Bench Lessons 5: Their Worships

Magistrates sitting in English and Welsh courts represent the monarch and dispense justice in his name. Curiously, the prosecutor, referred to as the Crown, also represents the monarch; trials are Rex vs Smith, but the bench of magistrates do not give the Crown preferential treatment or special favour. I recall an unrepresented defendant addressing me as ‘Your Majesty’ one day; he was, of course, mistaken, but he enjoyed a better grasp of the magistrates’ symbolism than many others. For the record, magistrates are addressed as ‘Your Worship’, like a Mayor, while judges are addressed as ‘Your Honour’ or ‘Your Lordship’ depending on seniority.

In the heavenly court of justice, God the Father is sometimes considered to be the judge while God the Son is not the prosecutor, but counsel for the defence. Satan, the Accuser, appears for the prosecution, repeatedly invoking a righteous God’s penalty against a sinning people:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Zechariah 3:1

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:1

The Father might love the Son but only accepts His advocacy on the basis of the shed blood, not His divine love. That satisfaction was made for sinners when He hung upon the Cross, and answers the Accuser’s eloquent arguments for condemnation most convincingly. God’s justice may demand sinners’ punishment, but never twice. The Lord Jesus, our Saviour, is therefore both majestic, honourable and worshipful.