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The Great Exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. We're doing another deep dive
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today and we're looking closely at something really foundational
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to Christian understanding. That's right, we're talking
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about the Great Exchange. Yes, that idea you find clearly
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stated in 2nd Corinthians 5.21. It really helps us get our minds
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around how God can be perfectly himself, His character, totally
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intact, and still provide a path for salvation.
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We're drawing on quite a bit of material today, including some
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really vivid teachings from Charles Spurgeon.
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He had a way of laying this out with such clarity.
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Absolutely. And our aim really for this
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session is to unpack the central element of the gospel.
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You know, how can God be completely just punishing every
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single sin and still declare people like us sinful
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individuals righteous in His sight?
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It's the big question, isn't? It it is.
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It's puzzled people for ages. And the answer, as we'll
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hopefully see, shows something incredibly beautiful about God's
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whole plan. OK, so let's get into it.
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There's a lot here. We should probably start with
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the the key players in this whole divine arrangement.
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You'll see each one is just indispensable.
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Right. To really understand the Great
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Exchange, you need to know who's involved.
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The Scripture itself points to three he that's God, Him who
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knew no sin, meaning Christ and us, the sinners.
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So let's start with God himself. What kind of God are we dealing
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with here based on these sources?
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Well, one thing that comes through really strongly is that
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the God of the Bible is totally different from any God humans
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might invent. OK?
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He's not like God's made-up from human ideas or, you know,
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compared to figures like Venus or Bacchus from Pagan myths.
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This God isn't weak. He isn't easily manipulated or
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controlled. Not all, no.
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He's described as absolute. There's nothing outside of him
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that can direct him or limit him.
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His sovereignty, his rulership. It isn't just like 1
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characteristic among many, it's fundamental to who he is.
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So absolute sovereignty, what does that look like in practice?
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What does it really mean? It means he has total authority
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and he has the total ability to do whatever he pleases.
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His own free, powerful will is his only rule.
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Nothing external. Nothing.
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Not human wishes, not even some idea of fate.
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The sources say He doesn't give an account to anyone for what he
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does. He makes and works with his
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creation however he wills. The illustration used as a
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Potter and clay. Right, the Potter and clay
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analogy. And this absolute freedom isn't
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depicted as arbitrary power, but as part of His inherent
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goodness. It's actually his sovereignty
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that underpins the very possibility of the great
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exchange making Christ to be sin.
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That's an act only a truly absolute sovereign could
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conceive and carry out, and he's described as unchanging,
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infinite, never making a mistake, just existing
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infinitely above all he has made.
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That's the kind of God we're talking about.
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And then there's his justice. The sources really draw a line
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between this God and any idea of a God who might sort of overlook
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serious sin or call major wrongdoings Peckadillo's minor
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faults. Yes, that's a key distinction.
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So what does this justice require?
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What do the sources say? Well, if you look at the big
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picture, God is presented as having infinite, unbending
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justice. He simply does not, cannot
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pardon. Sin without a full and just
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punishment being carried out. Cannot.
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Consistent with His nature, He's shown a severe almost as if he
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were unmerciful, and as completely just as if He weren't
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gracious. His justice is the total
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opposite of just letting sin slide, passing over wrongdoing
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without demanding a penalty. So it's not an obstacle to
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salvation then? No, Interestingly, it's
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presented as the very foundation for the way of salvation.
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The whole plan is designed to satisfy this perfect justice.
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When a Sinner stands before him guilty, with nothing to say,
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divine justice demands their destruction.
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No wiggle room. None.
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The evidence against them is perfect because God sees
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everything. His justice needs full payment
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for every single wrong, even down to a fleeting thought.
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It's intense. But then, right alongside this
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unbending justice, the sources talk about God's immense grace.
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For someone trying to get their head around this, how do these
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fit together? They seem almost contradictory.
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Yeah, that's the natural question, isn't it?
