The Mystery of Substitution 2

<<<<Continued from here

…I don’t think I could have been a Christian today if not for a very deep and crystal-clear awareness of the mystery of substitution.  I received this awareness through a life transforming experience of divine supernatural healing. Below is an excerpt from my personal reflections on that experience.  Please, click here to read the full story.

But, as I studied the bible on that fateful day, August 25^th 1991, I came to that particular verse which was destined to alter my life so dramatically especially in the area of my health. I read that,

“If anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION; the OLD has GONE, the NEW has COME!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

I was inextricably glued to that verse and I couldn’t help but ask in my heart if this newness only applied to the area of my morality, that is, my lifestyle, behaviour, desires, and appetites. “What of the area of my health?” I mused.

In my life, the OLD included asthma, pneumonia, intestinal infirmity, acute malaria, and knee cramps. I wondered if they were among the things that were GONE.

Try as much as I could, I couldn’t push those thoughts out of my mind and somewhere from deep within me, the answer came – YES!

That inner voice which I now know to be the Holy Spirit told me that my sicknesses have all gone.

The asthma was gone and so were the rest.

Many do not appreciate the significance of Jesus sacrificial death on the cross because its a spiritual mystery and it can only be discerned by divine revelation.

Also, certain cultural perspectives and worldviews hinder the perception of spiritual realities. For instance, the secular humanistic mindset of 21st century western societies is generally ignorant of the mystery and power of human sacrifices. This why the trend is to move away from the idea of ‘one dying for all’.  A lot of western churches today rarely teach about the blood of cross of Jesus Christ because of this ignorance.

The phenomenon of human sacrifice and substitution, however, is perfectly within the understanding of other cultures like mine. It’s quite normal in my culture to hear that a certain old man is still alive and kicking at 90+ because he has exchanged his life with that of some other person – usually a younger person. This is usually achieved through rituals involving human sacrifice; John (say in his 20s) is ritually sacrificed and the rest of his lifespan is mystically transferred to Bill ( say, in his 70s). As a result Bill goes on to enjoy a robust lifespan of 120 or more.  This is the mystery of substitution by human sacrifice.

The awareness of this possibility is one of the many reasons the message of the cross has gained a strong foothold here in Africa.  And it is against this backdrop that my experience of supernatural healing generated the firm conviction that Jesus died so that I can exchange my sick, ill, diseased, sinful, and weak life for His eternally glorious one.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the ultimate master stroke of the genius of God. 

My personal experience of this mystery of substitution is what has kept me strong in Jesus Christ amidst all the contradictions and hypocrisies of the religion called Christianity.

Do you have any knowledge of the mystery of substitution?
Have you experienced it’s power yet in any area of your life?
Please share your thoughts…