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No Pretense 2 Corinthians 5:21 God never plays “Let’s Pretend.” Christ did not pretend to become a man. He became a man. He did not pretend that he turned water into wine. He made the water wine. And the Lord God did not pretend to make his Son sin for us. — “He hath made him sin for us!” Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not bear our sins in his body on the tree, as the Book of God says he did, but only the consequences and effects of them. — The Prophet of God says, “He shall bear their iniquities.” The word “bear” means “carry,” as a man carries a burden. The Old Testament saints were well acquainted with God our Savior as a sin-bearing Redeemer God, and considered this to be the glory of his character. Micah said, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth (beareth) iniquity; and that passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?” Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not really bear the consequences and effects of them. — I mean by that, either he was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or he did not bear the penalty of them. The principal part of the punishment of sin consists in a sense of guilt and of divine wrath; but neither of these could Immanuel have endured unless he was made sin. Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or our sins are still our sins and justice finds them upon us still! — If that were the case, justice would still require satisfaction and mercy could be bestowed only at the expense of righteousness. Thank God, that is not the case! The guilt of our sins, and our sins themselves, were forever put away by the sacrifice of his darling Son, washed away completely by the blood of the Lamb! Either the Lord Jesus was made sin for us and our sins were transferred to him, or his sufferings were not penal sufferings and the justice of God was not satisfied by them. —The sufferings of Christ were not punishment, unless our sins were transferred to him, unless he was made sin for us. An innocent person may suffer, but an innocent person cannot be punished, upon any just ground. And justice will not, indeed cannot, allow an innocent person, considered as innocent, to suffer punishment in the room of the guilty, anymore that it can reward a guilty, sinful, corrupt one with life eternal. But, blessed be his name forever, our penal Substitute has fully satisfied his own infinite justice for us, by suffering in our room and stead as one made sin for us, bearing in his own body all the iniquities, transgressions, and sins of all his people!       When our Lord Jesus turned the water into wine (John 2), he did not make the water look like wine, or taste like wine, he made the water wine. And when he was made sin for us by his Father laying on him the iniquity of all his elect, he was not made to look like sin, or made merely to be considered as sin, or even to be treated as if he were sin. He was made sin for us! See the love of God (Amazing!) in the death of our dear Christ. See His justice, truth, and mercy in our Savior’s sacrifice! Justice called and mercy answered. — Jesus’ blood has satisfied! Don Fortner

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