(This is based on an illustration from ‘Christianity Explained’ by Michael Bennett)
STEP #1 – Hold out your right hand with your palm facing upward towards the ceiling…
Let your right hand represent yourself, and the ceiling represent God.
STEP #2 – Now take a book and place it on your right hand…
Suppose this book contains a record of every sin you have ever committed, every sin you are committing now, and every sin you are going to commit in the future. It contains a record of every accidental sin, and every deliberate sin. All the sins you know you committed, all the sins you didn’t even realize you committed. So in effect, the book contains a record of you past, present, future, accidental, deliberate, known and unknown sins.
So now my sin stands between me and God. And the Bible teaches that because God is holy, there is something about Him that He can’t just ignore my sin. He can’t just turn a blind eye. He can’t overlook it. There is something in God that has to punish sin. And the punishment for sin is an eternity separated from Him.
So now God has a problem. He created me to live with Him forever. He doesn’t want to punish me, but He has to punish my sin. So how does God solve His problem? How does God punish my sin, without punishing me?
STEP #3 – Now hold out your left hand with your palm facing upward towards the ceiling…
Let your left hand represent Jesus. Because Jesus never sinned, there is nothing standing between Him and God.
Now because God has to punish my sin, but doesn’t want to punish me, Jesus offers to take my sin upon Himself.
STEP #4 – Transfer the book from your right hand to your left hand…
So if I allow Jesus to take my sin upon Himself, my sin now stands between Jesus and God. As a result, Jesus cops the punishment for my sin. This is what was happening to Jesus when He was on the cross. Jesus paid for all my past, present, future, accidental, deliberate, known and unknown sins. He was condemned so that I could become uncondemnable.
Because I allowed Jesus to pay for my sin, it no longer stands between me and God. I have escaped judgement. The Bible says that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). I am completely loved and accepted. I am free to enjoy a relationship with God. I can be 100% confident that I will spend eternity with Him.
Guilt-Free Christianity 