God paid the penality

1 Adam and Eve walked in a sin free environment until they sinned. By that one act of rebellion they brought a death sentence on every man who would live. Every man, because of sin, has a death sentence that he must pay to satisfy God's justice. Romans 6:23 When Jesus was brought before Pilate for sentencing, Pilate couldn't find him guilty of a crime meriting execution. In order to placate the Jewish leaders, he had to come up with something, so he convicted Jesus of insurrection against the Roman empire. By his own admission Jesus declared that he was a king. In the Roman empire there was only one king and that was Caesar. The penalty for insurrection was death. When someone was accused of a crime according to Roman law he appeared before the magistrate to determine guilt. If he was found guilty he was then incarcerated awaiting execution. A placard was made and hung on his cell depicting his crimes. When he was taken to the cross for execution, that placard was then nailed to the cross above the head of the prisoner telling everyone who viewed the execution that here is what happens to those who transgress the law. Since Jesus was to be executed, his crime had to be posted above his head on the cross. John 19:19-21 The sign was written in Hebrew, Greek, as well as Latin. Romans 3:23 According to Romans 3:23 we all have a death sentence hanging over our heads and as Romans 6:23 says we must pay the penalty, which according to God's justice is death. Hebrews 9:27 Everyone must pay for his or her crimes to satisfy divine justice, but there is an alternative. If a totally innocent person, one who had never sinned could be found and that man would come forth and voluntarily give his life for ours, justice would be served. Hebrews 2:9 tells us what happened. As Jesus hung on the cross with a placard hanging above his head telling the whole world in all the common languages that here hangs the King, the long hoped for Messiah, the Savior of the world justice has been served on our behalf. Now, here is where it gets exciting. Symbolically, above His head written in the heavenlies, hung countless placards, one for every man who ever lived. On each personal placard was written all of the crimes and sins that each of us has ever committed. You can name the ones that were written on your personal placard. Mine has a long list. Now listen, when someone dies, since his crime has been paid for he is no longer responsible for them, justice has been served. As Jesus died on that cross everyone of those placards listing our sins experienced the hand of God, the Great judge of the universe, reached down from Heaven and with a bloody hand ERASED every one of those death demanding sins. The slates were wiped clean. Psalm 103:12 confirms this. Micah 7:18-19 PRAISE GOD Now here is where it gets serious. On each side of Jesus hung a thief. Above each of their heads hung a placard stating "THIEF." A crime against the empire punishable by death. One man elected to have the innocent Man pay his punishment while the other elected to pay his own punishment refusing to give up his sin. A punishment that he is still paying today and will for all eternity. Because of God's hatred of sin, the punishment must be to incur the wrath of God for all of eternity to satisfy His justice. The other thief was set free, his sentence commuted, he was forgiven just as if he had never sinned and today he is in Paradise with Jesus. Luke 23:43 Nobody but an absolute fool would make the choice that the foolish thief did on the cross when he decided to pay for his own sins when God himself made the offer of forgiveness. Now that is a LOVE STORY.