Imagine that you are a young cowboy in 1875 living in a dusty Arizona border town. You are hanging out in the local saloon. You get into an argument and fight with another cowpoke. He draws on you, and you beat him the draw. Soon, he is lying dead on the floor.
The local marshal arrests you and a trial is put in place when the judge is in town next month. You are tried by a jury of your peers and convicted of murder. The judge sentences you to hang by the neck until dead. The sentence is to be carried out in one week.
A week passes and you are waiting to be hanged! The morning comes and you are given your last meal and are about to go to the gallows and be hanged.
The judge suddenly walks into the jail and makes an announcement. It goes like this: "I am going to substitute for you at your execution." So the judge takes your place, is led out to the gallows and is hanged by the neck until dead. The judge took your sin and paid for it.
Here's some good news! God did the same thing for you that the old cowboy judge did for that young cowboy!
1 Peter 2:24 put it like this, "He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross, so that weight diet sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." (NIV)
Jesus, the judge, took my Sin His body and paid my penalty just like the cowboy judge died for the young cowboy. Jesus bore my Sin His body, just like the judge bore the young cowboy's sin in his body when he took his place on the gallows.
Jesus' wounds on the old rugged cross healed me of sin, just like the judge's hanging wounds healed the young cowboy of his murder sentence.
My guess is that the young cowboy lived for righteousness in light of the cowboy judges penalty paid for his murder conviction. Likewise, we chose to live for righteousness because of Jesus taking our sin in His body and paying for it totally.
BlessYou big, Tom West, Minister