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Who’s the most famous judge you know? Sandra Day O’Connor? Clarence Thomas? Lance Ito? Judge Judy? There are quite a few judges who have made headlines, though many only have maybe one or two prominent cases in the media spotlight.

Have you ever thought of God as a judge? He is - and He is the most holy judge there is. All of the judges we know here on earth, past and present, have been imperfect humans just like you and me. They may do their best to be fair and impartial in awarding justice, but we all make mistakes.

There are many passages in the Bible that talk about God as our judge. In particular, we know that He is a just judge. Psalm 7:11 says, “God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day.” The word used for ‘righteous’ there can also mean ‘just.’ Because God is perfect and holy, we know His judgments will be perfect and holy and just. God’s Son, Jesus, has been given the authority to be the judge over all humankind, because He was one of us. When Jesus was incarnate, He was both totally God and totally man. Therefore, He will have the perfect judgment of God, but has authority to judge us because He experienced life as one of us. God is the creator of the universe, so He deserves to judge His creation because of the authority He has (Matthew 28:18).

Romans 2:12 and 16 say, “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. … This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” If you’ve sinned, you will be judged by the law by Jesus. Even the things you’ve done in secret, that maybe no human knows about, will be judged.

That sounds extremely intimidating! Who of us could stand in innocence, faced with that kind of judgement? Truthfully, nobody. But if you believe in Jesus, then He is both your judge and the most perfect defense attorney. His defense argument is that He died on the cross for you, so that you won’t have to be judged. With faith in Jesus’ sacrifice in your heart, you have nothing to fear when being judged by the holy, perfect Judge.