The Courtroom

Does Scott Peterson deserve the death penalty for killing his wife and unborn child? His jury is deliberating as I write this.
There is much discussion in the country over the death penalty. Should there be a place for execution of criminals? Is the finality of execution right in light of new forensic evidence such as DNA comparisons?
Whether the death penalty is proper in our courts today or not, the fact is that under our present law judges DO use the death penalty in cases allowed by law.
The judge might have something like this to say at a sentencing of a criminal after his conviction by a jury of his peers:
"Mr. ____, you have been found guilty of murder in the first degree. According to the laws of this State, this crime is worthy of the death sentence. You may have been a popular figure in the public eye. You may have done some acts of generosity toward others. You may even have contributed a lot of your time to charities. In fact, it may be that much of your life you have tried to do the right thing. But due to the heinous nature of THIS crime, it is my solemn duty to uphold the law. I must sentence you to DEATH!"
This is the way it works in human courtrooms. Justice must prevail. There can be appeals. But, in the end, the law must be upheld.
Unlike the verdict of this earthly court, there is no doubt over the verdict of God as Heavenly Judge if He should happen to judge us on the basis of our own works. We are all guilty as charged; the evidence is clear. Our own consciences even testify against us: we have all sinned and fallen short of God's law standard of absolute moral perfection (Romans 3:23). After all, God's nature is the standard – who could hope to live up to that? ALL have failed to manifest God's holy nature of love in their lives, seeking their own independence and self-gratification at the expense of others. If God should judge and sentence us according to what we have done, there is no option for us but death. "The wages of sin is death…" (Romans 6:23). The crime is so heinous that God really has no choice. There must be a death!
But somehow God has made a way for humanity to be acquitted of its crimes against Him without being unjust.
But how can this be? I have already stated that God, because of His holy justice, must punish sin. He cannot remove the just consequence of sin, the penalty of death, without compromising His character. How can God be both gracious and merciful in unconditionally accepting us on the one hand, and holy and just on the other? How is this apparent contradiction to be resolved? The answer is in Romans 3:24-26: God has presented Jesus Christ to take our place in the death penalty – so that we might be restored to a right relationship with God.
What does it mean to have a right relationship with God? First of all, a relationship with God does not refer to a feeling. It does not refer to feelings of emotional closeness and intimacy with God that one might associate with friendship, family, and romance. That is "relationship" in the soulish or fleshly sense of the term, which has nothing to do with the realm of spirit. A right relationship with God is established in the human spirit first.
When Jesus steps forward in the courtroom to take my place, I approve and accept His action. I would be a fool if I didn't!
But THEN I get even more of God's grace and mercy than I bargained for. By a bewildering miracle Christ comes to dwell within me, within my human spirit – in a living union.
When it is time for the death penalty to be carried out on the Cross, Christ surprises me with the statement that now that He is in a union with me, I am going to die right up there on the Cross with Him! "What? I didn't approve and accept that! I didn't mean for us BOTH to die!"
But Jesus calms me with the fact that I won't suffer – only He will. I won't feel the pain of the nails – only He will. I won't be mocked and scorned – only He will. He and I will die together in a union on that Cross, but only He will suffer the penalties.
And then the really good news! WE WON'T STAY DEAD! We will come back to life again together – a new life – a new species of life upon the earth. CHRIST AND I! TOGETHER, TWO LIVING AS ONE!
Jesus was my substitute, taking upon Himself the penalty that I should have endured, so that I might be restored to a right relationship with God. And the only right relationship with God is to have God living right within me – Jesus Christ in a living union with my human spirit.
"I am crucified with Christ – nevertheless I live – yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
Who can calculate the cost of Jesus' intercession for me on the Cross? God treated Him as the sinner in my place, enduring the rejection that I should have received. Who can say the infinite depth of loving fellowship with the Father that Jesus gave up for my sake, even if only temporarily? For Jesus was Himself God, the second member of the Trinity, so that the Cross reached into the very heart of God.
This is a profound mystery, that God would pour out His own judgment upon Himself before allowing me to endure it. This is the depth to which God loves and cares for me.
But think how deeply serious my sin, my attitude of independence from God, must be that such an awesome sacrifice was required! For God would not have done something so drastic unless it were absolutely necessary. Nothing less than the Cross could atone for my crimes, so that I ought to be utterly ashamed at the depth and seriousness of my sin.
Fortunately God does not leave me in this total humiliation, but graciously accepts me in my new birth and union with Christ. And now in my total acceptance I can hold my head high. I AM NOT A CRIMINAL! (Didn't Richard Nixon say that?) In fact, God says that whole courtroom trial and sentencing time has been wiped away. God has cleared that out of His memory banks. He has separated it away from Him as far as the east is from the west.
Now I must get on living life as this new person in union with Christ. Life is now comparatively simple. The Holy Spirit is dealing with my soul (intellect, emotions and will) to bring my soul into constant TRUST of Christ's guidance from my spirit. That's what a Christian's life is all about. Christ said, "My yoke is easy! My burden is light!" Now I can have that "intellectual" relationship with God, that "emotional" relationship with God, that "willful" relationship with God, because my SPIRIT is right with God.
GOD IS THE JUDGE OF JUSTICE! GOD IS THE JUDGE OF MERCY! GOD IS LOVE !
You can sit in on as many courtroom trials as you want to for a lifetime, and you will never see a human judge offer his son to take the criminal's place in the death penalty. Our system of justice and mercy is humanly flawed. And it is the best system that we can come up with.

But God's courtroom deals in unconditional LOVE –
and JUSTICE AND MERCY JUST NATURALLY FOLLOW!

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