Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
When a criminal is judged and found guilty he is often released on probation. His fine or prison sentence is deferred; he doesn't have to pay or go to prison. That means, he will be all right if he doesn't get into trouble again. The human race have sinned. They are on probation; but does that mean that their punishment for sin has only been deferred?
Many people have that idea about the sacrifice of Christ. All He did was to put us on probation, they say, and our punishment for sin has only been deferred. Now it is true that we are on probation during this life--but not because our punishment has only been deferred. The Bible teaches that the full punishment for our human sin was laid on Christ. There was no deferral--He endured the full punishment for our sin. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16); "Christ died for our sins … (1 Cor. 15:3); "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).
Here is the vast difference between two totally different ideas of the gospel. One says that Christ didn't really pay the penalty for our sins, He only deferred that punishment until our probation is ended; the other says that the total punishment was inflicted on Christ as our Substitute, which means that no one will go into the lake of fire because of his sins. That punishment was indeed inflicted on Christ, and God never puts us in double jeopardy.
Many, sad to say, will suffer the lake of fire, but only because of their unbelief, their rejection of what Christ has already accomplished for them. It's time for us to realize what the Son of God accomplished on His cross! That truth will lighten the earth with glory.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.
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