When I worked as a social worker, I stood before a judge on many occasions, but never due to my being accused of a crime. I was in the courtroom offering testimony, and the judge paid close attention to what I said. The judges who I stood before were there to render a decision, yet even as they listened intently to the facts and asked questions, their rulings were subject to error.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
I know that if I were to stand before an earthly judge, I would be filled with fear. For my days on this earth to be determined by the word of another would scare me. I would understand that I would be held accountable for my behavior, and I would suffer the consequences of my sin.
Yet I don’t always remember that there will come a day when I will stand before the Judge, and as the facts are laid out, there will be no error in judgment. I am guilty of that which I am accused of, and the consequences will not merely be for the short days of this life, but for all eternity.
As a believer, I do not have to be afraid of the great Judge, Jesus Christ. Because when that day comes and the judgment guilty is rendered, my account will have already been cancelled with the word “PAID”.
The Judge, the One who laid down the law and is the standard, is also the One who paid the penalty.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
Rejoice in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which was the accepted payment removing the condemnation of our sins as we stand before the Judge.
Love, Cheryl
