He took your place!

I came across this powerful devotion some years ago and trust it will be as meaningful to you as it has been to me. The author is unknown.

Crowns have always been the sign of authority and kingship.

Charlemagne, whom historians say should deserve to be called “great” above all others, wore an octagonal crown. Each of the eight sides was a plaque of gold, and each plaque was studded with emeralds, sapphires, and pearls. The cost was the price of a king’s ransom.

Richard the Lion-Hearted had a crown so heavy that two Earls had to stand, one on either side, to hold his head. The crown that Queen Elizabeth (wore) is worth $20 million-plus. Edward II once owned nine crowns, something of a record.

Put them all together, from all of Europe and from the archives of the East, all of them are but trinkets compared to Christ’s crown. Revelation 19 says he had many diadems. He wears a crown of righteousness. He wears a crown of glory. He wears a crown of life. He wears a crown of peace and power.

Among those crowns, one outshines the rest. It was not formed by the skilled fingers of a silversmith, nor created by the genius of a craftsman. It was put together hurriedly by the rough hands of Roman soldiers. It was not placed upon its wearer’s head in pomp and ceremony, but in the hollow mockery of ridicule and blasphemy. It is a crown of thorns.

The amazing thing is that it belonged to me. I deserved to wear that crown. I deserved to feel the thrust of the thorns.I deserved to feel the hot trickle of blood upon my brow. I deserved the pain. He took my crown of thorns – but without compensation. He offers to me instead His crown of life.

Jesus took our place. He wore the crown of thorns we deserved. He bore the shame and the disgrace and the rejection we deserved. He suffered the torment and the agony and the punishment we deserved. He died the death we deserved. He paid the penalty for sin that we could never pay. He endured the wrath of a holy God against sin that we could never endure.

He took our place. He became our Great Substitute. The Apostle Paul explained it this way (2 Corinthians 5:21), “God made him who had no sin to be sin (or a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The demand of religion is “Do!”. Do this, do that, do the other thing and – maybe – you will have eternal life. The difference of Christianity is “Done!” Jesus already did the work. He paid the price for salvation that no one else could pay. And His last cry on the cross was a shout of victory, of completion: “It is Finished!” His payment of sin was sufficient. It was paid in full.

Then He rose triumphantly from the tomb, proving that His work of atonement – His work as the Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world – was enough and was accepted by the Father. He is alive to live His life in you.

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This Sunday, April 20, is Resurrection Sunday and we will give praise and worship to the One who defeated death, hell, and the grave, and who reigns forever and ever! Please invite someone to join you in the building or online for the Live broadcast on either Facebook (Honolulu AG) or our YouTube channel (Honolulu Assembly of God). We Livestream every Sunday to both locations and would love to have you join us.

Coming Up: We will celebrate all Moms with a gift on May 11, Mother’s Day. My wife Shirley will be our very special speaker that day. Pentecost Sunday is coming up June 8 and we will celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the birth of the church (Acts 2). Please don’t miss it.

Aloha ke Akua!