God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Picture this: a prison with lots of prisoners locked inside. People who killed, robbed, raped, lied, cheated, and did all sorts of wrongdoings. They were all deprived of a free life. They were paying the price for their crimes and their mistakes.

One day, they heard this news: someone else had been arrested for the crimes they all were condemned for, every single one of them.

They knew that it couldn’t be right, because they knew they had committed those crimes. Whoever it was, he was innocent.

They heard that this guy was sentenced to life, and he was going to be executed soon.

They didn’t understand exactly what was going on, but when they heard more about that guy, they were even more astound. That guy was the only son of a very powerful judge. The same judge who wrote the laws that they had broken. And the most unbelievable part was that this judge was the one who condemned his son to a death sentence.

But how could that be right? They knew that the judge was a very righteous person, he couldn’t have made a mistake like that. So why did he do it?

They couldn’t believe when they heard the judge’s motives. He wanted to free them and forgive their trespasses, give them all another chance. But someone had to pay for all the crimes they committed, the law required that. So the judge gave his own son to pay the price, so they could be free.

After the son’s execution, the prison guard told them they were free to go.

Some of prisoners, when they heard that, left the prison and started a new life.

But some of them didn’t leave. They said that it was absurd, it was just a silly fairy tale, they wouldn’t be so naive to believe it, so they just continued living inside the prison.

They ignored the open doors and the ex-cons who came and told them it was true, that they could be free also. They refused to accept it because they didn’t believe it.

You might want to look for this story in the newspapers, but you will not find it, because it happened nearly two thousand years ago.

Does this story sound absurd to you? Unfair? Unjust? Well, thankfully God doesn’t think so.

We were condemned by our trespasses. We were apart from God because of our sins.

But then God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the world to be condemned and killed in order to pay for our sins. Because of his sacrifice, we are free of condemnation. We are FREE indeed.

If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to step out of your prison. Your sentence has already been revoked, go on and enjoy a full life with Him.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11,12)