Jesus' final words on the cross was "It is finished" (John 19:30). This is translated from one single word in Greek "teleo" (Strong's G5055), which means to accomplish or to make complete.
When the first Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, his original sin was imputed onto entire mankind. When the last Adam hung on the tree of Calvary. his righteousness was similarly imputed onto all who believes in Him.
Some people might say that it is unfair for the wrongdoing of somebody else be treated as our own wrongdoing as well. But by the same token, the "rightdoing" of Jesus has becomes our right doing as well. (Now, that is what God means by His ways being higher than our ways, which will be the subject of another blog entry :-)
By His death on the cross, a great "Divine Exchange" took place in at least three areas:
(1) Our Sin in exchange for His Righteousness (which includes Our Fear of God in exchange for Intimacy with Him)
The cross stands outside the dimension of time, and all the sins of all mankind: present, past and future were placed upon the body of Jesus. As a man walking the earth, Jesus enjoyed a very intimate relationship with His Father. But when all the sins of the world were imputed upon Him on the cross, God the Father had no choice but to turn away from God the Son. Jesus experienced separation from God at that moment, and that is why He could not refer to Him as Abba ("Father") but as Eloi "God". We see that recorded in Mark 15:34 "And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
So why did Jesus have to experience separation from God at the cross? So that you and I can now enjoy complete intimacy with Him, without having to be afraid of Him! The apostle Paul writes in Rom 8:15 "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." When we are born again, the Holy Spirit Himself comes and indwells us, so we no longer need to fear God, but can address Him the same way Jesus did, ie. by referring to Him as Abba Father (or Daddy God).
In 2 Cor 5:21, we read that God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. When we were asked which of us were still sinners during a recent sermon, I did not raise my hand because if God sees me as righteous in Christ (and I am in Christ), who am I to declare myself still a sinner and thus frustrate what Christ has already achieved on the cross? On the other hand, if I was asked which of us were redeemed sinners, mine would be the first hand to go up. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, I'm redeemed, I'm redeemed. Praise the Lord!
(2) Our diseases in exchange for His divine health/healing
I grew up thinking that healing was not for everyone. When someone had an illness, I figured that maybe it was God that was punishing him for some unconfessed sin, or maybe it was God that had given him the disease to "keep him humble", or maybe it was God's will that he remained sick The problem with this theology is that it makes God appear to be very temperamental and unpredictable. Again, I would explain it away as "His ways are higher than our ways".
But if it indeed God's will that we remain in illness, then we should not be asking for healing lest we "go against" God's will. If it is indeed punishment for unconfessed sin, then we would be better off dead because only then will we be completely free of unconfessed sin. If it is indeed a way to keep us humble, then let's ask God for more sicknesses so that we can be even more humble.
I experienced a paradigm shift in my theology about a year ago. Jesus said it was the evil one who came to kill, steal and destroy, but He comes to give us life in abundance (John 10:10). For Christians who attribute the source of sickness to the Lord, are they implying that Jesus and Satan switched roles in the meantime? Make no mistake: it is the devil who wants to kill, steal and destroy our family, marriage, health, finances and relationships.
We read in 1 Pet 2:24 that "He was wounded for our trangressions, and by His stripes we have been healed". When the Roman soldier whipped our Lord with the cat-of-nine-tails, he did not realise that he was helping to fulfil the scriptures imputing our sicknesses onto our Lord. With every stroke that he laid upon Jesus, and pieces of Jesus' flesh flying everywhere, we can picture cancer, heart problems, kidney ailments, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc being laid upon the body of our Lord. Our diseases have been given to Him in exchange for His divine health and healing.
(3) Our poverty in exchange for His riches
I grew up thinking that prosperity was a dirty word. I would hear sermons condemning prosperity based on passages that "the love of money was the root of all evil" and "You cannot serve God and mammon".
I thank the LORD for granting me a paradigm shift recently where prosperity is concerned. We read in the Old Testament that the patriachs were very prosperous.
