Judges 21:25
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Judges 2:16-19
The book of Judges isn’t an obvious place to find signs pointing to Jesus. It’s a book full of dark stories and imperfect heroes. The book takes us from a period of faithfulness through Joshua when the Israelites are settled in Canaan in harmony with God to the period of Israelite kings. Throughout the book of Judges, the Israelites turned away from God and would need a savior to rescue them and bring them back into obedience with God.
This pattern would repeat itself over and over throughout the book. The Israelites “did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God” (Judges 3:7). The consequences of their sin would be that God allowed other nations to conquer them and suffer hardships under their rule. The Israelites would cry out to God and He would send a deliverer. Then there would be peace in the land. And then the cycle would repeat itself.
This period of time can be summed up by Judges 21:25, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” The book of Judges would leave Israel longing for a king. The king they needed was God. As we know, the Israelites would choose differently much to their detriment.
However, we can find the gospel story in the book of Judges. God’s character doesn’t change and He is always faithful – even to a disobedient people. When Israel abandons God to follow their own desires, their choices lead to hardship and oppression. When they cry out to God, He always responds and sends a savior. These heroes are often imperfect and the peace they bring is always temporary. But yet it is the gospel story that we see unfold in each cycle.
The gospel story is the story of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Glory. God created the perfect Eden for humanity to coexist with God. But we sinned and followed our own desires leading to banishment from the garden and a world of pain, hardship and oftentimes oppression. All of Creation cried out to God to be rescued and he sent Jesus to be the savior that would redeem us and lead us to eternal Glory with God.
Judges is the story of what happens when we follow our own heart. We lose direction and a sense of right and wrong. The entire Old Testament has an undercurrent theme running throughout of the need for a king to bring humanity back to God and the glory of the Garden of Eden. Time after time, God would send a leader, a judge, a king or a prophet to restore Israel. And time after time they would all fail. The peace they would bring would never last.
Until Jesus arrives. His is the prophet, priest and king that would restore completely. His kingdom has no end. It seems painfully clear as you read the book of Judges that Jesus is found in every story. The Israelites tried to accomplish peace and prosperity on their own but Jesus was really who Israel needed. And God was faithful to us and sent Jesus to rescue us for all of eternity. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful” (2 Tim 2:13).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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