" A Debt We Could Never Pay ! "

John 19:28-37  "After this, JESUS knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to HIS mouth. When JESUS therefore had received the vinegar, HE said, It is finished: and HE bowed HIS head, and gave up the GHOST. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 

Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with HIM. But when they came to JESUS, and saw that HE was dead already, they brake not HIS legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced HIS side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knows that he says true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of HIM shall not be broken. And again another Scripture says, They shall look on HIM WHOM they pierced."

     At the writing of this post, our national debt stands at 27 Trillion dollars and climbing. To pay back this sum, every person in America would have to contribute $82,300. If a dollar were paid toward the balance every second, it would take more than 855 millennia to pay off this amount. How could we ever pay this gargantuan liability ?

     As individuals before an all-Holy GOD, we also have an enormous debt that we can never pay. We have failed to meet our obligations to the LORD (Romans 3:10, 23). We have broken GOD's righteous Law (John 7:19). We have earned for ourselves the death penalty (Romans 6:23). but, the LORD sent HIS beloved SON into this world to pay our debt and to suffer the death penalty in our place: "For CHRIST also hath once suffered for sins, the JUST (the righteous ONE) for the unjust (the unrighteous ones), that HE might bring us to GOD" (1st.Peter 3:18a). CHRIST came to pay a debt HE did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. HE took our sins so that we could receive GOD's perfect righteousness: "For HE (GOD) hath made HIM (CHRIST) to be sin for us, WHO knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of GOD in HIM" (2nd.Corinthians 5:21).

     According to Roman law, when a person was imprisoned, the certificate of debt was nailed to the door, remaining there until the sentence was carried out. Then the authorities would take this certificate and write across it the word meaning "It is finished." The certificate would be given to the prisoner, and he could never be punished for those crimes again. JESUS' victory cry "It is finished" signifies paid in full (v.30). JESUS took our certificate of debt and wrote across it in HIS own blood: "Paid in full !" GWZ

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

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