The Greatest Exchange Adapted from Kiss the Wave by Dave Furman By
Dave Furman Kelly Gissendaner was on death row for almost two
decades for the murder of her husband. She planned the murder and
convinced her lover to kidnap her husband and kill him in the
woods. Afterward they set the evidence on fire. Their motive was to
collect a life insurance policy and receive sole ownership of the
house the Gissendaners had just purchased. A jury convicted Kelly
of murder for her role in the crime, and after refusing a plea
deal, she was given a death sentence. While she sat on death row,
Kelly's entire life changed. She was transformed as she came to
understand that Jesus died for her. She encountered the Bible and
the truth of the gospel. God worked in her heart to bring her to
repentance of her sins and to faith in Christ. The fruit of Kelly's
transformation was on display for all to see. Kelly began to
minister to the other women in prison and led various Bible
studies. She counseled women through an air vent and prevented some
women from committing suicide. Perhaps the biggest change was that,
in Christ, she found peace in the midst of the storm of death she
was facing. She was in awe that Jesus took her place on the
ultimate death row. On one occasion she said, "I have learned
first-hand that no one, not even me, is beyond redemption through
God's grace and mercy. I have learned to place my hope in the God I
now know, the God whose plans and promises are made known to me in
the whole story of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus." Her
hope was not in her continued breaths in this life, but in her
union with Christ in this life and in the next. She was a
shipwrecked woman who finally found land. Not all of us have been
convicted of murder, but all of us have at one time rejected God.
The Bible is clear that we are all under an eternal death sentence
and apart from God's intervention we would all sit on death row
facing a forever death. The truth of God's holiness and our sin
means we can never be in his presence unless something changes. We
are not simply in need of an inspiring example--we need a saving
substitute. We need someone who will take our punishment. When
Jesus was being tried for crimes he did not commit, the Roman
governor Pilate gave the people a choice: He could release Jesus,
an innocent man, or a man called Barabbas, who was a known
terrorist. The crowd chose Barabbas and demanded Jesus to be
crucified. The crowd chose a murderer over the one who brings the
dead back to life. They chose evil over the one who loves
perfectly. Put yourself in Barabbas's place for a minute. You are
walking to your death in chains and then all of a sudden, when you
least expect it, you are free. Then you hear the words begin again:
"Crucify him, crucify him." You see another person walking by.
Those chants are not for you. The guards are dragging another one
to his death-- Jesus of Nazareth. He's beaten and flogged and is
forced to carry his cross to his death. It's the very cross you had
imagined yourself carrying only moments earlier. You think to
yourself, "That's my death he's dying." The Bible says of Jesus
that "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor.
5:21). You and I are sinners. We sit in a spiritual prison, bound
helpless, awaiting the day when we will receive the just punishment
we deserve. We sit on the death row of all death rows waiting to be
dragged out to death not knowing when God's righteous judgment will
come down. But the good news is that when you repent of your sin
and trust in Jesus to save you, Jesus goes off to the cross in your
place. He gets what you deserve; you get what he deserves. It is
the greatest exchange in all of history. Jesus gives up his life so
you can have life. You and I are Barabbas. We need someone to take
our place, and Jesus has done that for us. He willingly took the
wrath of God upon himself. On the cross, Jesus absorbed all our
wickedness. He has poured out his perfect love upon us. First Peter
3:18 says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous
for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit." Jesus was leading
a true revolution. You can always stop a Barabbas, but you can't
stop Jesus. He took our place on the cross so that the greatest
exchange in all of history would bring you to God. If you are
reading this and want Jesus Christ to become your substitute and
exchange your sin for his glory, call out to him right now with a
prayer like this: Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is
your Son, and that he died on the cross to save me from my sin. I
believe that he rose again to life, and that he invites me to live
forever with him in heaven as part of your family. Because of what
Jesus has done, I ask you to forgive me of my sin and give me
eternal life. Please guide me to a Bible-believing church where I
can grow as a Christian with others who love Jesus. Amen.
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