Who doesn’t like a good story!? I sure do! And I’m really hoping you do too because today I have a good one for you. It’s based on one I recently heard that really spoke to me.
It goes like this…
Once upon a time, there was a just and loving king. One day, it was discovered someone had been stealing his gold. As a result, he issued a decree that the punishment for stealing his gold would be seven lashes, which was actually a death sentence.
Weeks went by and the gold continued to be stolen. Eventually, it was discovered to be the king’s very own daughter stealing the gold.
Because he was a just king, he had to follow through with his decree that the punishment for stealing his gold would be seven lashes. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be just.
On the day the sentence was to be carried out, the king’s daughter was brought before the crowd and laid upon the executioner’s table, face down. Her garment ripped open to expose the flesh on her back so the full force of each strike of the whip could be felt…and heard. Oh, how it must have grieved the king seeing his daughter suffer the brutal consequences of her sin.
The time came for the executioner to carry out the punishment. He raised the whip above his head, readying himself to deliver the first of the seven deadly blows. Just as the first violent strike was about to descend upon her bare back, the king stepped forward and thundered, “Stop!”
The crowd fell silent as the king advanced towards where his daughter lie. Standing face to face with her executioner, he tore open his own shirt and, because he was also a loving king, laid himself across her; wrapping his arms completely around her so no part of her would be struck.
Lying across his daughter, his back vulnerable to the cruelty of the whip and the impending death it would inflict, he looked back at the executioner and said, “Now hit her.”
The just and loving king took the punishment for his daughter’s sin—the sin she committed against him—upon his own flesh. He paid what she owed. Because he died in her place she was free from the debt. As such, the executioner released her because she accepted her father’s sacrifice. You see, she could have refused it but she would then still be held accountable for her sin and its consequence of death.
Friend, have you accepted the sacrifice of our just and loving King—Jesus?