‘Another’ Perspective
Look at it this way. Joe D. is a criminal. Joe committed a crime. Joe is caught. He is tried, and convicted. Joe D. is then sentenced to die in the electric chair. The day of execution arrives. Joe is strapped down in the chair. The warden is about to throw the switch.
The lawyers have appealed; they have argued every ‘angle’ of the case. They have petitioned the governor. They argue that after the conviction, Joe was a ‘model’ prisoner; he should receive a ‘stay’ or have his sentence commuted to ‘life’. The governor rebuts them with the law is the law and there is no recourse, except to have the sentence carried out. The governor’s ‘hands are tied’. Joe D. has even petitioned the President.
The clock ticks closer to the ‘time’. The warden asks Joe D. if he has any ‘last words’.
Joe replies, “Yes, I did it. I am guilty. I deserve to die. I am sorry; I wish I had never done it. There is nothing I can do to change the fact that I am guilty!”
Suddenly, the phone rings. It is not, as everyone expects, the governor granting a stay of execution… Instead, it is the President. The President pardons Joe D.
A pardon is not the same as a reversed verdict. A pardon is the ‘release from the penalty’ of a crime. It does not say that the crime never occurred or that the person convicted did not commit the crime… Just the opposite, a pardon says that a person did commit the crime, but is being released from the penalty of the crime - as if the crime never occurred. Further, Joe D can never be tried for this crime again, ever!
That is ‘us’. Romans 3:10 tells us that none of us are righteous. Romans 3:23 and 5:12 go further - directly they tell us we have all sinned. That means, like Joe D. we are guilty. There is a sentence for guilty verdict. Romans 6:23 tells us, “the wages of sin is death!”
Just as Joe D. was pardoned, we too can be ‘pardoned’. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." John 5:24
That is by believing in the ‘saving grace’ of Jesus Christ, we are given a pardon. Unfortunately, unlike the case of Joe D. God’s law is not the same as ‘man’s’ law.
God’s law demands that crimes must be punished. There was a crime, someone has to do the time.
Some religions claim we must be ‘purged’ of the crimes even though we have been pardoned.
The Bible says differently, Isaiah 53:6b says, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Sin is a ‘crime’ (against God). The penalty for the crime is death. With a pardon, we get a ‘release from the penalty’ of the crime. Nevertheless, according to God’s law, someone has to ‘do the time’, in our case, someone has to die for the crime…
God loves us enough to pardon us… Yes! He loves us even more than that, His justice must be satisfied… Someone has to die, period.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6
God will not only pardon us by “laying on Him the iniquity of us all”, Jesus Christ died to fulfill the law. God’s justice demands someone pay the price - Jesus did! Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Unlike Joe D., the President does not call ‘at the last second’ to give us a pardon. Jesus Christ does it instantly when we ask. He has already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, now all we have to do is ask for the pardon.
The lawyers have appealed; they have argued every ‘angle’ of the case. They have petitioned the governor. They argue that after the conviction, Joe was a ‘model’ prisoner; he should receive a ‘stay’ or have his sentence commuted to ‘life’. The governor rebuts them with the law is the law and there is no recourse, except to have the sentence carried out. The governor’s ‘hands are tied’. Joe D. has even petitioned the President.
The clock ticks closer to the ‘time’. The warden asks Joe D. if he has any ‘last words’.
Joe replies, “Yes, I did it. I am guilty. I deserve to die. I am sorry; I wish I had never done it. There is nothing I can do to change the fact that I am guilty!”
Suddenly, the phone rings. It is not, as everyone expects, the governor granting a stay of execution… Instead, it is the President. The President pardons Joe D.
A pardon is not the same as a reversed verdict. A pardon is the ‘release from the penalty’ of a crime. It does not say that the crime never occurred or that the person convicted did not commit the crime… Just the opposite, a pardon says that a person did commit the crime, but is being released from the penalty of the crime - as if the crime never occurred. Further, Joe D can never be tried for this crime again, ever!
That is ‘us’. Romans 3:10 tells us that none of us are righteous. Romans 3:23 and 5:12 go further - directly they tell us we have all sinned. That means, like Joe D. we are guilty. There is a sentence for guilty verdict. Romans 6:23 tells us, “the wages of sin is death!”
Just as Joe D. was pardoned, we too can be ‘pardoned’. “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." John 5:24
That is by believing in the ‘saving grace’ of Jesus Christ, we are given a pardon. Unfortunately, unlike the case of Joe D. God’s law is not the same as ‘man’s’ law.
God’s law demands that crimes must be punished. There was a crime, someone has to do the time.
Some religions claim we must be ‘purged’ of the crimes even though we have been pardoned.
The Bible says differently, Isaiah 53:6b says, “And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Sin is a ‘crime’ (against God). The penalty for the crime is death. With a pardon, we get a ‘release from the penalty’ of the crime. Nevertheless, according to God’s law, someone has to ‘do the time’, in our case, someone has to die for the crime…
God loves us enough to pardon us… Yes! He loves us even more than that, His justice must be satisfied… Someone has to die, period.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Romans 5:6
God will not only pardon us by “laying on Him the iniquity of us all”, Jesus Christ died to fulfill the law. God’s justice demands someone pay the price - Jesus did! Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Unlike Joe D., the President does not call ‘at the last second’ to give us a pardon. Jesus Christ does it instantly when we ask. He has already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, now all we have to do is ask for the pardon.
posted by Unchained Slave at 5:00 AM
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