Jesus instead of us
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
A German bomber, which was bound for London, had been damaged by the local air defences. The engines were malfunctioning and the crew elected to turn back before reaching London and bomb Brighton instead. I wish to draw your attention to that word ‘instead’ (more accurately, ‘in-the-stead of’).
In the spring of 1941, a specific part of London’s commercial and economic buildings were to be destroyed together with people that happened to be in the way. When the bomber changed course, those particular buildings and people probably survived the night. In Brighton, however, buildings and people were to suffer the dangers from which London had been spared. Brighton suffered in-the-stead of London; we can even say Brighton was substituted for London.
Substitutionary death
In the Bible, there is the recurring theme of substitutionary death: an innocent party being offered in-the-stead of the guilty. In the millennia before Jesus, God taught the Jewish people that they might atone for their wrong-doings by following a sacrificial system. This involved the slaying of perfect specimens of goats and lambs as a substitute for their own far-from-innocent lives; lives that were in peril. Actually, God was not really pleased with such sacrifices but it was his way to get the people used to the idea of an innocent life atoning for those living careless and Godless lives.
The final substitute
A month ago, Christians celebrated Easter, recalling how the innocent Jesus was killed and his life-blood drained away. This event is what the whole sacrificial system had been leading up to.
At the end of the age, there will be a reckoning, a judgement with a penalty to pay. We may choose to disbelieve such a thing, or hope that we will pass muster by our own merits. The wisest thing, however, is to consider Jesus: his sacrificial death followed by his rising from the dead. One New Testament writer says that Jesus, ‘the righteous one’ died for unrighteous people in order to bring them to God. Another says about Jesus that he, the only ‘just one’, died for the unjust ones.
To make a positive response to this, we can turn about so that we face towards God. Then we may receive, in an act of trust, what Jesus has done in our stead.