"And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Luke 1:30-35.
We don't know all the details. The Lord gives us the information we need, not comprehensive information. When Christ came to earth to become a man, he was born of a virgin, the fitting entrance for the One who never knew sin. His followers left all immediately to take up the commission of following Christ. Wherever he went, Christ performed miracles of healing, even raising the dead. Crowds would flock to Him to hear Him, to experience His power, to just touch Him. It is obvious, particularly from the history related by the Apostle John, that the most damnable sin of the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees was not their hypocrisy, their stealing from widows, or their kowtowing to the Romans; it was their rejection of Christ as their teacher, leader, and savior.
Christ spoke in the starkest terms of Himself as the most important object of life. He spoke unapologetically and seemingly without selfish or narcissistic motives. He allowed Himself to be the object of worship and asserted that He was equivalent to God Himself. He even spoke of Himself as the bread of life itself. "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:53-4.
Yet, one is hard pressed to find any example of Christ acting in a civil or judicial capacity. In fact, when demanded to act as a judge in a private estate matter between two brothers, he said, "Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" Luke 12:14. When crowds sought to take him and make him king, he avoided by withdrawing.
Clearly, He knew His calling and mission as savior of the world and not that of political ruler. And He knew the separation that must exist between civil rule and ecclesiastical ministry. His own trial epitomizes a midnight, farcical denial of due process, yet he said little to critique it. See John 18:33-40. So, what effect would His coming to earth have on the judicial system?
Judges are needed in the world of man after the ejection from the Garden of Eden because of laws and the breaking thereof. But for the Fall in that Garden, would there be a need for law or judges? Even if there had been a need for judges had there been no Fall, the need would surely have been minimal in a sinless world. Christ was the second Adam, the new Man, the initiator of the New Creation, a world of men adopted into His family, freed from sin and given new hearts and spirits to love the law of God and righteousness. Yet, we do not see the full manifestation of that work accomplished by Christ. We still have sin. We still need judges. If for no other reason but to remind sinful man of the fact of a coming judgment before the Divine Judge of all, we need judges.
The question remains: Considering all His significance, all His commanding presence, all His wise words, all His divinity come to earth, what effect did Christ's coming have on the judicial system? Should it have any?
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