Thursday, July 12, 2012
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
RECONCILIATION WITH GOD WAS ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH THE SUBSTITUTION OF CHRIST
To change our status with God seems like an impossible task because we know that God in His holiness will not -- indeed cannot -- make a wrong verdict or judgment when it comes to sin. And He has us dead to rights. He even says in Proverbs 17, "He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD."
Did the Lord do that very thing when Jesus volunteered to undergo mankind's deserved punishment in order to allow sinners into heaven? 2 Corinthians 5:21 lays before us the fact that Jesus was our substitute when it came to sin and guilt. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Is God contradicting Himself? Not when we consider the idea of debt. For example, if a bill collector is coming after me, but then someone else steps in and pays what I owe, the bill collector doesn't care where the money comes from. His main concern is that the debt is paid. The Lord presents sin as debt that needed to be paid. By putting Christ in our place, by His becoming sin for us, God's holy requirements were met. The punishment for sin -- the payment for the debt -- was exacted out on Christ, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God found payment for sin the only way that was available -- the blood of His Son. All other payments for sin are really quite laughable. What would you offer God in payment for your sin? All of your money? It's ridiculous to give God what He already has. Suffer some sort of disease or hardship? That doesn't even begin to compare with what the wages of sin are. The wages of sin are death. How about then your own life? That would be proper punishment for your sin, but it could not reverse any of the charges. The person who feels the full weight of his sin languishes forever in hell, dying eternally. That is the correct punishment for sin. The only way that we could be brought together with God was through the innocent blood of Christ. We are reconciled in Him.
