To say that God brings salvation, I’m probably saying something that’s pretty obvious to most people here.
But the danger is we can be far too narrow in what that means, thinking purely in terms of being saved from sin.
So a close look at what’s going on in Judges 3 will reveal to you truths about our own society, about how and why God brings salvation, and about what it actually means to be saved by him.
You need a Saviour from God (7-11)
We didn’t read Chapter 2, but it acts as a kind of introduction of what to expect in the rest of the book:
- The activity in Judges is cyclical; it goes round in circles.
- The people fall into sin and idolatry, abandoning the God who gave them the land and blessing.
- So he hands them over to their sin and they come under foreign rule. Then they cry out to him for help!
- The Lord raises up Judges to save them (because God brings salvation), and they enjoy a time of peace.
- But read Judges 2:19.
- After each Judge, they were worse than before. It’s not a set of circles for the nation: It’s a downward spiral.
So in Judges 3:7-11 we meet the first Judge, Othniel. It’s a text book example of the Judges cycle.
Read Judges 3:7-11, noting the key points of the cycle.
And who is Othniel? He’s the poster-boy Judge! None other than Caleb’s son-in-law and nephew!
Very much the kind of man you’d choose to be a saviour of your country, if you could tell God what you’d like. He had the godly character needed for leading God’s own. But often our society chooses its leaders on their looks and style far more than their ability or character.
Contemporary cycle
But we need to take a closer look at this cycle of activity from Judges 2 and 3 and see it at work in our own society:
Read Judges 3:7 again. Western society is what they call “post modern” – it’s a phrase that means people decide their own truth. You see that in gender ideology as an obvious example. But it also relates to what people think about the world at large: The Manic Street Preachers had a song called People Give In with the line in the chorus, “There is no theory of everything.” That is, they say there’s no God, so no beginning or end, no justice, no meaning. Just do your best.
The Bible has something to say about that, obviously: Read Romans 1:20, 24. God is absolute. He is truth. Notice how that’s the same as the first steps in Judges: Society denies God, falls into idolatry and sin, and then God hands us over to our sin. When God gives you all you want, it’s usually an act of judgment.
But our society is crying out to its own gods still: Money, choice, status, popularity, financial security, even family. There’s nothing inherently wrong with those things, but idolatry is when you take a good thing and make it a god-thing. Nothing can bear the full weight of your expectation. You’ll be let down. There will be problems.
Crying out loud
Some people do cry out to the Lord like those Israelites: In misery, but not repentance. They want relief, but without actually turning to God themselves.
But God brings salvation. If you actually repent of the sin in your life, and cry out to God for salvation, he will save you. He will forgive your sin. God has given you Jesus to take the punishment your sins deserve. Trust Jesus. He is the Saviour God has given you. Jesus is the only saviour who can bring you to God.
And if you have, and you know what it is to have peace with God and forgiveness of sin, you are singularly blessed.
But you’re not yet a sinlessly perfect person! You still sin, and there’s a sense in which you go through this cycle every day of your life – except that as a child of God you ought to be spiralling upwards in godliness, not down in idolatry.
Danger zone
Why do you sin? If you’re a Christian, you know you don’t want to sin, but still do! That “peace zone” can be a “danger zone”!
With things at ease, your mind is drawn away from heavenly things. You ease off on your prayer and reading.
Then your heart is drawn to sin’s pleasures, enticed, lured.
Once your mind and heart are in, it’s a small step for your will to decide to sin: And then you do. All the time.
We saw last week how you need to keep your mind, heart, will, and hands engaged for God, lest you drift into compromise, doubt, fear, and disobedience.
So (paraphrasing John Owen) meditate on God with God. Meditate on the Bible in the Bible .
You never stop needing this Saviour from God. But there’s good news:
God has provided a glorious Saviour (12-30)
The account of the second Judge is bizarre and comical, brutal and coarse.
Years ago I was a leader at a Christian camp and a room full of 10-year-old boys demanded a bedtime story in exchange for a quiet “lights-out”. I reached for a Bible (“No! A proper story!”) and read them this account of Ehud. They loved it. It’s meant to be funny. That’s how Israel would have read it
But it starts with the inevitable: Read Judges 3:12. Again, it doesn’t matter whether you think something is right or wrong: God alone decides what is sin in his sight.
It’s helpful to picture the geography a bit.
- Imagine that Wirral is part of Israel, and that the Mersey is the River Jordan.
- Over the river is the kingdom of Moab (aka Liverpool).
- The king of Moab (called Eglon) has built a palace at Jericho. Imagine the king of Liverpool with a palace at Neston!
- So here we are, putting our hands in our pockets to pay tribute (tax) to a foreign king to take away.
- He’s fat on our money, while our children go hungry.
- But God has raised up a Judge in response to our cries!
Read Judges 3:16-19.
It seems Ehud went with the people carrying the tribute from Jericho to Gilgal by the river (Neston to Bromborough) on its way to Moab. But then he turned back and returned to Jericho, to the palace.
Slow-mo
And the story slows right down in detail: Read Judges 3:20-23.
