The prisoners were acutely aware that someone had died so they could live.
In his book Miracle on the River Kwai, Ernest Gordon describes the events in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. One account records how the tools were counted at the end of a work shift at a railway line. That day, one shovel was missing. Nobody was forthcoming when the Japanese guard called for the guilty prisoner to step forward. He threatened to shoot them all. One man stepped forward. In a rage, the officer brutally killed this man on the spot. His fellow prisoners carried his body back to camp.
Later the tools were recounted, and none were missing. There had been a miscount at the railway line. That night, as the prisoners lay in their bunkbeds, they were acutely aware that someone had died so they could live.
God Offers Himself as the Substitute
That man’s actions give us a hint, a taste, a small glimpse of the more excellent and ultimate sacrifice Jesus made. The essence of the gospel—the ‘good news’ about Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension—is substitution. When Jesus was willingly led to the cross, it was to take the place of sinful humanity. But Jesus’ death in our place was not a spur-of-the-moment act of bravery. This splendid gospel was planned before the foundation of the universe and written into its metanarrative (Ephesians 1:3-6).
When Jesus was willingly led to the cross, it was to take the place of sinful humanity.
Isaiah prophesied some seven centuries before Christ that “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Those brutal wounds inflicted at Golgotha provided the only means by which our rebellious hearts could be declared righteous again. Indeed, the entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament points to the need for substitution to be right with God.
The great reformer Martin Luther wrote, “Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to sing to him and say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.'” If you are in Christ he is your substitute, your advocate. He is the only mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5). The gospel hope centres on Christ’s substitutionary work.
What About Our Good Works?
How should you respond if you are saved by grace, through faith, and not by works? With deep humility and thankfulness. We should want to know the One who appeased God’s wrath on our behalf. And our lives should be transformed.
Don’t take the glorious gospel for granted if you are in Christ.
This was the case on the River Kwai. Before that soldier gave up his life, the entire camp was filled with hate. It was dog-eat-dog. But that event changed everything. One man recalled Jesus’ words, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13). This attitude transformed the camp into a place that was so caring that when the prisoners were liberated, they even treated their tormenting guards with kindness. How much greater should the response of the recipients of saving grace be? We have a superior Saviour.
We should sing as Charles Wesley taught us, “Died he for me, who caused his pain? / For me, who him, to death pursued? / Amazing love! how can it be? / That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
Don’t take the glorious gospel for granted if you are in Christ. Don’t be presumptuous; or entitled. Meditate on the God-man, your substitute. Be thankful for his grace and mercy. Praise God that you received what you didn’t deserve and didn’t receive what you did.
“Nothing in My Hands I Bring”
Or are you still searching for truth, salvation, and peace with God? How would you answer God if he asked you why he should let you into his heaven? What would you say?
Don’t look at yourself and what you have done. Look to Jesus. Look alone to Jesus.
That you have tried to live an honest life? That you were an excellent parent, child, friend, or citizen? That your good works outweigh your bad deeds? That you gave money to churches and charities? That you deserve heaven? While these are all good things, they are insufficient. We need to be saved because we have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We are by nature ungodly. We’ve fallen short and are alienated from our benevolent Creator. Because of this, a punishment must be borne. A consequence. And we are powerless to save ourselves (Romans 5:6-11).
Don’t look at yourself and what you have done. Look to Jesus. Look alone to Jesus. And answer the divine question with the ancient words, “Nothing in my hands I bring, / Simply to thy cross I cling; / Naked, come to thee for dress, / Helpless, look to thee for grace: / Foul, I to the fountain fly, / Wash me, Saviour, or I die.”
Then know that when you stand in the splendour of God’s courtroom, and the lying accuser rises against you, there will be One in your defence. One who has deep wounds in his hands, feet, and side. He died in your stead. That is the good news. The most exceptional news. The glorious gospel.
