Today is Good Friday. It's a special opportunity to reflect upon the death of Christ and especially the meaning of his death for the believer. It is hard to reflect upon Jesus' death without meditating on the idea of debt.
Consider the refrain from the song, "Amazing Love.” It goes like this: "Amazing love, oh, what sacrifice;The Son of God given for me. My debt He pays and my death He dies, that I might live. To understand what happened to the Son of God the day he died, we have to understand the idea that we are indebted to God.
In 2010, credit card companies charged us $100 billion to finance our personal debt. Debt that we will not or cannot repay is called, “bad debt. There are over 2,000 “bad-debt” buying companies in the United States. It’s a simple business. Let’s say I have $10,000 worth of bad debt on a credit card. It’s “bad debt” because I can’t or won’t pay it back. A debt-buying company can buy $10,000 worth of bad debt for $1,000, or even less. If they manage to collect even half of what I owe, they will have made $4,000.
But what happens if they can’t collect on my debt? They may sell it to another bad-debt company. This company may, in turn, sell it to another bad-debt company. Eventually they rename my bad debt, “zombie debt.” Seriously. Zombie debt. Because it’s debt that just won’t die!
Debt is a Biblical Term
Jesus used debt as a metaphor to help us understand that, because of our sin, we are indebted to God (see Matt. 18). The Bible teaches we are born sinners and, therefore, we are born in debt. It’s worse than that. We have zombie debt. Here’s why: We have sinned against God, who is holy. If I charge $10,000 on a Visa, I owe Visa $10,000. If I sin against a holy God, my debt too big to pay . . . I owe God my life.
We can spend an entire lifetime trying to pay this debt off (church and charity), but it’s just too big. Imagine receiving a bill for the U.S. debt: $16 trillion dollars. It’s more plausible that you could pay off that debt in your lifetime then that you could ever pay back the debt you owe God.
Our rebellion against God is no small thing. It is infinitely heinous. We have revolted against a God who is not only infinitely big, but he is infinitely good, and infinitely worthy of all praise and honor and glory and love. Therefore, to sin against Him is no small offense; it is an infinitely egregious offense. And we can all understand why. Our justice system distinguishes between a threat against an average citizen and a threat against the President of the United States. The punishment for threatening the life of the President is greater. Thus the punishment for rebelling against the infinite God of the universe is infinite.
If this truth gets a hold of you, you will be never be the same. For two reasons: First, because you know the ONE whom you have wronged. Second, because you know what YOU now deserve. If you understand this basic, universal, legal FACT, then you can’t sleep at night, you can’t focus, you can’t function. All seems hopeless. But all is not hopeless. There is hope. And here’s why.
Debt is Forgiven at the Cross
According to Paul forgiveness came from God when he canceled “the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14). We all have a “record of debt.” This record, this certificate, this legal document outlines both our debt to God and the penalty that we deserve—which is death itself.
But if you are a Christian, God has forgiven this debt. And how did he do that? By taking it and by nailing it to the cross. That day, that Good Friday, God took our record of debt that justly condemned us, and he nailed it to the cross on which the sinless Savior died.
What Does This Mean for You?
There is hope for those of you who come feeling dirty, unworthy, and condemned. There is hope for those who understand the weight of their sin, the breadth of their rebellion, the reality of their debt. ON that cross, Christ became dirty and unworthy and condemned for debtors like us. He came to cleanse and to forgive and to free.
But this freedom, this forgiveness is only for those whose debt has been nailed to that Cross of Christ. There is hope for you, today, if you want to be forgiven, if you want your debt paid and gone. Jesus died for allwho repent and believe in Him. He died for all who turn to him. He is alive; you can follow him, now.
Christian, Christ paid our debt. That's how we are saved. That's why we have life and freedom. It's not because of something we did. It's not because we managed to pay a little bit of our debt off and God took care of the rest. We are not the best, we are not the brightest, we are not the most beautiful, we are not the most talented, we are not the most wise, we are not the most kind, we are not the most generous, we are not the most forgiving, we are not the most welcoming, we are not the most thoughtful.
Who are we? We are those whose zombie debt has been laid aside and nailed to the cross of Christ. “My debt He pays and my death He dies, that I might live.” That makes it Great Friday.
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