The Hebrew is a bit difficult to translate, and our English Bibles soften the coarseness of the language as well. It’s possible that he didn’t so much escape through the “porch” as the toilet hole in the floor! As the sword caused the king’s bowels to discharge (see the CSB footnote), so Ehud escaped through the back passage… It’s coarse humour.
So as v26 tells us, “Ehud escaped while the servants waited.” Their predicament is another element of the humour (though not for them, obviously).
Ehud then rallies Israel’s troops and goes back to the river, killing every Moabite soldier at the ford across. Quite a rescue! Quite a rescuer!
You might well think it’s awful: “Outrageous! Deception! Assassination!”
But read Judges 3:15 again. God brings salvation, and here he brought Ehud. He was God’s rescuer, God’s choice of saviour.
In this book we’ll meet all sorts of rescuers:
You might prefer the valiant Othniel, but you get sneaky Ehud, the woman Deborah, deeply flawed Jephthah, weak Gideon, or rebellious Samson.
A perfect rescuer?
By the end of the book you’re crying out for a perfect Saviour who won’t die, who’ll bring peace for more than 40 or 80 years.
The storyline of the Bible is leading towards 1 & 2 Samuel and the introduction of godly King David, but even he was far from perfect and certainly didn’t live forever.
Who’d have expected such hope of a perfect saviour and Judge to be met in a carpenter from Nazareth, 1,000 years after David?
But God brings salvation. And that carpenter was Jesus, the Son of God. He was God come into the world to save you. More unexpected than any of the rescuers who went before, and more gloriously honoured than all of them.
Don’t let your pride keep you from coming to him. You might want a cooler, more modern saviour. More high tech. You can’t choose your own Othniel, no more than you can save yourself. Don’t look to false gods, when the true and living God has come to earth to save you already.
Be careful not to think only of him as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the Risen Saviour, eternal Son of God, worshipped and adored across all heavenly realms. You have sinned against him, and yet only he can save you. God brings salvation to you in the shape of Jesus – unlikely to many, foolishness to most, but true nonetheless.
See Jesus in all his deity, glory, and majesty.
And bow down before him in repentance and faith every day.
I say “every day” because he is even more than saviour:
Serve Jesus as Lord (31)
In this book there are 12 Judges: 6 Major and 6 Minor. They’re all wonderful, but the major/minor descriptions refer to how much ink they get on the page.
We’ve seen two major Judges: Othniel and Ehud. So now meet the first minor Judge: Read Judges 3:31.
It was clearly a ridiculous and spectacular salvation. Somehow, this man killed 600 enemy troops with some farming equipment.
A cattle prod was a rough, heavy instrument. Sharp at one end, rounded at the other, you could certainly kill someone with it. But to kill 600? He was a saviour from God, so yes!
Shamgar was surely well known in his day, in his area. It’s pretty cool to have your name in the Bible, even if it’s one a one-liner. But far more important is to have your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life in heaven – and his name is certainly there.
Shamgar was what you might call an unsung hero. But who wants that? We want people to recognise us and give us glory!
Servant leadership
In truth, Shamgar has much to teach you about what it means to serve Jesus, to live as a Christian. He did amazing things for God in God’s strength. But he was a servant leader, not looking for his own glory. True Christian service needs no audience but God alone.
Do you get a bit miffed if no-one notices your work for the church? Do you get grumpy and feel underappreciated?
Then ask yourself honestly: What reward are you after? Whose approval do you seek? People’s, or the Lord’s? If it really is the Lord you’re working to please, you won’t need anyone else to say “Well done” (though if we’re being loving, we ought to anyway). You won’t feel a need to draw attention to the things you’ve done for the church, or for mission, etc.
“Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant… he humbled himself by becoming obedient…” Phil 2:5-8.
Did Shamgar seek a name for himself? No, he served God.
He was the third Judge in the book.
Judges
Let’s take a closer look at that word, “Judge.” It’s a word that appears throughout the Old Testament, and has to do with putting wrongs right. That means bringing punishment for the guilty, and rescue (salvation) for the oppressed.
So a Judge will bring both salvation (from trouble) and peace under godly rule (to peace).
Now if all these Judges (and later kings) are pointing forward to Jesus, the ultimate saviour and Judge, you need to ask what are you looking for from him?
- Do you want Jesus as saviour only? Is he someone who will save you from sin and hell, but you then keep at arm’s length, as you try to live your own life without getting too caught up in church?
- Or will you take Jesus as your Saviour and Lord? Not only saved from sin’s curse, but brought into his kingdom, living in his service 24×7? That’s what he calls you to: Salvation, adoption, kingdom life and rule. Your life isn’t your own; you were bought at a price, and you belong to him. We all do, together.
Which means you’ll take that cycle of sin seriously every day. Be vigilant, especially when things are ok, to keep your mind filled with him, heart fired with him, your will fixed on serving him.
When you think of Jesus as your Saviour and Lord, remember not only what he has saved you from, but what he has saved you to.
God himself, revealed to you in Jesus, is the end of your journey, your eternal joy and pleasure. Make him your joy and pleasure now, so that you will serve him gladly, whole-heartedly, in warm communion with him.