The Exchange of Calvary
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. 5:21, NKJV.
Martin Luther, the great Reformer, captures the verse's intent. Writing to a monk in distress about his sins, Luther admonished: "Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: 'Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given me what is thine. Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.' " To Luther that was history's "greatest exchange."
But on that dreary day at Calvary the disciples of the crucified One didn't see it that way. "For the disciples who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem," penned Jürgen Moltmann, "his shameful death was not the consummation of his obedience to God nor a demonstration of martyrdom for his truth, but the rejection of his claim. It did not confirm their hopes in him, but...destroyed them." A crucified Messiah had never even entered the realm of their imaginations, in spite of the fact that Jesus had plainly told them several times the exact form of death that awaited Him.
We humans can be real blockheads when the ways of God cross our own visions of the good life and our goals. But since He always knows what He is talking about, perhaps it is time for us to open both eyes as we read His Word to us.
The Crucifixion may have been the darkest day in the disciples' lives, but it would not remain that way. His followers would soon see it as the high point of hope. Paul, for one, never ceased driving home the fact that the cross is the anchor point of redemption. It was the death of Jesus on the cross that made it possible for us to have His eternal life and His righteousness.
The apostle in part defined "the gospel" in terms of the brutal fact that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:1, 3, RSV). And the book of Hebrews asserts that Jesus died "once for all" and that "by a single offering" He made available the plan of salvation in all its fullness (Heb. 10:10, 14, RSV). It is Christ's spilled blood that forms the foundation for God's offer of saving grace to all who have faith in Jesus (see Rom. 3:23-25).
Father in heaven, I thank You for Jesus and fully accept Your "great exchange."
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor. 5:21, NKJV.
Martin Luther, the great Reformer, captures the verse's intent. Writing to a monk in distress about his sins, Luther admonished: "Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say: 'Thou, Lord Jesus, art my righteousness, but I am thy sin. Thou hast taken upon thyself what is mine and hast given me what is thine. Thou hast taken upon thyself what thou wast not and hast given to me what I was not.' " To Luther that was history's "greatest exchange."
But on that dreary day at Calvary the disciples of the crucified One didn't see it that way. "For the disciples who had followed Jesus to Jerusalem," penned Jürgen Moltmann, "his shameful death was not the consummation of his obedience to God nor a demonstration of martyrdom for his truth, but the rejection of his claim. It did not confirm their hopes in him, but...destroyed them." A crucified Messiah had never even entered the realm of their imaginations, in spite of the fact that Jesus had plainly told them several times the exact form of death that awaited Him.
We humans can be real blockheads when the ways of God cross our own visions of the good life and our goals. But since He always knows what He is talking about, perhaps it is time for us to open both eyes as we read His Word to us.
The Crucifixion may have been the darkest day in the disciples' lives, but it would not remain that way. His followers would soon see it as the high point of hope. Paul, for one, never ceased driving home the fact that the cross is the anchor point of redemption. It was the death of Jesus on the cross that made it possible for us to have His eternal life and His righteousness.
The apostle in part defined "the gospel" in terms of the brutal fact that "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:1, 3, RSV). And the book of Hebrews asserts that Jesus died "once for all" and that "by a single offering" He made available the plan of salvation in all its fullness (Heb. 10:10, 14, RSV). It is Christ's spilled blood that forms the foundation for God's offer of saving grace to all who have faith in Jesus (see Rom. 3:23-25).
Father in heaven, I thank You for Jesus and fully accept Your "great exchange."
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