The Great Exchange

“He hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In this marvelous sentence of Inspiration God the Holy Spirit tells us of the great exchange made at Calvary by my Savior: my sin for his righteousness. — O sweet exchange! This statement contains the most wonderful, God-exalting, soul-comforting truths God has revealed to man. What a profound truth, what stupendous grace, what wondrous mystery these words contain no mortal can fully tell. — “He,” God the Father, — “hath,” in holy justice and infinite mercy, — “made,” caused to become, created,— “Him,” the Lord Jesus Christ, His infinite, well-beloved, only begotten, immaculate, darling, holy Son, — “sin,” an awful mass of iniquity, — “for us,” helpless, condemned, sinful rebels!

            The Word of God does not tell us that the Lord Jesus was made a sinner. It tells us that he was made something far worse than a sinner. — The Sinless One was “made sin for us!” Should I see a sick man convulsively vomiting, his appearance might be repulsive to me, but it would provoke in me sympathy and incline me to run to the man’s aid. If, however, all I could see were the vomit, there would be no sympathy, no inclination to run to it, but just the opposite. I would be entirely repulsed and turn from it.

            Repugnant as that image is it is infinitely less repugnant than the image before us in this portion of Holy Scripture. God’s darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy, spotless, sinless Lamb of God, he who did no sin and knew no sin, he who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners was “made sin for us.” When he was “made sin for us,” he was abandoned by his Father and cried from a heart broken by our reproaches made his, “My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?”

      This is the greatest transaction that ever took place upon the earth, the most marvelous sight that men ever saw, and the most stupendous wonder that heaven ever executed. — Jesus Christ our Lord was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. — Jesus Christ, the spotless Son of God, was made sin!

      If ever we find rest, peace, and joy in our souls, if ever a sinner is made to be of good cheer, having the blessed knowledge of the forgiveness of sin, it must be fetched from that which is declared in this revelation of grace. — “He hath made him sin for us.” No sinner will ever find real rest for his soul, a bed that he can stretch himself upon, and a cover broad enough to wrap himself in, but this. — “He hath made him sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Don Fortner

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