"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies." Romans 8:33Wow.
This isn't a picture of Al Capone with some bottom feeding attorney getting him off the hook, just so he can get back to doing his mob business again. This is the common thief and murderer, poor and pitiful, the one justly sentenced, that finds a pardon has been granted and his death sentence repealed. A life of imprisonment has dissolved, dreamlike, into a life of freedom. The impossibly high and barred gate swings open into the sunshine.
And who hands down this clemency? None other than the judge Himself! The criminal doesn't even expect it. This judge is just, he hears. That can't be good news. But there IS good news . . . strange news . . . the judge Himself has actually made sure justice was served - in the death of His own Son.
Imagine: there you stand in the dock, guilty and accused, when the judge declares that YOU have been pardoned. He chose you to be so.
He's already handed down the sentence on His Son, and that's final. You can't argue it. No one can. It's the Judge who justifies. There simply are no more charges to bring, no more sentence to be served.
What this does to my soul!
God visited the punishment for our crimes upon His Son, the Christ, not wistfully hoping someone would believe and be saved, but He did it with intention, with a specific mission: to save those called "elect." Who are these? They are those of whom it is said, "whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" and Jesus' death has purchased their pardon, salvation and freedom, and no one will bring any charges again. Ever.
Wow.
That's it. I want to be done with sin. That's what freedom does; it doesn't (shouldn't) foster a sense of license to sin even more. I want nothing more than to please my dear Savior. Nonetheless, sin is still a part of my life. It grieves me, and enough of it grieves the Holy Spirit with whom I've been sealed. But my heart's desire is to be done with it and live in the glorious freedom of the children of God, and rejoice in my freedom.
3 comments:
Sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it!
I could not imagine crushing my son for sins of some one else. I don't have the ability to love my son as perfectly as God loves his! How terrible that must have been for both!
Wow Rob that's a perspective of God's love I don't think about nearly enough - what pain the Father and the Son must have endured in being separated from each other.
To be honest brother the thought hit me as I was commenting on your post. It is awesome to think that new thoughts will continue to arise as we study our eternal God and his eternal Word!
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