The Trial
After living a "decent" life, my time on earth
came to an end. The first thing I remember is sitting on a bench in
the waiting room of what I thought to be a court house.
The doors opened and I was instructed to come in
and have a seat by the defense table. As I looked around I saw the
"prosecutor," he was a villainous looking gent who snarled as he
stared at me, he
definitely was the most evil person I have ever seen. I sat down and
looked to
my left and there sat my lawyer, a kind and gentle looking man whose
appearance seemed very familiar to me.
The corner door flew open and there appeared the
judge in full flowing robes. He commanded an awesome presence as he
moved across the room and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. As he
took
his seat behind the bench he said, "Let us begin,"
The prosecutor rose and said, "My name is Satan
and I am here to show you
why this man belongs in Hell." He proceeded to
tell of lies that I told, things that I stole and in the past when I
cheated
others. Satan told of
other horrible perversions that were once in my
life and the more he spoke,
the further down in my seat I sank. I was so
embarrassed that I couldn't
look at anyone, even my own lawyer, as the Devil
told of sins that even I had completely forgotten about.
As upset as I was at Satan for telling all these
things about me, I was
equally upset at my representative who sat there
silently, not offering
any form of defense at all. I know I had been
guilty of those things, but I
had done some good in my life - couldn't that at
least equal out part of the harm I've done?
Satan finished with a fury and said "This man
belongs in Hell, he is
guilty of all that I have charged and there is not
a person who can prove otherwise."
When it was his turn, my lawyer first asked if
he might approach the
bench. The judge allowed this, over the strong
objection of Satan,
and beckoned him to come forward. As he got up
and started walking, I was
able to see him now in his full splendor and
majesty. Now I realized why
he seemed so familiar, this was Jesus
representing me, my Lord and my Savior.
He stopped at the bench and softly said
to the judge "Hi Dad"
and then he turned to address the court.
"Satan was correct in saying that this man had
sinned, I won't deny any
of these allegations. And yes, the wage of sins is death and this man
deserves to be punished."
Jesus took a deep breath and turned to his
Father with outstretched arms
and proclaimed, "However, I died on the cross so
that this person might
have eternal life and he has accepted me as his
Savior, so he is mine."
My Lord continued with "His name is written in
the Book of Life and no one
can snatch him from me. Satan still does not
understand yet, this man is
not to be given justice, but rather mercy." As
Jesus sat down, he quietly
paused, looked at his Father and replied, "There
is nothing else that needs
to be done, I've done it all."
The Judge lifted his mighty hand and slammed the
gavel down and the following
words bellowed from his lips, "This man is free
- the penalty for him has
already been paid in full, case dismissed."
As my Lord led me away I could hear Satan
ranting and raving, "I won't
give up, I'll win the next one!"
I asked Jesus as he gave me my instructions on where to go next,
"Have you ever lost a case?"
Christ lovingly smiled and said, "Everyone that
has come to me and asked
me to represent them has received the same
verdict as you . . . Paid in Full."
In this world of terrible hurt, pain, suffering,
and extreme self-centered
focus to the exclusion of everyone else, there
are times when logic,
thought, discussion, etc., do nothing. It is in
these times that I have
learned that I have only one place to turn to ease
the pain.
If you do not pass this along, absolutely
nothing will happen. No curse,
no bad fortune, absolutely nothing. Passing this
on to anyone you consider a
friend, as I have done here, will bless you both,
that is what Jesus
promised us all. Passing this on to one not
considered a friend is
something I know Christ would do.
- Author Unknown -
