In Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, there comes a point where one of the main characters, Charles Darnay, is arrested by the mob during the French Revolution and is sentenced to death. Because of the love that he has for Charles’ wife, Lucie, another character, Sydney Carton, takes Darnay’s place at the guillotine instead. As Carton goes to his death, he utters the most famous line of the novel, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

     Just as Sydney Carton substituted himself for Charles Darnay for the sake of love, there is One who has sacrificed Himself for you, because of the love that He has for you. One of the most famous and well known scriptures in the Bible is found in John 3:16, which states, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (HCSB). Even though we were undesirable, ungodly, weak, and enemies of God at the time, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV). Mankind had separated themselves from God through the tragedy of sin (Isaiah 59:1-2), but because Jesus came and died in our stead, we can now have that hope of eternal life in heaven.

     Because we commit sin, we have the sentence of death in ourselves (Romans 3:23; 6:23). We can do nothing of ourselves to remedy this situation, for we are unable to pay the price. It takes the sacrifice of a sinless life in order for us to be justified before God. What we could not provide for ourselves, God has provided in His Son, Jesus Christ. A greater love than this cannot be found! “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus substituted His sinless life, to die on the cross, to save us from our own spiritual death. Let us obey what He says to do, in His Holy Bible, so that we can apply the blood He shed and wash away our sins (Acts 22:16; Revelation 1:5).