Focus: Case Closed (Pt.1)

Text: Lam.3:58

"O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life."

In the court of law, once the judge has reached a verdict, especially at the level of the Supreme Court, the case is closed. Also, once two parties involved in a squabble reach a settlement in or out of a court of competent jurisdiction, then the judge would declare the case as closed. The judge could also strike out or dismiss a case from his court for want of evidence. As a matter of fact, a case could go on from the lowest court to the highest court in the land before it is finally concluded and closed.

In our text, Jeremiah, amid his deep grief and lamentation, finds a moment to acknowledge God for what He has done for him. He says, "O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life." It is always a wonderful thing when God takes over your case and commits to defending you against the whole world. Paul boldly declares, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom.8:31). God pleads the causes of your soul. Your creator God has also become your redeemer. 

Paul also says, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Rom.8:33). Who can condemn you when God has indeed justified you and closed your case? Paul as a legal luminary and a Spirit-inspired writer inquires, "Who is he that condemneth?" And then he answers, "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" (Rom.8:34). 

Christ is the only one who has the sole right to condemn you, but then He has graciously acquitted you. That being the case, tell me, who is that judge in the world that can condemn you after Christ has freed you.

Christ is your lawyer in heaven even as the Holy Spirit is your lawyer in your heart. John writes, "If any man sin, we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1Jh.2:1). The word 'advocate' is the same as the word 'comforter' in the Greek - a word which also applies to the Holy Spirit in John's Gospel. Christ intercedes for us before His Father while the Holy Spirit pleads our case within our hearts. As the advocate on earth, Christ said to the woman caught in adultery, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?" (Jh.8:10). As Christ pleaded her case, all her accusers felt condemned and left the courtroom, ashamed of their hypocrisy.

Paul exultantly tells us, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col.2:14). Christ took the file containing all the evidence against us to the cross and nailed it there. There is no more case to answer. The document containing our offenses is gone, and the cross of Christ is the coffin in which it was buried. Case closed! No wonder John exclaims, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the ACCUSER of our brethren is cast down, which ACCUSED them before our God day and night" (Rev.12:10). Case closed! Paul joyfully reports, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…" (Rom.8:1). 

Christ has pleaded our case and redeemed our lives forever. Case closed!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter