Have you ever wanted to trade places with someone? Many mornings, my dog torments me by curling up in the empty space I just left in my bed. As I stand at the bathroom sink getting ready for the day, I’m forced to watch him lay his little white head on my pillow and doze off.
His life seems so easy: sleep, eat, repeat. But then I remember that he eats the same thing every day and has to go outside to use the bathroom, even in frigid temperatures and thunderstorms. Maybe the trade wouldn’t be so great after all!
This month’s devotionals focus on the benefits we receive from Christ’s death and resurrection. Today we’ll see that Jesus took our place to reconcile us to God.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Christ became sin for our sake. In this passage, Paul is talking about reconciliation—specifically, how sinners are reconciled to a holy God. He humbled Himself in the form of a servant, coming under the curse and receiving the punishment our sin (Philippians 2:7-8). Because Christ took on our sin, we are reconciled to God.
Christ became sin even though He was sinless. If He had sinned even once, the punishment He received would be His own. Only a sinless Lamb could be our substitute and take our punishment on the cross.
Christ became sin so that in Him we might receive righteousness and reconciliation. We can think of this as “The Great Swap.” On the cross, Christ took our place and received the punishment our sin deserved. In exchange, He gives us His perfect record of obedience–His righteousness. We are reconciled to God because of what Christ’s obedience earned for us: right standing before a holy God and eternal life with Him.
This Great Swap is the good news of the Gospel: those who are in Christ look at the cross and see their punishment given to Christ and the righteousness of Christ given to them to reconcile them to God.
No matter what you face this week, Christ took our place to reconcile us to God.
Share
[…] at the benefits we receive from Christ’s death and resurrection. Last week we learned about how Christ reconciled us to God. Today we will see that because Christ shed His blood for us, all our sin has been […]