series "Fall in ..." is now available on the VantagePoint Website. You can find it here.