A Place of Greater Safety

A Place of Greater Safety is the title of a novel about the French Revolution, by Hilary Mantel (of Wolf Hall fame). In a New Year speech, local MP and current Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps, told us the world is ‘a more dangerous place’—more dangerous, that is, than it seemed twenty-five years ago.

A place of greater safety sounds better than a more dangerous place. We prefer safety to danger.

Easter and Danger

Jesus entered a world of danger when he approached Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday. The week was busy as he taught the crowds, and threatening as he engaged with hostile religious leaders. Eventually they plotted his betrayal through a disciple, Judas Iscariot. He was arrested, falsely accused and unjustly tried by his enemies and a Roman governor who gave in to the mob. He was sentenced to death by crucifixion, being nailed to a cross. He died.

Danger and God

Yet his bodily suffering was not the greatest danger Jesus faced or the worst suffering he experienced. Jesus underwent suffering that not even his worst enemies could inflict. On the cross Jesus was bearing the righteous anger of God against human sin. This is why he cried out ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mark 15:34).

The cross was not only the work of wicked men, it was the eternal plan of God. As the apostle Peter said in the first Christian sermon, Jesus was delivered up ‘according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God’ (Acts 2:23). It was God who placed his Son in danger, who inflicted the worst suffering Jesus endured. Why?

God and Safety

God subjected his beloved Son to danger to make a place of safety for sinners. We have all sinned and fall short of God’s beauty and perfection. The punishment for sin, Jesus himself made clear, is eternal death, that is, hell. It was the punishment for sin that Jesus bore on the cross. There is no more dreadful suffering than that.

There is no more dangerous place to be than under the wrath of God. It is a danger we are all in—as Jesus said, ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him’ (John 3:36).

Easter and Safety

Jesus was not bearing punishment for his own sin. He was a substitute for others, people like you and me who go on living our own way with little regard for God or for the good of our own souls. We need to know we are in great danger. But we also know there is a place of greater safety.

God did not leave Jesus dead. Easter Sunday is a joyous celebration of his resurrection. God raised him to show that the sacrifice Jesus made was accepted by him. Everyone who believes in Jesus has eternal life, meaning that eternal death is no longer a danger for them.

Through faith in Christ your sins are forgiven, you will be raised from the dead, God will receive you into heaven and, one day, into a new heavens and earth where there will be absolutely no dangers of any sort.

Choose safety for eternity. Choose Jesus Christ.

Invitation

Do come to hear more at our Easter services—or on any Sunday.

Easter Services.

Mostyn Roberts, Pastor
Tel: 01438 715372