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How can justice and grace operate together, not just
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cancel each other out, right? The sources state very clearly
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that God is a God of limitless love and just immeasurable
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grace. He is the fullness of mercy, and
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it actually says he delights in showing mercy.
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Delights in it. Yes, he doesn't take pleasure in
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the death of the wicked. His desire is that they turn
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from their ways and live. His love is described as being
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more than what we even conceive of as love, going beyond our
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darkest thoughts or feelings of despair.
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So how do these three sovereignty, justice, grace,
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work together? They don't contradict.
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The sources show them perfectly harmonized within the one God.
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They aren't fighting each other. They work together seamlessly in
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His divine being to bring about His wise and holy plans, and the
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Great Exchange really is the ultimate display of how they
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align perfectly. OK, that helps frame it.
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Let's move to the second person who's central here, Christ, the
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one who knew no sin. What do the sources tell us
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about who He is? His identity is nature.
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OK, Christ. He is identified as the Son of
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God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, meaning
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eternally generated, not created, not made, not made, no,
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but of the very same substance as the Father.
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This points to his eternal existence and his essential
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oneness with God. He's coequal, Co eternal,
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coexistent with the Father. He has all the same attributes,
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almighty, infinite, the same, exactly the same.
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He's called very God of very God, equal to the Father in
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every single way. God over all, blessed forever.
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He's not less than God. He is purely essentially God,
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possessing all divine perfections.
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So fully God. But the scriptures also talk
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about him being human, a man. How do the sources handle that?
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We do, yes, and they're very clear on this too.
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He is also the son of Mary, a man like us in, well, almost
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every way. Subject to all the normal human
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frailties and experiences. Like what?
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Like suffering, sorrow, pain, trouble, anxiety, fear,
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temptation, trials, weakness, even death itself.
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He truly experienced these things.
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Because he's yielded from them. Not at all.
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The sources use language like bone of our bone and flesh of
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our flesh. He fully entered into our human
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condition. But, and this is vital, with one
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absolute exception, Sin, yes, and the source of stress, He
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isn't God humanized like God, just wearing a human suit.
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Nor is he man deified, a human somehow elevated to become God.
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No, he is purely God and purely man. 2 distinct natures and one
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person, a sacred union, The God man, the God man and this dual
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nature, his complete deity and his perfect humanity is
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absolutely essential for his role in the Great Exchange.
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He had to be God to handle the infinite weight of God's wrath
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against sin, and He had to be man to properly represent
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humanity and substitute for us. OK, so let's dig into that
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phrase. He knew no sin.
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What did that really mean? It sounds like more than just
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saying he didn't commit any sins.
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It is far more, yes. It's not just about outward
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actions. He did not sin.
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It means he didn't know sin by personal experience, by
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acquaintance, you know, by any inner leaning towards it.
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He saw in others, though. Oh, certainly he saw its effects
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all around him, but it was a complete stranger to him
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personally. It wasn't an acquaintance of his
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heart, his mind, his spirit. Sin never found a foothold in
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him. Never took root.
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Never, the sources specify. He knew no sin of any kind, no
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sinful thoughts, no inherited sin from birth, original sin, no
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actual transgression, nothing wrong said or done.
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He was utterly pure, perfect, spotless, like his own divinity,
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the sources say, without any spot or blemish.
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So acquainted with grief, yes, but completely unacquainted with
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sin itself. That's a good way to put it.
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And this absolute, inherent purity is what makes him the
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only possible substitute. Only a spotless sacrifice could
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possibly satisfy God's justice for others.
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OK, that brings us to the third person in the text.
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Us, the Sinner. How does the source material
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paint the picture of every individual before this exchange
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happens? What's our condition?
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It's quite a stark picture, actually.
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The Sinner is described vividly as a born rebel already carrying
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an inherited guilt from Adam's fault.
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Original sin. Yes, and then adding to that
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debt pile with their own personal wrongdoings.
