April 2, 2009
-
The Whipping Boy
I used to refuse to believe that God punished people for their sins. I think I was just too afraid to include that attribute to my definition of God. It just didn’t fit in with the beautiful picture I had of Him as loving Father and gracious Savior. There was no room for a wrathful God in my little box. But God’s wrath is not unrestrained and unjust as human wrath. He has righteous wrath. And if it were true that He never punished sinners for their sins, then He would not truly be a just God; there wouldn’t be a need for Jesus (for truly, we need Jesus); and Jesus wouldn’t have had to be punished on the cross for our sins. No, God is a God of wrath and He does punish!
But those who believe in Jesus don’t have to worry about punishment, for He has already taken our punishment. We have already been punished because He has already been punished in our place.
It reminds me of the story of the “whipping boy” by Sid Fleischman. There once was a naughty prince. He was a very naughty little boy, and as with all naughty little boys, he needed to be punished for all of his naughtiness. But because he was the prince – the royal heir – he was not to be touched. Therefore, his family provided a whipping boy for him. Every time the prince was naughty and did something bad, the whipping boy got punished in his place — though of course the whipping boy was innocent and inculpable of any wrong.
Jesus is our whipping boy — except that He took the Ultimate Punishment — He was crucified and died once for all and doesn’t ever need to be punished again. And this is a true story. “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Ptr 3:18 Thank you, Jesus, for taking on my punishment for me.
Comments (3)
P. S. Though I believe that God does punish for sins, I don’t think that every bad thing that happens in a person’s life = God’s punishment. I think that sometimes things happen as a result of our living in a sinful world. For example, if a couple has a miscarriage, I don’t think it necessarily means that they are being punished by God. It could happen perhaps because of all the toxins in the air and in all the products that humankind has created (this is the ‘sinful world’ part). Other times, bad things happen so that God can draw people to Himself. (Perhaps a bit of Rom 8:28.) So though I do believe that God does punish for sins, I don’t believe that all bad things happen because God is punishing someone. Also, there is the
concept of ‘consequences for sins’. For example, if someone commits adultery, the breakdown of their marriage, and the subsequent brokenness of their children = the consequence for their sinful actions.
Somehow I don’t think people will get the message on those “Jesus is my Whipping Boy” tee-shirts I just had made…
I love the way you write and explain things. Wonderful explanation of the gospel!