Jesus Took Our Judgement
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
ROMANS 8:1
The Bible says the judgment for sin that I deserved is already passed. Christ took my judgment on the cross. Every demand of the law has been met. The law was completely satisfied in the offering that Christ made of Himself for sins. “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).
The law had said, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). I deserved judgment and hell, but Christ took that judgment and hell for me. Christ Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). No statement could be any plainer that the true believer in Jesus Christ shall not come into judgment. That judgment is past. “For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isaiah 38:17). God said through Jeremiah the prophet, “I will remember their sin no more” (31:34).
We shall never understand the extent of God’s love in Christ at the cross until we understand that we shall never have to stand before the judgment of God for our sins. Christ took our sins. He finished the work of redemption. I am not saved through any works or merit of my own. I have preached to thousands of people on every continent, but I shall not go to heaven because I am a preacher. I am going to heaven entirely on the merit of the work of Christ. I shall never stand at God’s judgment bar. That is all past.
Once while crossing the North Atlantic many years ago, I looked out my porthole when I got up in the morning and saw one of the blackest clouds I had ever seen. I was certain that we were in for a terrible storm. I ordered my breakfast sent to my room and spoke to the steward about the storm. He said, “Oh, we’ve already come through that storm. It’s behind us.”
If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we have already come through the storm of judgment. It happened at the cross.
Our Father and our God, I am completely humbled by the thought of Christ dying for me. I clasp Your grace and forgiveness to my heart with tears of gratitude. Your overwhelming love is more than I can comprehend. Thank You, Father, for the blessed gift of life eternal through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Billy Graham, Unto the Hills: A Daily Devotional (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2010).