Turning Mountains into Molehills - Trials
Guess what I got in the mail the other day? I received the dreaded jury summons for a trial in my city. Sometimes it feels like I get them often while my husband never receives them. It must be the luck of the Irish. I did get a chance to postpone it once due to a prearranged trip. But now my excuses exhausted, so off I went on a cold and blustery day to do my civic duty.
My Trial Experience
Jury duty involves a lot of waiting. First, everyone gathers in the jury room to wait for a call to a courtroom. This process takes hours or even days, depending on the number of trials for the week. Then, up in the court, the proposed jurors wait for motions and issues to be decided. The final step before the panel gets selected involves the lawyers asking each juror many questions. All in hopes of picking a jury of fair-minded individuals to hear and decide the case.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”
The case I sat for involved a murder. After two days of intense questioning, the lawyers picked me as part of the group released from service. So I did not participate in the rest of the trial. I learned about our legal system through this process. Our practice is not perfect. But, I believe it offers most offenders a fair opportunity, especially compared to many other countries I visit during my mission work.
Other Trials
My jury service caused me to think about other famous trials. And, since Lent and Easter loom before us, I thought of the trial of Christ. As I read through the Gospel accounts of the event, we learn not everything happened within the letter of the law. The High Priest, interrogated Jesus, not in good faith but in hopes of trapping Him with His own words. The trial occurred at night, constituting an illegal meeting. And, several false witnesses testified against Jesus with conflicting claims. All this without any legal evidence of any crime. Jesus died an innocent man under the laws of the day.
“This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.”
In our current legal system, mistakes can happen, and innocent people can and do go to jail in error. But in Jesus’ case, everything happened according to God’s master plan. Jesus’ wrongful conviction and death on the cross brings us freedom from our own eternal death sentence. God takes what man meant for evil and turns into our victory over death.
Jesus bought us freedom and declares us innocent in the final judgment. Click To Tweet
The Final Trial
Each of us will face at least one more trial. We find a description of our final judgment in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 20:1-15). God will judge all people for their actions in life. In my mind, I picture God sitting on His judgment seat as He listens to all the evidence Satan presents about our sins. We hang our heads as the charges mount. Just when everything seems hopeless, Jesus jumps up with an objection. He holds up His nail-scarred hands and declares us innocent because our name is in His book of life.
He holds up His nail-scarred hands and declares us innocent because our name is in His book of life. Click To Tweet
He paid for our sins with His wrongful conviction and death on the cross. Jesus bought us freedom and declares us innocent in the final judgment. We will spend eternity celebrating our release from sin and death as we praise our Savior. What a glorious day that will be for us who believe in Jesus.
While I hope no one ever receives a wrongful conviction in their trials here on earth. I am thankful God allowed this one to happen. Revelation 21:4 reminds us; “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Amen.
Blessings,
Yvonne M Morgan, #Blogger, #Speaker, #Writer
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, GO and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
100% of the proceeds from sales of my book, Turning Mountains Into Molehills, go to help the orphans at Orphan Relief Effort, Inc
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