The principle of substitution has been briefly examined and has its origins in the early chapters of Genesis. It was in chapter 3 that God Himself provided a substitute to answer to the guilt of Adam and Eve. He did so in the innocent animals He obviously slew so as to provide coats of covering for the nakedness of our first parents. But, why should there be any substitution? Why institute a system of sacrifice that appears utterly unfair in that the innocent is slain as a substitute for the guilty? Surely the all-creative God who brought the universe into being could come up with an alternative. And what would that alternative be? It would be to dismiss the very idea of a substitution. This would require the offender to suffer the consequences of his own sin, and it would have been entirely just. Forget the sacrifice. Forget the substitute. He who does the crime pays for the crime in his own person. That’s the purest form of justice.
Then, again, what’s this justice thing all about anyway? Why couldn’t God just cut them some slack and overlook the whole affair? After all, people are only human. And, doesn’t God specialize in forgiveness? Isn’t that part of God’s job description? Yes, it is. And, yes, God does forgive. In fact, the Bible makes it quite clear that God delights in forgiveness. So, then, what’s the necessity for the substitution sacrificial thing? The necessity is linked to the reality that we live and function in a universe of moral order. This means there is good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, and, when everybody acts righteously, no one gets hurt. When people act unrighteously, they do so against others or against God, or both. Many are offended. Unrighteous deeds and harm done to others cry out for relief, for redress.
This comes in the form of justice. Justice is real and necessary because evil and evildoers are real. In order for justice to prevail in a moral universe, the scales must be balanced or injustice will prevail as the only alternative to justice. Injustice is when the guilty goes free and no price is paid. The victim of the injustice is denied any redress. He is profoundly aware that he has not been treated justly. Justice is when the guilty is called to account and made to suffer the consequences by receiving punishment that fits his crime. Were we as humans, sinners all, not provided with a substitute for our sin, which in our case is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, we would have no recourse but to suffer the consequences of our sin in our own person. Those who refuse Christ’s gracious offer to be their substitute have but one alternative, and that is to receive the consequences of their own sin that justice demands. You yourself pay, or a willing Substitute who loved you and gave Himself for you pays. The choice is yours. Choose wisely.
CC 09-16
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