Divine Exchange
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” – Isa. 53:3-6
The coming of Jesus into the World more than 2000 years ago was initiated and implemented by God to save and restore humanity to his original state from where he fell as a result of sin. Satan deceived Adam to eat the forbidden fruit and through this Sin enter into the world. The consequence of this was that man lost his divinity, was spiritually dead, separated from God and curse came upon man. For God to be justified in forgiving man someone has to pay for the sin of man by shedding of his blood. The Bible says in Heb. 9:22 “According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
In the Old Testament the high priest had to enter into the holy of the holiest to make sacrifice for the atonement of sin of the people once in a year, and this was done at Passover but this had to be repeated every year because it did not bring a permanent solution to the issue of sin (Heb. 9:25). Since man cannot save himself from sin, God had to provide a Redeemer in form of his only son Jesus, the second Adam to come and die for the sin of man for a permanent solution to the sin problem. The Bible tells us about Jesus being the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (Jn.1:29)
After being betrayed by one of his disciples Judas and arrested at the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was taken to the house of the high priest Caiaphas from there before Pilate who sent him to Herod who also sent him back to Pilate. The people demanded that Barabbas a notorious thief be set free and Jesus should be crucified as it was the tradition during every Passover (Mt. 27:15). Jesus was taken to Golgotha to be crucified on the cross by the Roman’s soldiers. Jesus on the cross became our high priest that offered himself to God as a sacrifice for the remission of our sin. The Bible says in Heb. 10:12-14 “But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” And on the cross he cried it is finished which mean the work of redemption was finished. The Bible tells us in Jn. 19:30 “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” On the cross there was divine exchange;
- Jesus took our sins in exchange for his righteousness. Isa. 53:4-5
- Jesus was punished in exchange for our forgiveness. Isa. 53:4
- Jesus took us from the power of darkness and brought us into his marvelous light. Col.1:13
- Jesus was wounded with many stripes in exchange for our healing. Isa. 53:4
- Jesus died our death so that we can have his life. Heb. 2:9
- Jesus took our curse so that we can be blessed. Gal. 3:13-14
- Jesus became poor so that we can be rich. 2Cor.8:9
- Jesus took our shame so that we can receive his glory. Rom. 10:11
- Jesus was rejected by God so that we can be accepted by God. Mt.27:45-51
- Jesus died with our old man so that we can have a new man. 1Cor. 5:17
As we celebrate Easter this year, it is important for us to know the significance of the divine exchange that Jesus made on the cross of Calvary on our behalf so that we can take full advantage of them.
My prayer is that everything that Christ has done for us on the cross will be ours in Jesus name. I welcome you to April our month of Divine Exchange.