In Our Place: Lenten DevotionsShembull

There is no condemnation

The Lord Jesus, God from all eternity, took on human flesh and came to live on earth in person for a number of reasons. But the chief of them is to free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death, as the writer to the Hebrews puts it in the second chapter.

Jesus lived a replacement life for us, submitting to all laws of God and man and keeping them all perfectly. He offered his body to abuse and suffering, knowing that in this way the punishment that we deserved was being diverted totally upon him. Finally, he surrendered to death itself, and through the great exchange that happened on Calvary, our death became his death and his innocence became ours.

The upshot? “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1,2). Here is why you need never fear God again. Your sins were pardoned, all of them, objectively, freely, long ago, without reference to your performance. It is inheritance, not wages. It is yours--all who believe it have it.

God really means it—no condemnation means no condemnation. You can exhale now.