The verdict…

The jailer smells of sulphur and lies.  He wants to keep us imprisoned.  In jail.  Locked up.  Caught in the bondage of the past.  Living in the captivity of curses spoken… or imagined.  Behind bars of hopelessness.  Places where freedom is only a dream.

He hisses and sneers as he hides the key away inside his musty black cloak.

The courtroom falls into a sullen silence.  The judge casts his eye over the accused.  He pauses, and opens the book. 

The silence is broken as he begins to read.  “Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:21  The jailer hates that.  He likes things kept in darkness. 

The judge continues.  “I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3  The jailer hates that.  Because he is death.  Being born again means death is beaten. 

“If Jesus sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36  The jailer hates that.  Because  the captives are released.

“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.” John 3:16

With a resentful grimace and another pungent hiss the jailer stamps the paperwork.  The prisoner is released. The truth has set the prisoner free.