He paid for you
" God instead shows the greatness of his love for us in this: that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us ". (Romans 5: 8)
An evangelist was preaching the gospel in a city in Canada when a drunkard entered that hall and began to cause disorder. They tried to get him out, but he managed to free himself and wounded the preacher. The police had to intervene and after a month the man found himself in court. He was sentenced to pay a fine or, if he could not pay, a few weeks in prison.
At the end of the session, the evangelist, who attended the trial, came forward and asked to pay the fine. The judge hesitated, but could not refuse. Then he summoned the condemned man and said:
"You are free: another has paid in your place".
"In my place? Who would ever want to pay for me?"
"That's what she beat up."
Moved to tears, the man turned to the believer and gratefully shook his hand.
This anecdote highlights how the Gospel reconciles justice with love. The preacher did not prevent the course of justice. The man found guilty had to pay the fine, but the preacher could, out of sheer goodness, pay for him. It is so for the Gospel. God does not renounce his justice. He must punish every sin, but, in his love, he gave his own Son to take the punishment of our sins in our place. Thus Jesus Christ took on his debt we had contracted to God. He paid in our place and, if we accept it, we are free, and even more, we are made children of God and we will enjoy eternity with him.
WHY DID JESUS?
Why did Jesus allow himself to be crucified when he had all the power within himself to free himself from enemies?
Several times Jesus escaped the hands of those who tried to put him to death. In Gethsemane, when Judas came to betray him, it was enough for Jesus to say: "It is I", for all the soldiers to fall to the ground. No one could have laid their hands on Jesus if He hadn't allowed it.
Why then did he allow himself to be led "like a lamb to the slaughterhouse, like a dumb sheep before its shearer" ? why didn't he open his mouth? (Matthew 26:62; 27: 12-14). Why did he give himself to death? (Isaiah 53:12).
Because? Out of love for God his Father, whose work of salvation he was doing on the cross. Out of love for me a sinner, for you, dear readers, whom He wanted to free forever from eternal condemnation.
«For this the Father loves me; because I lay down my life, to take it up again later. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down ” (John 10:17).
«I am the good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep " (John 10:11).
"Jesus, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end" (John 13: 1).
«God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world may be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not judged; whoever does not believe is already judged " (John 3: 17,18).
"Christ loved us and gave himself up for us" (Ephesians 5: 2), "gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2: 6).
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