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Things like drunkenness, or using God's name carelessly, or
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harboring self in thoughts, malicious gossip, the whole
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range of human sin. So both inherited and personal
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guilt. Both actively breaking God's
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commands, rejecting his love, treating his grace with contempt
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before God. The pictures of a prisoner at
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the bar, utterly guilty, speechless, just waiting for the
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verdict, which, based on justice alone, has to be a destruction.
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No defense possible. None.
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You can't plead not guilty. The evidence is overwhelming.
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God himself being the witness. His perfect justice demands
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punishment. The sources talk about God's
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arrow drinking up the Sinner spirit, making them tremble,
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forcing them to admit their inescapable guilt.
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There's nowhere to hide from God's sight.
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OK, so let's recap the situation.
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We have God who is perfectly just and must punish sin.
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We have Christ the God man, perfectly sinless, right?
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And we have the Sinner. Guilty, condemned, no leg to
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stand on. That's a setup.
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How does God, who is also full of grace, connect these bridge
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that seemingly impossible gap? This is where the Great Exchange
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comes in, right? Exactly.
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This is the heart of it, what the source is called, the great
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philosophy of salvation. It's the hidden mystery that the
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gospel brings out into the open, how God can stay perfectly just
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and yet at the same time declare ungodly people righteous.
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The great secret. Yes, the wonderful discovery.
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Something angels marvel at. Apparently the solution involves
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what's called a transposition of Christ in the Sinner.
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Transposition like swapping places.
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In a legal sense, yes. A complete reversal of their
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standing before God's law. It's a kind of divine accounting
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that doesn't really align with human ways of thinking about
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fairness initially. It sounds incredible.
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Can you unpack that transposition a bit more?
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How does it actually function? It means that Christ, who was
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completely spotless without any sin of his own, voluntarily
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steps forward. He essentially says to the
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Father, treat me as if I were the Sinner, put their guilt,
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their legal debt onto my account.
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He takes their place legally. Yes, and then in response, God,
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in this amazing act that blends justice and grace, turns to the
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believing Sinner and says, you the guilty 1 you will now stand
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in my son's place. You will be accounted as
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perfectly righteous. Wow, so the Sinner gets Christ
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standing. Precisely God's justice, which
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was rightly demanding, smite the Sinner carry out the sentence,
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now sees Christ standing there bearing that sentence.
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And God's love, which longs to save, can now spare the Sinner,
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because the penalty has been paid, just paid by another.
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So it solves the dilemma. It resolves that divine tension.
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Love wants to save. Justice demands punishment.
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This exchange, which the sources say originated in God's own
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heart, is the solution. It's described as something so
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startling it would make Heaven pause and wonder.
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But I imagine for many listening, the question pops up,
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how is that just punishing an innocent person for guilty ones?
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It feels wrong somehow, to our everyday sense of fairness.
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It's a very common and understandable question.
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Is this kind of exchange actually lawful in God's perfect
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system? The sources give 2 main reasons
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why it is. First, it was completely
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voluntary on Christ's part. He wasn't forced into it.
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He willingly chose to stand in our place and drink that cup of
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punishment. He fully consented.
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OK, his willingness is key. Absolutely critical. 2nd, and
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maybe even more fundamentally, it wasn't unlawful because God
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Himself, the ultimate sovereign, ordained it.
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God made Christ the substitute. So it was God's plan.
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Yes, it came from the highest possible authority that triune
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God. It was part of God's full,
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determinate counsel, His eternal plan done with Christ's own
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complete agreement. So it wasn't some legal trick or
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bending of the rules. It was a legitimate, divinely
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decreed, supremely authoritative act that perfectly upheld the
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requirements of God's law while achieving salvation.
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That's helpful now for people trying to visualize this to get
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handle on it. The sources point to the Old
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Testament sacrificial system that often helps make these
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spiritual truths more concrete. It does.
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It provides a really clear picture actually.
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Think back to Old Testament worship.
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When someone sinned. God himself provided a way
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through sacrifice which acted as a foreshadowing of Christ.
