Court arise!
I almost jumped off my skin as the court rose and the diminutive judge sauntered in.
One wouldn’t know the clerk had such a loud voice.
We all sat down and then tried to remain calm, but the quietness of the courtroom betrayed the atrial flutter most of us were having.
The atmosphere was simply electric; one could almost hear a pin drop. My heart was thumping; I steadied myself and tried to be a man.

“Let the accused arise” The judge ordered, in her mid forties at most, the judge was quite calm for the occasion, I wondered what could be going through her mind.

The accused rose and more than five hundred hearts in the court room rose with Him. Gbenga has always been a good guy, with a large heart, an ordinary guy. All of us felt for him. The goose pimples I had as they read the sentence wasn’t just because of our friendship but rather because I could be the guy in the dock. Sincerely I didn’t see any difference between us two, except that he is the one in the dock today.

The verdict; Guilty as charged. We weren’t surprised it was just that we expected mercy but the judge happened to be a stickler for the books. The prosecution did a marvelous job.

Gbenga was guilty, they lead him out and a man’s ordeal began.

Though I am not a John Grisham material, I have read enough of his books to catch the rhythm (I know you agree!), though I wonder if he truly wrote “the painted House”. The crux of the matter is that the human condition is quite identical to that above; a court rehearsal but this time, the real one.

Judgment has been given and we live with that reality every day. In the heart of man sits a judge whose hammer you have heard so often and many a times the verdict has been guilty, guilty, and guilty. I have heard enough of it to last me a lifetime. The human conscience happens to be a perfect judge.

But besides the conscience, a much greater judgement has been given ages ago and the verdict would surprise even the hardest sceptic, let me tell you about it.

All of us are guilty of a subject matter called sin (Adam’s fault and ours). God’s law in our heart has been hammering out “Guilty” all the age through.

But here is the catch; God has judged the earth and the Verdict is <b>“NOT GUILTY”.</b> It is a conditional statement though and the text below explains more;

<b> <i> It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor). 2Co 5:19 <b> <i>

The good news is that God has forgiven the world (men). <b> Jesus paid the price for the whole world! Not for Christians alone! It is for the whole world. Please tell it on the mountaintop; God is not angry with man any more, He only demands that you believe in His verdict: “Not Guilty” </b>

<b> <i> For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. John 3:16 <b> <i>


<b>That is why the gospel is called “the good news”.<b/>