THE COURT
After living a
“decent” life my time
on earth came to an end. The
first thing I remember is sitting
on a bench in the waiting room of
what I thought to be a
courthouse. The doors opened and
I was instructed to come in and
have a seat by the defense table.
As I looked around
I saw the prosecutor. He
was a villainous looking man who
snarled as he stared at me.
He definitely was the most evil
person I have ever seen. I
sat down and looked to my left
and there sat my lawyer, a kind
and gentle man whose appearance
seemed very familiar to me.
The corner door
flew open and there appeared the
judge in full flowing robes.
He commanded an awesome presence
as he moved across the room and I
couldn’t take my eyes off of
him. As he took his seat
behind the bench he said,
“Let us begin.”
The prosecutor
rose and said, “My name is
Satan and I am here to show you
why this man belongs in
hell.” He proceeded to tell
of the lies that I had told;
things that I stolen; and the
times in the past when I cheated
others. Satan told of other
perversions that was once in my
life and the more he spoke the
further down in my seat I sunk.
I was so em-barrassed that I
couldn’t look at anyone,
even my lawyer.
The Devil told of
sins that I even I had completely
forgotten about. As upset
as I was at Satan for telling all
these things about me, I was
equally upset at my
representative who sat there
silently not offering any form of
defense at all.
I know I had been
guilty of these things, but I had
done some good in my
life—couldn’t that at
least equal out part of the harm
I’ve done? Satan
finished with a fury and said,
“ This man belongs in hell,
he is guilty of all that I have
charged and there is not a person
who can prove otherwise.
When it was his
turn, my lawyer first asked if he
might approach the bench. The
judge allowed this over the
strong objection of Satan, and
beckoned him to come forward.
As my attorney got up and started
walking I was able to see him now
in his full splendor and majesty.
Now I realized why he seemed so
familiar. This was Jesus
representing me. My Lord
and my Savior.
He stopped at the
bench and softly said to the
judge “Hi Dad” and then
he turned to address the court.
“Satan was correct in saying
that this man had sinned, I
won’t deny any of these
allegations. And yes the wages of
sin is death and this man
deserves to be punished.”
Jesus took a deep breath and
turned to his Father with
outstretched arms and proclaimed,
“However, I died on the
cross so that this person might
have eternal life and he accepted
me as his Savior, so he is
mine.” My Lord
continued with, “His name is
written in the Book of Life and
no one can snatch him from me.
Satan still does
not understand yet, this man is
not to be given justice but
rather mercy.”
As Jesus sat down,
he quietly paused, looked at his
Father and replied, “There
is nothing else that needs to be
done, I’ve done it
all.” The Judge lifted
his mighty hand and slam-
med the gavel down
and the following words bellowed
from his lips – “This
man is free – the penalty
for him has already been paid in
full. Case dismissed!”
As my Lord led me
away I could hear Satan ranting
and raving, “I won’t
give up, I’ll win the next
one.” I asked Jesus as he
gave me my instructions where to
go next, “Have you ever lost
a case?”
Christ lovingly
smiled and said, “Everyone
that has come to me and asked me
to represent them has received
the same verdict as you. Paid in
full!”
In this world of
terrible hurt, pain, suffering,
and extreme self-centered focus
to the exclusion of everyone and
everything else there are times
when logic, thought, discussion,
does nothing. It is in these
times I have learned that I have
only one place to turn to ease
the pain. Jesus is there for you
at this moment, take the time to
talk with Him today, you’ll
be eternally glad you did. Today
is the day for salvation.
Your friend always
in Jesus,
Brother Bob Stout