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The person would bring an animal, maybe a Bullock or a
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sheep, right? And they perform a specific
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action. They would lay their hand firmly
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on the animal's head. While doing that, they would
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confess their sin, acknowledge their guilt.
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So identifying with the animal. Exactly.
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And through that symbolic act, their guilt was ceremonially
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transferred from them onto the innocent animal.
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The animal takes the blame. Yes.
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The Bullock, which had done nothing wrong, was then killed
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as a sin offering, slaughtered in the sinner's place.
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It bore the penalty, died so the Sinner could be considered clean
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and leave. It wasn't just empty ritual, it
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was a powerful illustration of substitution.
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OK, that visual helps. How does that ancient ritual
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connect to what happens for us today through the Great
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Exchange? It connects in a really direct,
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though now spiritual way. Instead of a literal animal, the
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Sinner by faith, just simple trust comes and lays their
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spiritual hand on Christ's head. How does one do that?
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It's through confessing sin and trusting Christ.
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When you acknowledge your sin, every wrong thought, word, deed,
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and believe that Christ died for you, the sources say your sin is
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no longer counted as yours. It's transferred, put onto
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Christ's account. Just like with the animal.
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Just like that, but now with the real ultimate sacrifice.
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Christ then carries the cross, endures the shame, pays the full
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price. And because He did, the sin is
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dealt with gone. The sources use the image of it
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being cast into the depths of the sea.
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For God dealt with completely. And that is how we individually
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find peace with God through faith.
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Our massive guilt is legally transferred to Christ and He
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takes the full consequence we deserved.
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It's complete and final legal transaction.
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OK, so we understand the mechanism now, this legal
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transfer. But what did it actually mean
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for Christ himself? What were the consequences for
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him? The sources mentioned this being
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rooted in something called an eternal covenant.
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Can you explain that? Yes, the eternal covenant.
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What's really striking here is that the groundwork for this
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whole exchange wasn't laid in time, but before time, before
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creation, before angels existed, before the stars were made.
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Wow, that far back. That far back there was this
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eternal agreement, a solemn pact between God the Father and God
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the Son. It was agreed.
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The Son agreed, stipulated that he would willingly suffer for
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his chosen people. The elect and the Father in turn
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covenanted that he would justify these people, declare them
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righteous through the Son's finished work.
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So salvation was planned eternally.
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Yes, this ancient, unchangeable covenant is seen as the ultimate
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source, The Fountainhead from which all the streams of God's
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redeeming love flow throughout history.
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It wasn't a last minute plan. It was a solemn, eternal
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commitment that Jesus came to fulfill.
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Right. And then, as the Bible says, in
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the fullness of time, Christ came to actually carry out this
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agreement. Once he became human.
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How did that immediately affect his experience, especially given
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he was totally sinless? Yeah, that's a critical point.
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If he was sinless, why was his life right from the start filled
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with such difficulty and sorrow? Seems paradoxical.
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It does, but the sources explained that from the very
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moment He took on human flesh, the Father in a judicial sense
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began to treat Him as the sin bearer.
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Remember, before His incarnation He knew only perfect joy and
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fellowship in the Trinity. OK, this shift happened because
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God legally accounted His Son as a Sinner, not that He became
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sinful in His nature, but because He had agreed to be the
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substitute to stand in the sinner's place.
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So his treatment changed. Drastically, instead of a royal
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welcome, he's born in a Manger. This symbolized a life marked by
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sorrow, poverty, rejection, right from the beginning to the
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very end. Why?
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Because divine Justice now viewed him as the one
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responsible for the sinner's debt.
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So his own personal perfection didn't protect him from
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suffering, it was his role as substitute that brought it on.
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Precisely. Griefs haunted him down.
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Sorrows were his constant companions.
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The sources asked that very question poetically, griefs, why
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do you follow the perfect one? Why chase the Immaculate?
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And the answer? The answer given is stark.
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Christ, though personally pure, has made himself impure legally
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by taking his people sin upon himself.
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Guilt was imputed to him, put on His account, and that legal
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imputation brought real, crushing grief with it.
