I recently read in the devotional Christ Is Our Victory by William Gordon Murdoch, the story of an old doctor who died leaving a wife who, being a tight-wad, wanted all she could get. She requested that the trustees of her husband's estate collect all outstanding debts. When they examined his records they found that he had written on each uncollected account, "Forgiven, too poor to pay." When the doctor's wife insisted that the debts be collected they brought her the books and asked if the writing on the records was that of her husband, to which she responded, "Yes." "Then," said the trustees, "these people are forgiven. They don't owe you any money. . . . Canceled debts are forgiven."
Isn't that our case? We have nothing to pay but Jesus canceled our debt, He actually paid our debt. We should be the ones to die but He died in our place!
At this time of the year as we revel in the pleasure and excitement of Christmas and Jesus coming as a babe, let us contemplate more of the meaning of His first coming-- He came to die so that we might have life. John 3:16.
He came to pay a debt He didn't owe
Because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.