False Witness- Deut 19

As I read about the justice system, God set in place for the Israelites I liked seeing the checks and balances he put in place. His goal was to protect the innocent. Sort of like today where in most countries, people are said to be innocent until proven guilty. The first check was in the provision of the city of refuge where a person could run if he had accidentally caused the death of another. Then there was the stipulation that a conviction could only be made on the word of two witnesses. If a person gave false witness and it was found to be so the false witness would get the punishment for the crime they had accused the innocent person of. Lastly if you go back to chapter17, the witness were to be the first to throw a stone if the punishment was stoning. It is one thing to tell a lie about someone. It is a more serious matter to throw a stone meant to kill at someone when they didn’t do it. .This requirement hopefully made a person more honest in their witness.

We have a witness against us. He goes by the name of Satan or Lucifer or even the father of lies. He goes about accusing us. We can often hear the voice in our head telling us we aren’t good enough. Or “I can’t believe you did that.” He accuses us before the Father of all and even to our face. Sometimes we are the second witness and start agreeing with his words. It is then we are defeated. But we must remember He is only one voice. There is another voice saying, “This is my beloved, she is forgiven. She is mine.” It is this voice that we need to agree with. We have an advocate in Jesus as Satan goes up against us. Jesus will have the ultimate victory. Satan will be defeated and judged. We will only be defeated when we give in to Satan’s lies and start accusing ourselves instead of falling at the feet of Jesus. We need to join hands with our Savior and proudly say, “We are God’s chosen people bought with the blood of the lamb.”

Dear God, May your voice ring loud in our ears as you remind us of your love and call us to live for you. May we stand firm in our faith against the wiles of the devil remembering that he will be defeated by your Son Jesus. Thank you for your forgiveness and making us your own. Amen