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Justice, which should shield a perfect being from sorrow,
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instead allowed sorrow to overwhelm him because he stood
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in the eyes of the law as the sin bearer.
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And all this suffering reached its peak, its culmination at the
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Cross. It did.
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His suffering hit its most intense point arguably even
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before the Cross and the Garden of Gethsemane.
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There he experienced what the sources call a fearful soul
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death, agonizing to the point of sweating blood, a sign of
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extreme spiritual anguish as he contemplated bearing the full
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force of God's wrath. Unimaginable.
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Truly. From there, he was arrested,
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dragged before judges, mocked, spat upon, beaten, tormented,
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blasphemed, then nailed to the cross, enduring hours of public
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shame and physical agony. He.
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Cried out for water. Yes, expressing intense physical
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suffering and then the most profound cry complaining of
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being forsaken by God. That moment when the Father
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turned his face away, as it were, because the Son was fully
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identified with our sin at that point.
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And again, the question of justice comes up.
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It does. The sources tackle it head on.
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Can it possibly be just for a perfect being to suffer like
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this? And the answer is unequivocal.
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He is perfect in himself, yes, but he is legally the Sinner
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now. He stands in the sinner's place.
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The sinner's guilt is on him, therefore it is right.
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It is just that he should be punished as if he were the
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Sinner. Justice is served, but on the
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substitute. Exactly.
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He even, spiritually speaking, descended into Haiti's,
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experienced the depths of separation and abandonment
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unblessed, uncomforted, unhelped, unhonored, unowned.
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He bore the full horrific weight of the penalty for sin,
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satisfying God's justice completely.
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OK, that's the immense cost to Christ.
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Now let's flip the coin. What about the Sinner, the one
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described as a born rebel deserving God's wrath?
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What's the outcome for them because of this great exchange?
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Right. This is the other side of that
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transposition. The crucial question is how does
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our actual standing before God change?
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And the result is just radical. The Sinner is made the
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righteousness of God in him Christ.
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Made the righteousness of God. What does that mean?
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Does it mean we become divine? No, not that we become divine in
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our nature. It means that the person who was
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guilty, who stood condemned, now stands in Christ's place legally
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and is accounted or credited as perfectly righteous in God's
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sight. So it's a legal declaration.
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It's a legal declaration based on Christ's actual
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righteousness. This is the incredible result
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for anyone who trusts in Christ. God looks at them as if they
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were Christ Himself in terms of their legal standing.
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So that divine justice we talked about, the one that demanded
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punishment, it now views the believer totally differently.
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Completely differently. This is one of the most amazing
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parts. Divine justice, which based on
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our record would rightly demand vengeance, now makes this
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declaration that Sinner, he's no Sinner now, he is perfect.
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But we still sin. We do, but this perfection isn't
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based on our performance. It's declared because Christ was
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perfect, God now views the believer as if he were Christ.
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It's a total change in their legal status before him, the
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sources say. Condemnation lies silent.
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The accusers, even demonic forces friends, have absolutely
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nothing valid to say against them.
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The case is closed. OK, but what happens to our
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actual sentence? The things we've actually done,
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Are they just ignored? No, not ignored, they has to be
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dealt with. Remember the transfer by faith.
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When the Sinner puts their trust in Christ, confesses their sin,
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the sources say it is not his any longer, it is put on Christ.
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Transferred completely. Completely.
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Christ bears the cross, endures the shame, pays the penalty, and
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because He did, the sin is all gone and cast into the depths of
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the sea. Every single wrong, past,
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present, future is blotted out from God's legal record against
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the believer, removed, forgotten, dealt with.
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So what are the immediate practical results for someone
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who believes this? What blessings come from being
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declared righteous? Well, the moment someone first
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genuinely believes first closes with Christ, they are justified
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from all my sins, both as to guilt and punishment.
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Justified, meaning declared righteous.
