Isn’t This Weird?

 

The king made a decree

Which his subject did contravene

And his kingdom waited expectantly

For the inevitable scene.

 

Depending on the offense

It could be a flogging or even death

But sometimes at the king’s discretion,

Incarceration might be best.

 

The punishment for this crime

Was a flogging in the public square

Which the old and decrepit subject

Was clearly unable to bear.

 

 

But the decree must be upheld

For it carried the seal of the king,

There was no way of escaping the flogging

Unless somebody stood in for him.

 

But surely, he would die

A death not befitting his crime

And this small matter of an injustice

Held the kingdom in a bind.

 

The king made one last call

For a family member or a friend

That would be willing to take the flogging

In place of old emaciated Ben.

 

Family members there were

But there was nary a single friend

Whereupon the king decided

To bring the matter to its end.

 

 

He stepped into the public square

In his hand was the royal strap,

He quickly stripped the clothes away

From off his kingly back.

  

Then turning to the offender, he said

For you I’ll take the flogging,

This took his subjects by surprise

As it was quite mind-boggling.

 

For the king had done no wrong

Yet this man’s punishment he took,

He, it was, that had made this law

And he played it by the book.

 

“The soul that sins it shall die”

This was the penalty God prescribed,

Eternal death was our just desert

And justice could not be denied.

 

 

Hence, walk Jesus up Calvary’s hill

His back was already laid bare,

Beaten, ridiculed and finally crucified

As to that cross he was nailed.

 

In giving His Son God gave himself

And became the sacrificial lamb,

And in this way His justice was served

In implementing salvation’s plan.

 

Isn’t this weird, I ask again,

That a king for His subjects would die,

Suffering under His own decree

That His justice would be satisfied?

 

 

It’s a thought that’s too deep for us

And hence, we consider it weird,

But only God could have done as much

That’s why none with Him compares.

 

Only God can satisfy His own justice

Concomitantly, not one of us could,

Hence, the offer of His Son for you and me

On that rugged cross of wood.

 

Stewart Russell © November 18, 2020