Ultimate Gospel Illustrations #4: Two shirts (and a glass of water)

Good illustrations for explaining Bible truth to children are great to use, but difficult to think up! That’s why we’re sharing some of our favourites in our series of ultimate gospel illustrations.

The two shirts illustration is an effective way of explaining the concept of “imputed righteousness”—ie, that when God looks at believers he sees Christ’s perfect sinless record instead of our sin.

For this one you’ll need a black (or very dirty) t-shirt and a white t-shirt, with two volunteers to wear them.

The volunteer in the black t-shirt represents us in our sin. When God looks at us, what does he see? Use questions and explain what sin is, and why we rightly deserve to be punished for the wrong things we do.

At this stage you can give the person in the black t-shirt a glass of water to represent God’s right anger at sin that will be poured out on, or “drunk”, by sinful people—so if the liquid in the glass looks disgusting, all the better!

Then talk about the person in the white t-shirt, who represents Jesus. Explain how Jesus never did anything wrong and never sinned! When God looked at Jesus, what did he see?

Then, to explain what happened on the cross, get your volunteers to swap t-shirts, and have “Jesus” take the glass of water and drink it. If we’re trusting in Jesus, when God looks at us he now sees Jesus’ perfect record: we are right in God’s sight. And there is no anger left for us to drink, because Jesus has dealt with it for us.

If we’re trusting in Jesus, when God looks at us he now sees Jesus’ perfect record: we are right in God’s sight.

Thanks to both Richard Carding and Wayne Harris for suggesting this one!

You can take a look at our other ultimate gospel illustrations (three crosses, the gift and the book).

What’s your favourite illustration for explaining Bible truth to children and young people? Share it in the comments below. You can also like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our YouTube Channel.