You were in bondage. It doesn’t matter how much of your sentence you have served.

You were in prison, not only for life, but eventually you were to be executed. You were on death row. But God, who is rich in mercy, decided to stay the execution, then rehear the case, and finding you still guilty as charged, He paid the penalty Himself, dying in your place. The result?

You have been set free. Not because you were not guilty, but because you were forgiven. That’s the word. It means “to send away; to dismiss, to pardon”.