Guiltless

Today's Bible Reading: MARK 15:2-20; MATTHEW 27:11-31; LUKE 23:1-25;JOHN 18:28-19:16

Luke 23:4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.”

There is plenty of discussion that surrounds the idea of the innocence of those who have never heard the gospel. The apologetic argument centers around the question, “What will happen to those innocent people how have never heard the gospel? The basic problem revolves around the presumption that there are “spiritually innocent” individuals in the world who have not sinned and have no clear definitive evidence of the God of the Bible or the gospel. This leads many, including professing believers, to hold that they are guiltless and will be saved apart from the gospel.

The problem with this train of thought is that it doesn’t align with the teachings of Scripture. The Bible says we are all guilty. There are none who can declare their innocence before a holy God. Romans 3:10 says ‘’None is righteous, no not one” (also found in Ps 14) it continues in verse 12 to go so far as to say, “. . . no one does good, not even one” (also found in Ps 53) . Later Paul writes, “For all sin and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23). You see the lack of the available of the gospel doesn’t declare one innocent or dismiss their guilt. The Scriptures say that we are all sinners, none of us are guiltless.

So, every one of us are guilty sinners. All of us have sinned. We are sinners by birth (Romans 5:12) and we are sinners by our behavior (Romans 3:10-20). Adamic sin and actual sin collides to condemn us. We are guilty. We are all under the penalty of death for our sins. All of us accept one. Jesus is innocent. He is sinless. He is not guilty.

In the story of the trial of Jesus, Pilate finds Jesus guiltless. He determines to release Him. Yet the crowd was stirred up by the religious leaders to ensure that Jesus would be put to death. They demanded, as was the custom at Passover that a prisoner is released. They called for Barabbas, a notorious thief and murdered, to go free and Jesus to be crucified. The innocent was substituted for the guilt. The sinner was replaced by the sinless. A great exchange occurred. The guilty was cleared and the guiltless crucified. The judgement for Barabbas was placed on Jesus. Barabbas was extricated. Jesus was executed. He was pardoned. Jesus was punished. His deliverance was by the death of another.

This is an amazing picture of God’s grace toward the guilty, toward us. His mercy was manifested toward men. We are Barabbas. We are the sinful. We are the ones guilty of violating God’s law. We are the ones condemned under the penalty of death. We are those who incur God’s judgement. We are incapable of freeing ourselves. We are doomed to die.

But like the case of Barabbas, another stands in our stead. The innocent Jesus stands to bear our judgment. He dies the death we deserve. Our sins are placed on the sinless one. Our iniquities are imputed upon Him and His righteousness is imputed upon us. The great exchange is enacted. As the prophet Isaiah states many years prior to Pilate’s pronouncement, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--every one--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6). As Paul writes many years after the resurrection of Jesus, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21) The sinless one became our sacrifice for sin. He dies and we are set free, the guiltless for the guilty.

Today rejoice in the guiltless one. Praise God for the sinless life, the sacrificial death and the supernatural resurrection of Jesus. Thank the Lord that He gave his life for the guilty. Thank God that Jesus was punished so you could be pardon. If you haven’t done so, today trust in the death of Jesus, the guiltless one, to set you free from your sin and guilt.