Faith

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Darnay refused to believe that Carton could exchange places with him. He was sure that Carton would merely add his name to the list of those to be executed. Consequently, in order to make his planned exchange succeed, Carton had to drug the reluctant Darnay.

Like Carton, Jesus came to exchange places with us. The free and sinless came to exchange places with the imprisoned and condemned. However, unlike Carton, Jesus requires that we put our trust in him. He requires that we believe that he is the one the Father sent to set us free and that he is capable of doing so. Jesus said it this way,

"I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."
-- John 8:24

If we don't believe, he will not force us to exchange places with him. If we would scoff at his naivety or cower silently in the back of our cell, he does not impose himself on us. He wants us to believe with enough confidence to call upon him, to confess him as savior.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
-- Romans 10:10

Hope for the Hopeless

In Charles Dickens' book, A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton saves the life of Charles Darnay by exchanging places with him in prison. The strategy works because Carton is a free man and Darnay looks like Carton. But consider for a moment what would have happened had they both been prisoners. They could have done little more than exchange cells. And if they had both been condemned to die on the guillotine, they would have done no more than exchange times of execution. Carton had to be free and uncondemned for the plot to free Darnay to succeed.

As we have seen, we are all prisoners of sin (Galatians 3:22), and we are all on death row (Romans 6:23). No friend can set us free by exchanging places with us because every friend we have is also a prisoner. No friend can save us from the death penalty because every friend we have is also condemned to die.

Although our condition seems hopeless, it is not. Jesus, God's son, has "appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin" (1 John 3:5 NIV). Jesus is sinless, so he is free and uncondemned. He is not a prisoner, and he is not on death row. God sent his sinless son to this world to set us free and give us life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
-- John 3:16-17 NIV