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Verse:For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. —1 Peter 3:18
No human sacrifice can be compared to the infinite sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Even so, we have examples of people who died for others.
At the end of July 1941, three prisoners escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp in southern Poland. To deter further escape attempts, the Nazi SS deputy camp commander ordered ten of the remaining prisoners to be starved to death.
One of them was Franciszek Gajowniczek, who pled, “My wife! My children!” Touched by his words, Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941) volunteered to take his place. “After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive.” To clear the area, on August 14, 1941, the guards gave him a lethal injection of carbolic acid. He died at age forty-seven, and his remains were burned the next day.32 He voluntarily died for Franciszek Gajowniczek (1901–1995), who lived another fifty-three years. At ninety-three years old, Gajowniczek recalled that day: Father “Kolbe told the commandant, ‘I want to go instead of the man who was selected. He has a wife and family. I am alone. I am a Catholic priest.’” This account reminds us of what Christ did for us two thousand years ago. Ellen White put it this way: “The world’s Redeemer was treated as we deserve to be treated, in order that we might be treated as he deserved to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins upon his own divine soul, that we might receive his imputed righteousness. He was condemned for our sins, in which he had no share, that we might be justified by his righteousness, in which we had no share. The world’s Redeemer gave himself for us. Who was he? —The Majesty of heaven, pouring out his blood upon the altar of justice for the sins of guilty man.” Christ did not die an ordinary death. He died the second death in our place so that all who are in Him will not suffer that death (Revelation 20:6). “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11).
Thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, that You came to suffer and die for me! Through Your amazing sacrifice, I can be justified and have eternal life. Amen.