Saviors or Judges?
By Christine A. Gibson
[Transcribed from a sermon extract]
“Saviors or judges: which class are you?” This question was asked me by the Holy Spirit as I knelt by the side of a chair in the sitting room of
our cottage, Eden Rest, at Old Orchard, Maine, where I recently had gone for a much-needed rest.
It came to me as a heart-searching question and greatly arrested
my attention, bringing a flood-tide of thoughts to my mind. Saviors? Judges? I knew the Scriptures had much to say on this subject. I got my Bible and refreshed my mind by looking up several passages, for I remembered
that several years ago, God gave me a message on “Saviors,” and I felt that perhaps I was about to receive added
light on this wonderful subject.
As I searched the Bible, I received such light and blessing to
my soul, that I was impelled to give the teaching I had received to those who gathered at Eden Rest the following Sunday afternoon. The Holy Spirit sealed it as the message for the hour.
Those who were present seemed greatly moved by it and expressed their desire to have it given to other congregations. With this in view, I am sending it forth in this issue of “Faith,” believing
that it will reach those whom I am unable to personally visit.
The first passage of Scripture given to me was Romans 8:34, “Who
is he that condemneth? (does the work of a judge). It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” I saw at once that He (the Christ), the only One who had the legal right to condemn or judge us, had become
our Savior. Instead of condemning us, He is sitting at the right hand of God
as our Intercessor, praying and pleading our case, as stated in another passage, “We have an Advocate (lawyer) with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
O, how this thought overwhelmed me: If He, the only One who was justified in passing judgment
upon the human race, refused to do so in this Gospel age (as recorded in John 8:15-16, when He said to the Pharisees, “Ye
judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if ye judge, my judgment is true”),
how dare we poor, finite human beings sit in fleshly judgment on any of our brethren?
I paused a moment before looking up other references, and my heart cried out, “O God, I would be in the class
with saviors, and not among judges!”
Let us not bring judgment upon ourselves by judging others, as
Jesus shows us in Matthew 7:2, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again.”
O, may this not be the reason for the death of spiritual power
in many of our assemblies today? Brethren, are we judging each other after the
flesh, instead of loving and praying for one another? Let us not forget Paul’s
admonition to the Galatians (5:13-15): “Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in
one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite
and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” See
also James 4:11,12, “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh
evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou
art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to
save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
Yes, friend, there is one Lawgiver, able to save and to destroy,
and He refuses to hand over the position to any other. Let us not, therefore,
treat the Law with contempt and thus bring judgment on ourselves by so doing. Christ
is ordained of God to be Judge (See Acts 10:42), but the time is yet in the future.
In this day, He is our Great High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25). Shall we not, therefore, stand with Him, and be among the saviors who are coming up on Mount Zion, God’s
place of “perfected beauty,” as recorded in Obadiah 21, and help carry on the marvelous ministry He began on this
earth?
This is, I believe, the purpose of the outpoured Spirit: To call
out a company of overcomers, as saviors, and prepare them for future rulership with the One who is coming back to sit on His
throne, as King of kings and Lord of lords, the Judge of the whole earth!
What is the ministry of a savior?
Several Scriptures were given me as the answer.
The first type of a savior was Moses, in his intercession for
Israel. This was the group that was so unthankful to him, and at whose hand he
suffered much when the opportunity arose for him to be the head of another nation. They
failed God, in making and worshiping a golden calf. God would have brought judgment
upon them by consuming them, but Moses stepped into the gap and became their intercessor.
“And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, O, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods
of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin --; and if not, blot me, I pray
Thee, out of thy book which Thou has written” (Exod. 32:31,32).
Thus, Moses saved the whole nation. Are we willing to stand in the gap and pray for our brethren who despitefully use us? That is the ministry of a savior.
The second type of a savior is Joseph, giving bread to his brethren
who had sold him to a company of Ishmaelites and caused him to suffer wrongfully. He
became their savior. Listen to his words, “God sent me before you to preserve
you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So
now it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Gen. 45:7,8).
Yes, he was a savior and was used of God as a bread-giver. O friends, let us go through the testing times and become “bread” for
our brethren. Out of our experiences at the hands of loved ones, we shall be
enabled to feed them with the Bread of Life. Joseph was but a shadow of our true
Joseph (Jesus), who gave His flesh for the life of the world, and even for those who consented to His death. Each one was in line to reap the benefits of Calvary. Yes,
only those who are willing to go through the gates and suffer with Him, are able to give “strong meat” (corn)
to the brethren (see Ps. 105:17-22).
Daniel, in his intercession for his people, also gives us insight
into the ministry of saviors: He takes their place and prays as though he were a sinner, “We have sinned, and have committed
iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments” (Dan.
9:5).
Read the whole prayer and you will see that he has taken the sinner’s
place and numbers himself with the transgressors, although he is a righteous man, greatly beloved of God (cf. Isa. 53:12). This is the ministry of saviors – to let the reproach of others fall on them,
and to be numbered with transgressors, looking like one, although, like their Master, blameless.
Are we willing for such a ministry? Of course, we shall be misjudged and misunderstood as He was, but what of it? O, what a joy to know that we have stood with others, full of infirmities and weaknesses of the flesh,
and have allowed their reproach to fall upon us, not pleasing ourselves, but living for others, as it is written of Christ,
“The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me” (Rom. 15:3).
What a joy, too, to know that we have prayed them through to glory,
and, in that day, we will be crowned with rejoicing as we behold them, standing with us in His presence. This will compensate for the heartaches we experienced while going through trying times, with and for them. Jesus, “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). Let
us also despise the shame of this ministry and endure the cross, and we, in time, will also sit with Him as His associate
rulers in His future kingdom.
Saviors or judges – which will it be? I say, by all means, let us be saviors. Let us go as good
Samaritans to every poor soul who has fallen by the wayside, and bind up the wounds, pouring in oil and wine. Let us not go as Pharisaical priests and Levites who had nothing to offer others but censure and condemnation,
taking the other side of the road. Let us not think that we are so holy that
we cannot contaminate our persons with others, and be bent on saving our own lives while others are perishing. God forbid that we should be among that number!
Let us, therefore, obey the call, and go forth unto Him, our Blessed
Savior, without the camp, bearing His reproach.
