Substitution

Yesterday I read an article from a blog I'm subscribed to and it was about the substitution of Christ. I had never thought about it before reading this article, but it occurred to me that there really is no other substitution for salvation and grace other than Christ himself. If there was, who would he be?

One earthly man cannot stand in for all human beings. It is clear that God is three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And those who know that He is the only way to salvation know that the only reason He can be is because He encompasses all three parts. Not one man on earth nor one idol nor one book of prayer nor one religious ritual can match this.

Man alone, beings alone, humans alone, do not and will never have this power. The only "person" who can do this for us is Christ incarnate Himself.

"The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man."

Hello?

The very act of denying Him as our only Lord and Savior is a sin itself. For thereby we are placing ourselves on a higher pedestal than He and proclaiming that we do not need Him because we have atoned our own sin. How can we atone our own sin? We can't. We don't have the power and we never will. And therefore, we have no better choice than to surrender ourselves to His atonement on our behalf.

"Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be."

This is a powerful statement. We think so highly of ourselves - so much so that we are convinced we do not need grace. And if ever we did, we'd find it our own way.

But God, in all His glory and compassion offers Himself as a living sacrifice and puts Himself where he does not deserve to be, in our shoes, to save us from ourselves so we don't have to do it.

Why would anyone not want this? It's beyond me because it's free...and painless. It does nothing to harm us, it only helps us and guarantees us eternal life.