“For 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, KJV)
Many years ago, while I was serving as the pastor of a church in Savannah Georgia, I have a divine experience one evening. It was Christmas time and after the evening service, I was driving home from the church when I saw something out the corner of my eye. On the opposite side of the road was a man, a homeless man. He was heating up scraps of food with his bare hands over a flame coming from a number 10 coffee can.
The Lord spoke to me and said, “Go over to that man and give him $10.00.” To that I told the Lord that I only had a twenty-dollar-bill. To which the Lord said, “Go get change or give him the twenty.”
Well, having more money than time, I decided to give the man the twenty. I drove over to the man, rolled down the window of the car and held out the twenty. I began to speak to the man, but he just grabbed the bill and walked away without saying a word. I thought to myself, what was the purpose of all this?
As I drove the rest of the way home, a thought came to me that I now know was from the Lord. You see, I was going to a nice warm home in a nice car. There I had a beautiful wife and two wonderful children. I thought about is and considered how fortunate I was to have all of these blessings. I thought about that homeless man. He had nothing. I could not imagine in a million years ever trading places with that man. I mean giving up my home, my car, my family and living on the street and having that man take my place. Yet this is exactly what the Lord our Savior did for us.
Jesus left the glory of heaven. He came here and traded places with us. He went to the cross and died in our place, taking upon Himself the punishment due us for our sin.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
He, Jesus became sin for us that we could be made the righteousness of God. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. For us who have trusted in Jesus and His atoning work on the cross, we have been declared as righteous.
I hope that you will take this thought and think about it. That Jesus came here ant took our place by dying on the cross and enduring the punishment due us for our sin.
Renewing the Heart 