I read a story some years ago about an exchange that took place between one of the explorers who travelled with with Christopher Columbus and the natives of an island. This Exchange weighed heavily in favour of the explorers at the expense of the native. In exchange for receiving diamonds and Pearls and precious stones the explorers paid the natives back with tobacco. This sure was a bad exchange for the island’s natives!
God’s Great Exchange
However we are going to look at another exchange that took place between the inhabitants of this world and our wonderful God. The Son of God seated in the glory of Heaven, came down to earth to be with us. Jesus suffered and died upon a Cross to take our sins away , and rose again to bless us. In this exchange the precious Son of God took all the negative things in the universe upon himself. In exchange he gave us who were doomed eternal hell eternal life along with many many blessings. What a glorious exchange that was.
The Lord Jesus made an exchange that was indeed wonderful.
Martin Luther the great Reformer said these words concerning that exchange….
“Learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him an, despairing of yourself, say: “You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and hast given to me what is yours. You has taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.”
Blessed By A Curse
Jesus took our curse and in exchange gave us his blessing. On the cross of Calvary Jesus was made to be a curse that we might be blessed. In the book of Deuteronomy 21:23 we read 2that God said cursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree..
As our Lord Jesus Christ hung upon the cross of Calvary he took our curse that we might have his blessing.
Gal 3: 13 – Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
There are many destitute people in the world today who feel that life has treated them so badly that they are indeed cursed. Actually if we do not have the Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour we ARE indeed in a terrible condition. We read this verse in the first epistle of John.
1 John 5:11, 12 – This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
We thank God, that the Lord Jesus and all that he is and has can belong to us. ( according to Galatians 3:13) All the blessings that godly Father Abraham experienced in his blessed life can be ours. Eternal life, friendship with God, destiny, fruitfulness, greatness – and most of all, God’s Holy Spirit – will be ours if we have Jesus. Without the Lord Jesus we are indeed cursed.
I Am The Righteousness of God In Christ
Scripture tells us that our wonderful saviour took our sin from us and in it place he gave us his righteousness!..
2 Cor 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Upon the cross the Lord Jesus as he became a curse also became sin for us. When we are saved by faith in Christ we receive Jesus – and as we receive him we become righteous because we are in him.
The pure spotless son of God became both sin and a curse for us . As Jesus our saviour hung upon the cross, we read of a great earthquake and darkness that fell across the land for 3 hours. During that terrible time, God the Father could not look anymore on his precious Son. The Bible teaches that God is too holy to look upon evil. And the blessed Son of God was MADE TO BE SIN. OUR SIN!.