Gen 13:2
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
Gen 26:12-14
Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
Gen 30:43
In this way, Jacob grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
There are no insignificant details in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit saw fit to inspire Moses to record the above. If prosperity was something God frowned upon, why did He prosper these people?
I have also heard sermons that quote Matt 8:20 as justification for Christians to avoid prosperity. In this passage, Jesus said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." so their interpretation is that we should emulate our Lord to live a similarly simple, nomadic and impoverished lifestyle.The Greek word for lay is klino (Strong's G2827). This word also appears in John 19:30, but is translated as bowed, viz "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
If we accept the argument that we should live an impoverished life the manner Jesus did, such that there was no place to klino his head, does that mean that we should likewise follow our Lord to be crucified, because that was when he finally klino his head?
In 2 Cor 8:9, Paul tells us “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
When the Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus’ garments, they did not realise that they were also fulfilling the scriptures by imputing our poverty upon our Lord. He was left totally naked, devoid of any form of possessions when hanging on the cross. He became totally impoverished on the cross in our place, so that in exchange we can have His prosperity and riches.
Many Christians are aware and may accept the 1st aspect of the Divine Exchange, but few are aware of the 2nd and 3rd. Hence, they live defeated lives, and make little or no impact to the pre-believing world around them. The world is not impressed by “spiritual” blessings. The sad fact is that to them, health and money talks.
Christians should be living the abundant life that Jesus has promised us, and that includes a life of health and wealth.
With health, we can go about doing His Kingdom work with gusto. With wealth, we have to means to bless others, and enable yet others to carry out his Kingdom work in the remotest parts of Africa.
I remember Rev Wee Boon Hup preaching a sermon a couple of years back where he said that without money, we will be unable to send missionaries into China or India, or to enable the building of schools and orphanages. Also, if we do not have health but are instead bedridden, how are we going to go about doing God's Kingdom work with gusto? On the contrary, we become a financial and emotional burden to our loved ones! Some people were offended by that sermon, but I praise God that he was bold enough to call a spade a spade, and speak the truth in love -- the truth that sets us free.
Thank you Lord for the divine exchange and the finished work of the cross!
Well said. I also have been blessed by Joseph Prince. I had a works mentality for 30+ years. He helped me understand what GRACE is about and to relate to God as my Abba Father.
ReplyDeleteHi Malcolm,
ReplyDeleteHere is an essay I think you would find of interest:
“The Temple, the Antichrist, and the Structure of Revelation,”
found at
https://forum.evangelicaluniversalist.com/t/the-temple-the-antichrist-and-the-structure-of-revelation/14645
It discusses grace versus legalism; the pre-Tribulation rise of Antichrist; the nonviolent nature of God (vs. the violent nature of Satan); the temporality the lake of fire; and “the divine exchange,” among other topics.
You have said elsewhere regarding God’s alleged role in the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira:
“But if one were to read that passage carefully, there is actually no mentioned anywhere that it was God or the Holy Spirit that struck them dead. This is an assumption that many of us have probably adopted because we were led to believe that God is a God of ‘no nonsense’ and will not hesitate to punish us!”
I agree with you. And speaking of ‘progressive revelation’ as it concerns “The Wrath of God”: a distinction between God and Satan can be seen when comparing the first and second accounts of David’s sin of numbering the fighting men of Israel and Judah.
In the earlier account of the incident we read that it was God who provoked David to sin:
“Again the anger [or WRATH, Hebrew ‘aph] of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah’” (2 Samuel 24:1).
In the later (revised) version of the same story, we read it was actually Satan who provoked David to sin:
“Now SATAN stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1).
Therefore we see that what is sometimes referred to as “the wrath of God” ...is actually Satan!
So regarding the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, Peter would have done well to have considered that distinction, and to have recalled the compassion of the Savior who restored him to fellowship after he had denied him three times.
—And “wrathful” Christians today would do well to camp out on these important verses which distinguish between God and Satan:
1) “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
2) ”Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of HIM WHO HOLDS THE POWER OF DEATH—THAT IS, THE DEVIL—“ Hebrews 2:14.