HE SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON......

He was a railway man who controlled a drawbridge, every day lifting and lowering it to let trains which carried hundreds of passengers, or ships carrying goods to various ports pass through.  He was also a father who loved  his little son, and as normal, the little boy often wanted to go to work with his dad.  One day he took his only son with him, and while dad was operating the bridge which had been lifted to let a ship pass, the child fell into the  huge cog wheels used for the lifting and lowering the bridge.  Immediately turning to lift his son to safety, with utter dismay he heard the whistle of the approaching train - and the bridge was still up!  Frantically, he worked to release his child, all the time hearing the train whistle getting louder and louder.  He continued to struggle, but the child was firmly stuck and knowing he had only seconds to spare, a dreadful decision had to be made.

If the train came and the bridge was up, hundreds of people would be killed but his son would be spared. If he pulled the lever, his son would be killed and the people would go across in safety.  A dreadful decision for any parent!  With breaking heart he turned his back on his son, and when he pulled the lever, the huge cog wheels started to turn,  crushing his only son.  What a price to pay to save the lives of strangers.   Yet, the narrative is a gripping shadow of that which God did in punishing His only Son that we might live.  The man did not love the people whose lives he saved, it was amazing compassion that caused him to act.  As deep as His love was for his son, he spared not his son but sacrificed him for all the people.  This fades into a mere shadow when compared with the infinite love of God.  He looked at Christ whom He loved, then looked at us who were without hope, bound for eternal condemnation and death.  He loved Christ, His only Son, and He loved us, what should He do?  

This was not a non-emotional decision by God, it was a deliberate action with the Son volunteering to be
sacrificed so that we might live.  The words of the Apostle Paul thunder through the ages,
“He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). 

From Scriptural Truths by Rowan Jennings. www.scripturaltruths.org.uk