Luke 12:57-59--Settle with Your Accuser

Luke 12:57-59
English Standard Version
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Settle with Your Accuser
57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

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Jesus is still talking about the court of heaven and the final judgment here, but He's using and earthly principle to talk about it.  Why are people trying to wait until their day in court hoping that things will go their way when they can settle out of court right now through the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Even if you are on your way to court (we are all on our way to dying but some of us know we are closer to getting there than others because of our age or our health or the risks we take in life), there is still time for you to "settle" before you get there.  "It is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment."

So then, who is the accuser here that we must settle with?  While Satan is the accuser of the brethren, he is not the offended party taking you to court here.  The one whose Law has been violated is God, and it is He who is both bringing charges against you, and judging the facts of the trial.  All of the power rests with the side of the prosecution, but God the Son, who is the One who will sit at Judge, made a way for Him to be our defense attorney and not our Judge when He paid the price in our place.  He can say "the debt has been paid in full" and declare us not only "not guilty" but also "righteous," and Satan cannot make any argument against it.  The cross allows God to be completely just while also being merciful and gracious.

Jesus promises that those who wait for their day in the court of heaven will have everything they value stripped away from them and they will be put in a kind of "prison" until they can pay every last penny, but since we can never pay off our infinite sin debt, then there will be an eternal prison sentence for the guilty.  This is how the LORD introduced Himself on Mount Sinai to Moses as Moses was getting the replacement tablets for the ones that were broken when Moses saw the people sinning.

 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5-7).

We can choose which part of these verses we experience by how we respond to the gospel.  The offer is made to all of us to know God as our Redeemer and Savior instead of our Judge and even the one who punishes and tortures those who rebelled against Him.