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Declared righteous? Yes, all their sins are
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pardoned, forgiven, blotted out. They are instantly freed from
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that state of condemnation, no longer under God's wrath.
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Instead, they're united to Christ in a living relationship.
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United to Christ. Yes, and they are described as
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being clothed, dressed, spiritually speaking, in the
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righteousness of Christ Himself. This perfect righteousness
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covers all their sins and cancels all their debts before
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God's law. What does that lead to?
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It leads to peace with God, real peace and acceptance, full
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acceptance in His sight, not based on us, but on Christ.
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Even those accusations from spiritual enemies are silenced.
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The friends have not to say the believer can confidently ask,
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like Paul did, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
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elect. Because God himself has
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justified them. Precisely, they are now secure,
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heading towards heaven safely. They receive a final complete
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forgiveness of all sins. The moment they pass from this
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life, their whole identity before God is permanently
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changed. OK, near the beginning we talked
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about God's attributes, His sovereignty, His absolute
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justice, His incredible grace. How does this great exchange
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really demonstrate all three working together perfectly, not
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canceling each other out, but in perfect harmony?
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It seems like such an elegant solution.
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It really is, and that question gets right to the heart of it.
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How can God's strict justice allow for such lavish grace?
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Well, first, the sources show that God's limitless sovereignty
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is what made the whole plan possible.
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He had the absolute right and authority, based on his own free
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will, to design and implement this plan of substitution.
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He wasn't bound by any external rules.
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No, He had the authority to make Christ the substitute.
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It was part of his full, determinate counsel.
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His eternal plan. His sovereignty wasn't just raw
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power, it was the divine freedom that enabled this otherwise
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impossible solution. OK, so sovereignty provided the
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framework, the possibility. What about his justice?
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How was that satisfied? His unbending justice, which
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demanded that sin must be punished, was fully and
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completely met in the suffering and death of Christ.
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By legally putting the sinner's guilt onto Christ and pouring
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out His righteous wrath upon Him, God's justice was satisfied
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totally. Without cutting any corners.
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And without any compromise at all, it guaranteed that sin was
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genuinely punished, not just swept under the rug.
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Justice, which initially demanded the sinner's
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condemnation, now having received full payment in Christ,
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actually stands on the side of the believer, declaring them
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righteous because the debt has been paid.
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God's character as a just God is upheld even while he saves
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sinners. That's amazing.
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And His grace, how is that showcased?
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Well, His immeasurable grace is what provided the means of
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salvation in the 1st place, the gift of His own Son as a
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substitute, His desire to save, his delight in showing mercy,
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that's what drove him to make this gracious provision.
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Grace initiated it. Grace initiated it, sovereignty
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enabled it, and justice was satisfied by it.
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The great exchange allows God's justice to remain perfectly
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intact, unsullied, while His love just overflows with grace.
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It's how He can be, as the Scripture says, both just and
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the justifier of the ungodly. It perfectly brings together His
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attributes in a way that honors every single one of them in the
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act of redeeming sinners #tag Outro.
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So after all this discussion, what does this really mean for
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you, the listener? The Great Exchange isn't just
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some abstract theological idea or something that happened 2000
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years ago. It's presented as a living
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reality that fundamentally changes your standing before God
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right now. If you trust in Christ, it means
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your guilt, Your sin was legally placed upon Christ on the cross
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and His perfect record, His righteousness is legally
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credited to your account. Which then brings up a really
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practical question for each one of us, doesn't it?
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If this is true, what does it mean for your everyday life, for
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your daily walk? Knowing that God's justice
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against your sin has been fully satisfied by Christ, and that
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you are completely accepted by God because of him?
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How does that reality shape how you view yourself, how you face
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struggles, your hope for the future?
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It's something worth really thinking about.
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Absolutely. Well, we hope this deep dive
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into the great exchange has maybe brought some fresh
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understanding, perhaps even some moments of awe at God's plan.
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We certainly look forward to our next deep dive, looking into
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another key part of our walk with the Lord.
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Indeed. Reformed thinking.