By RTF Staff Writer Sarah Rupp

(To read Part I go here.)

The room echoes with gasps. I know this will mean a life sentence, but I also know I’m guilty. My emotions bubble from the depths of my stomach and push these words out, “I’m guilty! It was my lies that put him on the cross!” I turn to the man seated beside the judge, who I now identify as the father of Jesus, tears overflowing from my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize sinning would make your son die.”

Whispers slither across the tall ceiling. The judge slams her mallet on the table in front of her again. “Order in the court!” The crowd quiets and the judge speaks again. “I hereby sentence you to death by fire.”

A hush more silent than an empty library falls over the room. My heart slams in my chest, reverberating off my spine. Not that! Anything but that! I glance up at the judge’s desk and the woman sits with her arms folded over her chest, firm in her decision. But I plead anyway. “Please! I’ll do anything if you’ll just –”

“Take her away!” The judge shouts, and two guards yank me by each arm. “No, please!” I cry.

“Wait!” A deep voice booms across the room and I turn my head to see Jesus’ father standing up though my blurry, tear-filled eyes. He waits, his eyes on me before he speaks into the silence of the courtroom. “I want to drop all charges.”

My jaw falls to the marble floor. “What? Why? I killed your son. You must want me punished in some way!”

God steps down from his desk and comes toward me. I draw a jagged breath, anticipating what he plans to do. I draw my fingers into my palm to keep them from trembling as he faces me. “You need to understand something. I love you so much that I sent my only child to die for you, so you don’t have to be punished.”

My hands unclench and I wipe them on my jeans. Though relief sets in, my brows knit together in a frown. “But you don’t even know me.” I say to him. “How can you…love me?”

He reaches up and touches my hair. “I knew you before you were born. I breathed life into you. My son dying for you was all part of my divine plan. Because no human is perfect, or can ever be. But through my son’s death, you are forgiven. All your sins have been cast into the depths of the sea.”

The guards heavy hands lift off my shoulders and the handcuffs are undone. “Are you serious?” I say. “The charges are dropped?”

God smiles, sending warm rays of sun over my weary body. “Go and sin no more.”

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2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

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Sarah Rupp is a freelance writer who loves God, reading, fashion, and music, as well as writing of course! You can find her over at her blog, Sarah’s Words of Witsdom, or her fashion and beauty blog, Mod Style Lounge. She enjoys connecting with readers and other writers though comments.