An Innocent Man Punished

An Innocent Man Punished

God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21

It was the LORD’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.

Isaiah 53:10

Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Romans 8:32

Many nights on the news we see footage of someone who is on trial for a crime. We see the person in the courtroom standing next to his or her attorney or advocate while the case is tried before a judge or jury. And if the verdict is guilty, the defendant is usually led away from the courtroom to pay the penalty for his or her crime.

Imagine if, when the defendant is pronounced guilty, the lawyer is taken off to jail to be punished for the defendant’s crime. We would want to talk back to the television, saying, “That’s wrong! You’ve got the wrong man! He shouldn’t have to pay!”

And yet that is exactly what happened to Jesus, our sinless advocate. He did nothing wrong. Ever. He is absolutely innocent, while we are absolutely guilty. We deserve the death penalty for our rebellion toward God and our rejection of him. But instead of our paying that penalty with our own lives, Jesus, the one who is pleading our case before God, paid it. Jesus, the sinless one, offered himself up to receive the punishment we, who are guilty, deserve. All the sin of all people for all time—Jesus paid for all of it.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What does it mean to be guilty? What does it mean to be innocent?

If you were guilty and someone else paid your penalty, what would be an appropriate response toward that person?

Why do you think Jesus was willing to pay the penalty for our sin?