Educated alongside a young prince, a whipping boy was a suitable classmate. In modern day Europe he was there primarily in order to receive corporal punishment. He became the substitute, whipped for the young prince's transgressions.





The prince was not punished himself, because his royal status exceeded that of his tutor; seeing a friend punished was supposed to provide a suitable motivation not to repeat the offence.





Today we best understand such 'a substitute', as a sports player nominated to replace another player after a match has begun.





These examples help us understand the important concept of substitutionary atonement.





This is when Jesus became our substitute.

This is when Jesus became our whipping boy.

He became the only person suitable to be punished for our sinful incompetence.





The old hymn-writers knew this when they penned:

"He was wounded for our transgressions

He was bruised for our iniquities

Surely he bore our sorrows

Sweet Jesus, the Nazarene"





In the song "I stand amazed in the presence [How marvelous])" verse 4 the composer states :

"He took my sins and my sorrows,

He made them His very own;

He bore the burden to Calv’ry,

And suffered, and died alone"





The Scriptures concur. Isaiah 53:5 (NKJV) says:

"5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed."





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