"The judge and his son"

     Imagine a judge having before him his own son who committed murder. He killed a boy.  Now there's no doubt whatever of the son's guilt.  The Father-judge, bound to execute justice, sentences his son to death.  That is justice.  Then he says to the son, "Now I will take your place, I will die for you."  That would be mercy.  But that is not the complete picture.  

     Suppose that at the moment the son was sentenced to death, the boy that the son had murdered walked in alive.  The son would say, "How can you condemn me for murder?  You said I killed this boy?  You see, he's alive.  I'm innocent, I should be free."  That's precisely the condition that we are in.  We were guilty of sin but our Lord rose from the dead, took our guilt upon himself, and washed it away.  Now we can say, "See, he's alive, he's not dead.  I'm free."So that's why he came.