READING: Proverbs 13-15, 2 Corinthians 5
“He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
It’s just one verse of the Bible, but it’s packed with so much amazing—and humbling—truth that I can only stand amazed at the grace of God: “He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). Let the message of this text sink in as you read.
He (that is, God)—the eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing One had a plan. He who spoke all of creation into existence, and who promised a Savior after the human beings had sinned (Gen. 3:15), took care of that sin problem.
He made the One who did not know sin (that is, Jesus) to be sin. Jesus Himself never sinned. He was tempted in all ways like are (Heb. 4:15), but He never gave in to the enemy’s temptations. Nevertheless, God dealt with Him as if He were a sinner, requiring of Him the death that all sinners must face. Jesus bore the sins of the world, and He paid the penalty for sin as a substitute for sinners.
He made Him sin for us. Jesus’ death wasn’t the unexpected, awful death of a good man; it was the intentional death of the One who Would bring redemption to a lost world. Thousands of years ago—long, long before I existed—Jesus died for me. And for you. And for the world. He did not count our trespasses against us (2 Cor. 5:19), and He took upon Himself God’s judgment for our sin.
So that we might become the righteousness of God. We can muster up no righteousness that meets the standards of a perfect God; however, God credits us with His righteousness and justifies us. God declares us righteous when we follow Christ.
In Him. Only through our having a personal relationship with Jesus do we experience justification – and God has come to us because He wants us to have that relationship.
I can type the words, but my mind struggles to comprehend the picture. It’s beyond my thinking that the Son of God would die for me while I was a sinner (Rom. 5:8). The death of Jesus is, simply stated, a love beyond compare, a gift beyond comprehension. It’s the simple, beautiful, gracious, loving, amazing, merciful, unbelievable, marvelous gospel.
ACTION STEPS:
- Be amazed by the gospel today.
- Rejoice. And then rejoice again. The gospel demands it.
PRAYER: “God, I praise You for the cross. Thank You for justifying me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Proverbs 16-18, 2 Corinthians 6
