PODCAST
In Our Place
April 4th, 2021
Hebrews 10:8-18
Writer J. N. Greene* tells the story of a tribe of Seneca Indians who lived around the Niagara Falls in the 1800s. They had a custom of making an offering to appease the god of the falls. Each year a maiden was chosen from the tribe. One year the chief’s daughter was selected. On that fatal night the moon illuminated the falls for all to see. The time came for the maiden to step into a white canoe and paddle boldly out into the current drifting towards the falls. From the shore the tribe saw another white canoe come alongside the first and realized it was her father, the old chief. They watched as the two embraced and together were dashed over the falls.
The father loved the daughter too much to permit her to take the death journey alone.
Greene made a keen observation: better that the father would have stepped into the boat and died in her place.
Jesus did that for us. Instead of us drifting over the falls, Jesus placed our feet on dry ground, while He stepped into the boat and went down into the rapids alone. What a perfect sacrifice for us!
*G.B.F. Hallock, Five Thousand Best Modern Illustrations; New York: George Doran Company, 1927. Page 121.
Author: Derl Keefer
Tags: Jesus
