“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14)

Justice was served!

I heard a story about two children who were best friends growing up. They happily played together all day long and loved each other like brothers. Then, one of the boys moved away to a distant city when his father received employment there. The boys lost contact with each other, and as they grew up, they developed very different lives. One of them pursued an education in law and proceeded up the ranks to become a respected judge. Unfortunately, the other took a very different path, filled with poor decisions that led to crime. One day, he was arrested for theft and found himself in front of a judge. That judge was his old childhood friend. The judge recognized him at once, but that didn’t change the fact that his old friend had broken the law, and he could not let him off the hook; the law is the law, and all crimes must be dealt with and atoned for legally without exception. Therefore, the judge followed the rule of law perfectly, pronounced his friend guilty, and imposed the standard fine appropriate to the crime committed, $1,000, which was to be settled immediately, or jail time would be imposed. Then, after the gavel had gone down, the judge did something very unusual and remarkable. He stood up, took off his robe, stepped down, and wrote a personal check to cover the entire amount. The legal debt was now completely paid in full, and his friend was free to go!

In a similar way, this is what God did for us

The Bible says we are all born into a fallen world, we have a fallen sinful nature and sin, and God is holy and righteous and requires payment for sin. No matter what we do in our own strength, it’s not good enough; we will always fall short of God’s standard of righteousness (Rom. 3:23). If we have to pay our own penalty for sin and rebellion against God, we will truly perish. But the good news is that God has redeemed us by sending His free gift of eternal life: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Therefore

Jesus took our place on the cross and paid the penalty for our sin, and we received the righteousness and clean record of Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1)