Everywhere you look

One of my favorite college classes was a full semester of studying U.S. Supreme Court cases. I loved it. Legal questions and issues still interest me, even though I don't like getting into debate over current issues. Anyway.... historical court cases are interesting to me.

What I love even more is the fact that God can use anything to teach a spiritual truth. This morning, it was a Supreme Court case, of all things!

In 1829 a man named George Wilson was convicted by a grand jury of robbery of the U.S. mail and jeopordizing the life of the carrier. He was sentenced to death.

Three weeks before his scheduled execution, he was granted a pardon by President Andrew Jackson, who had been presented a lengthy petition on Wilson's behalf.

Wilson refused to accept the pardon, and the decision on whether or not he should be executed was passed all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Court's opinion was that Wilson's execution orders still stood, in spite of the pardon. The Court stated:

That the court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of the pardon, unless he claims the benefit of it, and relies on it by plea or motion. …. It is a grant to him; it is his property; and he may accept it or not, as he pleases. …. But is insisted, that unless he pleads it, or in some way claims its benefit, thereby denoting his acceptance of the proffered grace, the court cannot notice it, nor allow it to prevent them from passing sentence…. The necessity of his pleading it, or claiming it in some other manner, grows out of the nature of the grant; he must accept it. U.S. v. Wilson (1833)

So basically - "the pardon has been offerred, but we can't make him take it." See the parallel? It is the same decision hundreds of people in this world make every day. Every single one of us have committed the 'crime' of sin.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23 KJV
"There is not a righteous man on earth who does what it right and never sins." Ecclesiastes 7:10 NIV

And, where there is crime, there is punishment. In our case, death.
"For the wages of sin is death..." Romans 6:23a

But! That is the next word in that verse - 'but'. We have been granted a pardon!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23 KJV
Jesus took our punishment for us when he died on the cross, and God wrote our pardon.

But. The fact of Jesus' death alone does not give us our pardon (eternity in Heaven). We have to accept it.
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 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 10:9-10 NIV

For Andrew Jackson's pardon to save George Wilson's life, George Wilson had to appear in court and accept it. For God's pardon to give us eternal life, there must be a point in our life that we appear before God in prayer and accept His gift. Until that is done, the death sentence for our sin still stands.

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV
And thanks be to God for reaching out to us in every way imaginable....even 'boring' old court cases! :)
For more information on God's pardon, click here.