73. Substitution in Picture
Substitution in Picture
It is upon this doctrine of grace that Satan tries to throw his greatest darkness and confusion (2 Corinthians 4:4), and one difficulty lies in its uniqueness, for it is hard to illustrate; and yet there are some illustrations that are windows to the light. One of them is in an incident told years ago by Dr. Henry C. Mabie. An acquaintance had a fine young son who, on one occasion, disobeyed his father, and then made it worse by trying to cover it up with a lie. Asking the boy what he thought should be done about it, he said: “You should whip me.” The father started to do so, but his heart led him to change the procedure. Removing his own coat, he told his boy to give him the whipping in his stead. The boy struck his father a blow or two, then overwhelmed with grief, fled to his room, and was soon found kneeling and sobbing out his cry for God’s forgiveness. His father’s stripes on his behalf had broken his heart. This is grace. The boy’s sin was not forgiven, but condemned and judged, for it could not be consented to, and the penalty executed, in effect, on the father for the sake of the boy. Thus it became possible for the sinner to be forgiven. Indeed, it would have been unjust not to do so, for forgiveness was now righteously his due. Thus it is that “by his stripes (who died for us) we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), and all without a cause in us.
Christ was “hated without a cause” (John 15:25), either in what He was or what He did, until that hatred at last had Him hanging on a cross. And just as really He saves us “without a cause” (Romans 3:24), either in what we are or what e do. For “freely” in that verse is “dorean” in Greek, which means “without a cause in us.” So if we were required to do the slightest thing either to be saved or kept, there would be a cause in us, grace would no longer be possible, and salvation out of the question. The gift of eternal life is so completely a gift that there can be no cause in us, for it is all in Him. And this is grace!