The Great Swap {No Matter What Monday}

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 will focus on the benefits we receive from Christ’s death and resurrection. Today we’ll see how and why Jesus traded places with us. Our Savior saw our hopeless condition—we were sinners who could not save ourselves. He humbled Himself to take our place on the cross, so that we might have a place with Him forever. 

“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. Christ took the punishment for our sin so we could be reconciled to God. Paul says He “became sin,” receiving what our sin deserved. 

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 trade places with us and take our place on the cross. 

Christ became sin so that in Him we might receive righteousness. 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 receive what Christ has earned: 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. 

No matter what you face this week, our sinless Savior became sin so sinners might receive His righteousness. 

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