<p>7:24 <i>Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment</i>- The Lord is still alluding to the incident in chapter 5, where He cured the impotent man on the Sabbath and the Jews plotted to kill Him. He had explained that He had done so because &quot;My judgment is just&quot; (5:30). These are the same words as used here in inviting the crowd to &quot;judge righteous &quot;just&quot; judgment&quot;. John will later again emphasize how God's judgments are just (Rev. 16:7; 19:2). We are not to judge in the sense of condemning, pre-judging in an ultimate sense; but rather is the invitation to see things from God's perspective.</p><p>As recipients of God's grace through the experience of His way of working with us reflecting His character, we too must reflect those same characteristics to others. This is why we <i>must</i> judge- for in doing so, we have the opportunity to reflect God's character. We must judge righteous judgment (Jn. 7:24) in reflection of that of &quot;the Lord, the righteous judge&quot; (2 Tim. 4:8). David was almost eager to replicate the principles of God's judgments in how he judged issues (Ps. 75:10 cp. 7; 75:7 cp. 2). And therefore Asaph poses the question to Israel's judges: 'Because God judges justly, why don't you?' (Ps. 82:1-3). As we judge, we will be judged; even Babylon will be judged as she judged others (Rev. 18:20 RV), and Edom's judgments in Jer. 49:9 are an exact reflection of how she judged Israel (Obad. 5). And therefore we should almost jump at the opportunity to judge.&nbsp; &quot;Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the... fatherless and widow&quot; (Dt. 27:79) because &quot;A father of the fatherless and a judge of the widow is God in his holy habitation&quot; (Ps. 68:5). Israel were to reflect God's judgments in their judgments.</p>