Divine Exchange
| God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2Corinthians5:21) |
What lies at the core of the appeal that we make as ambassadors for Christ?
What is the hope that we have?
Listen carefully! The answer is so devastatingly simple that a child can grasp it and yet the greatest theologians gape in wonderment.
Let's break the verse up into parts:
- God made Him: Jesus His one and only Son, who shares in His being and majesty, who had taken on humanity and become one of us
- Who had no sin: He showed us what true humanity was meant to be. He showed us that all the pain, sorrow, and heartache are not His creation but ours. He was perfectly good, perfectly loving, perfect in every way.
- To be sin for us: Can we imagine what this was like? All my deepest and darkest sin and failure, and all that of the rest of the world. Now rejected, repudiated, expelled, banished, isolated, separated and judged-and-found-guilty-to-be-cast-away from the presence of a holy, holy, holy God. Just the physical aspects of the crucifixion intimidate us and we have not even begun to talk about the spiritual suffering!
- So that in Him: Connected to Him, in relationship to Him, bound and committed to Him we may experience His benefits.
- We become the righteousness of God: It is not our righteousness - we cannot boast, brag, or claim credit. It is righteousness imputed to us - a gift for which we spend the rest of our lives gratefully giving thanks.
This is the New Life we have.
Hallelujah!
