Long ago, there lived a just and loving king. One day, it was discovered that someone had been stealing his gold. As a result, he issued a decree that the punishment for stealing his gold would be forty lashes, a sentence certain to bring death. Weeks went by, and the gold continued to be stolen. Eventually, it was discovered that the thief was the king’s very own daughter.

Because he was a just king, he had to follow through with his decree that the punishment for stealing his gold would be forty lashes. If he did not, he would no longer be just.

On the day the sentence was to be carried out, the king’s daughter was brought before the crowd and laid face down on the executioner’s table. Her garment was torn open to expose the flesh on her back so that the full force of each strike of the whip could be felt… and heard. It grieved the king to see his daughter suffer the brutal consequences of her crime.

The time came for the executioner to carry out the punishment. He raised the whip above his head, preparing to deliver the first of the forty deadly blows. Just as the first violent strike was about to descend upon her bare back, the king stepped forward and thundered, “Stop!”

The crowd fell silent as the king advanced toward where his daughter lay. Standing face to face with her executioner, he tore open his own shirt and, because he was also a loving king, laid himself across her, wrapping his arms completely around her so that no part of her would be exposed to the strike.

With his own back exposed, vulnerable to the cruelty of the whip and the death it would inflict, he looked back at the executioner and said, “Now hit her.”

Listen closely: the just and loving king took the punishment for his daughter’s sin, the very sin she committed against him.

You see, the king paid a debt he did not owe because his daughter owed a debt she could not pay.

This is a small illustration of what Jesus did for all of humanity. The King of kings came into this world saying, “I have come to save you, to pay the ransom for your sins, to endure the punishment of death in your place. I will die so that you may live.”

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Your sin debt has been paid in full.

Love God. Love People. Live Sent.