1 Peter 2:24King James Version (KJV)
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
I had the unfortunate task of taking our 20-year-old Pug, Daisy, in to be put to sleep. She had many health problems and was most certainly suffering. It was more painful for me to do this than it was for her. She was sleeping soundly in my lap when the vet came in. She never stirred except for when the needle was inserted. Then she startled, lifted her head and went back to sleep and it was all done.
The pain of losing a beloved pet is difficult to describe. A person on Facebook said that we suffer the pain of loss so that our pet does not have to continue suffering. In essence, we now suffer in their place.
This illustration limps, as all illustrations do, but I was thinking about that this morning in relation to what Christ has done for us. He suffered in our place for us so that we will not have to suffer eternally. We are healed spiritually by His stripes, and we will be healed physically/emotionally by His stripes when He takes us home to be with him.
Yes, my illustration limps badly, but it was the idea of substitution that I wanted to get across. We suffer loss so that our ill and suffering pet does not have to suffer. That's as far as the illustration goes, but praise God for His substitutionary death on the cross to save us from the penalty of our sin.
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