Atonement.

It’s strange the way in which something, that one has taught in a certain way for decades, suddenly reveals itself with a startlingly fresh clarity and vividness! I had such an experience earlier this morning during my personal devotions.

For as long as I can recall, I have sought to explain, or illustrate, the Christian doctrine of the substitionary sacrifice of the Lord, Jesus Christ by comparing it to a judge who has found the accused person guilty of the crime for which he has stood trial, and then paid the imposed fine out of his own pocket.

This morning, however, I caught a glimpse of what is, I believe, much closer to the reality of the situation – although, of course, no analogy can ever do full justice to the doctrine of the atonement!

I saw myself, guilty of murder, in an earlier age when the death penalty was still in force. The judge placed the black cap on his head and pronounced that I should be “taken from this place to a place of lawful execution, and there be hanged by the neck until ... dead.” I said nothing. I knew that I was guilty, and that I fully deserved the sentence that had now been passed.

Then, to my utter astonishment, the judge took the cap off his head; removed his judge’s wig; slipped out of his judicial robes; and revealed himself as my own dad. He walked over to the dock and took my place – allowing himself to be bound; taken to stand on the trapdoor; have the noose placed around his neck and, as the lever was pulled, to take the ‘long drop’.

I stand amazed. He who had committed no crime has allowed himself to suffer the death penalty that I deserve!

And that is what happened at Calvary. The sinless One didn’t merely pay a fine on my behalf. He allowed Himself to be whipped, and bound to a cross; there to die an agonising death that I should have died, and that I fully deserve! He “…came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mk.10:45). “For our sake the Father made the Lord Jesus to be sin, Who knew no sin; so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Cor.5:21).

It’s an unfathomable love, that I am incapable of fully understanding – but I praise Him for it.