Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
1 Peter 2:23-25
Harry Ironside told the story he had heard as a boy of a wagon train traveling across the west. One day they were horrified to see a long line of smoke moving their direction. With the wind blowing they knew that their ox-drawn wagons could not move fast enough to get back to the river they had crossed earlier in time for them to escape the flames. But the leader of the wagon train had many years of experience. He immediately instructed the people to set small fires in the grass behind them. That same wind carried the flames away from them. Once the burned area had cooled, they moved the wagons into it. When one of the little girls asked if they were truly safe, the leader replied, “My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has been!”
The price of our sins was paid in full forever by Jesus on the cross. The debt is forgiven, and the penalty is removed with no way for it to ever be reinstated. There are no sins left on our account to burn. None of us deserved God’s salvation. None of us could ever do anything to earn His favor. Our only hope is His grace. And in His great love and mercy that is exactly what He has provided for us. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
