It should have been me

The story of man began in a garden
A garden where God and man dwelt together
A garden where all was good
But all did not remain good
For we were made with free will, the freedom to chose
And we chose to rebel
We chose to ignore God’s commands and go our own way
And as a result we suffered judgement
Death entered the story of us
But from that moment in the garden when death entered the scene there was also a promise
A promise of salvation
A promise of restoration
A promise of a serpent crusher
All of us sin, all of us fall short of God’s glory
But there was one alone who did not
Christ, the Son, the sinless spotless lamb
Christ, through who God had created all things
Christ, the one who sat in heaven at the right hand of the Father
And in the ultimate act of love He came down
Jesus left the throne
He didn’t cling to his position
He humbled himself
He was born as a baby
He became one of us
He walked among us
He surrendered his position and became a slave for us
Jesus, the Son of God
Jesus, the sinless one
Jesus, the Word through who all was created
He moved into our neighbourhood
He left the throne of heaven and came to the mess of a stable
The king of all the world lying helpless in a manger
And he grew, fully human yet fully God, he grew
The only one to live a sinless life
The only one not to rebel
Jesus walked among us
Sharing the good news of the kingdom
Proclaiming liberty to the captives
Sight for the blind
And for the oppressed, freedom
But the religious elite didn’t like Him
They moved to silence Him
Jesus was accused of blasphemy
The saviour King was sentenced to death upon a tree
It looked like the end
But this was all part of the plan
This was how God would bring about the salvation of man
Jesus would die in our place
He would take the wrath we deserved to face
And as they whipped His back
It should have been me
As they mocked and jeered it should have been me
It should have been us
As He hung on the tree
It
Should
Have
Been
Me
But Jesus carried our cross
He bore our shame
He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our iniquities
As our sin drove the nails in
As His love flowed red
It should have been me
But He took our place
And showed us grace!
They took Him to the place of the skull
They nailed Him to a cross on that hill
He bore the consequence of our free will
The King of the world was beaten and bloodied
On the cross he poured out His life for us
The ultimate act of love
By His wounds now we can be healed.
Hands that placed the stars became scarred
Scarred so we might be free
Eternally, gloriously free
The one who was blameless
Taking the place of the sinful
Giving up His life so we might live
Laying down his rights to set us free
Paying in full the debt of our sin
Opening the gate of heaven
And welcoming us in.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:5-6
“ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-10