Imagine yourself in a courtroom. You are on trial because you have broken almost every law in the book. Your predicted sentence is the death penalty. The jury is shouting at the judge for your death. The judge is about to officially declare your sentence. She quiets the jury down and as she is about to slam the mallet to declare your sentence, she tells the guards, “Bring him in.” Walking through the court doors is her innocent two year old son. As tears fall down her face, she tells you “I see a hope and a future for you and I wouldn’t want to see you die when you have so much ahead of you.” Sobbing, the judge slams the mallet and declares that her innocent two year son will take the penalty for the crimes that you committed and orders him sentenced to death.
As gruesome and confusing as this story may sound, it is a true story. Not with a judge or a two year old boy but with an awe powerful, omnipotent God and his one of only perfect son. What makes this story even better is that in three days, Christ rose from the dead. He is Alive.
We have heard this story a countless number of times. In matter of fact, we have a national holiday just to commemorate it(the government will never admit to this). As many times as we’ve heard this, a lot of us do not take it as serious as it should be. A lot of us look at it as if its another fairy tale story to help us feel good. I know I have. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
You will never be able to get what Jesus did for you, unless you can actually understand why he did it and the severity of what he did. Sacrificing a son is not easy. Just think about this. Would you ever sacrifice your innocent son or daughter so a bunch of criminals can be released from their charges? Honestly speaking, I know I wouldn’t. But God did. And he did it willingly. Why? Because he loved us that much.
The Bible says that “the penalty for sin is death.” What is sin? A bad act. What is considered sin? Anything from along the lines of stealing a pencil to checking out that girl to murder. It is impossible not to sin, therefore it was impossible to avoid death. (KeyWord: Was) But Jesus changed all that. God willingly did not spare his son but allowed Jesus take up a cross and suffer one of the most brutal forms of torture known to man. Why? So you wouldn’t have to go through that. He went through that in order for you to have a chance to avoid eternal damnation. He did that because he saw a hope and a future in you. He didn’t have to. He was innocent and had no sin. We should’ve been the ones to carry that heavy cross and have steel nails pierced through us. What Jesus did wasn’t justice for he was innocent. But he threw justice out the window for one moment and sacrificed himself because he thought that we wrote something worth dying for. Because of Jesus, the cross is no longer a sign of torture. It is now a sign of hope. That my friends, is real love.
Footprints in Concrete 