When God became confronted with a whole world that He had created which rebelled against Him, what did He do?
He astounded the unfallen universe: He frankly forgave everybody with a "judicial verdict of acquittal" (cf. Rom. 5:16, NEB).
He had no right to do this legally unless He Himself had taken on Himself the full burden of paying the penalty for sin--death.
And that must be the real thing--not just sleeping for a weekend; Christ died the world's second death.
That's the long, long tunnel beyond which there is no light; the death that Jesus died the penalty that we all deserved and would have died but for His sacrifice.
That's what Romans 6:23 says is the "wages of sin." Nothing less will suffice.
Long ago the great Moses had said (and all the world has believed Moses for what he said) that "he that is hanged [on a tree] is [automatically] cursed of God" (Deut. 21:22, 23).
Of course, the Jewish leaders at their trial of Jesus before the Roman Governor Pilate, believed that (under Roman law, the Jews had no right to put a man to death; only the Romans could do it). Remembering what the great Moses had said, they screamed before Pilate "Crucify Him!" (John 19:6).
Trusting Moses implicitly, they believed that once they could get Jesus on to that cross, they could slap each other on the back in self-congratulation, "We've done the right thing! There's no way this Man from Nazareth could be the Messiah! So, let's Crucify Him!"
Jesus was right when He screamed in His agony, that the Father had "forsaken" Him; as He hung on that cross He was in hell--the deepest, darkest, most terrible hell there is.
Isaiah says something hard to believe, that it "pleased the Lord to bruise Him" (Isa. 53:10). You can ponder over that the rest of your life and never exhaust its meaning: what father is "pleased" to bruise his son?
Well, it "pleased" the heavenly Father to "bruise Him," because ...
And there's only one thing to say here--
He loved you more than He loved Him.
It's the story of the ages.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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