We are made righteous in the sight of God; in other words, we are accepted and treated as righteous by God by virtue of what the Lord Jesus has done. Jesus, was made sin; we are made righteousness. He was treated as if he were a sinner, even though he was perfectly holy and pure. We, on the other hand, are treated as if we were righteous, though we are corrupt and spoiled goods. What we see here is an evident and beautiful contrast between what is said of Christ, and what is said of us.
"That we might be made the righteousness of God." The thought is, by virtue of what the Lord Jesus has endured on our behalf we are treated as if we had ourselves entirely fulfilled the Law of God, and had never become exposed to its penalty. In this particular phrase there is a reference to the fact that this is his plan of making people people righteous, or justifying them.
On our own power, accord, motivation, good behavior, or whatever else you'd like to call it; we are utterly powerless to be righteous. No matter how many prayers one might pray, how many hours one might pray, or how many times you run around the block backwards holding your Bible in one hand; it still does nothing to make you righteous.
Dear friends, this was God's plan all along. He knew that the only way that we could ever become righteous, that is, to set ourselves straight with Him, was through a redeemer. This is why I love referring to 2 Corinthians 5:21 so much. It plainly lays it all out on the table. It explains that we, in and through Jesus, are made righteous, by a righteousness credited to us by God.
Since there is no way that we could ever approach God the way we are in our flesh, we needed a mediator; someone to serve as our go-to person between us and God. And that's where Jesus came into the picture. He was perfectly innocent in every way, yet voluntarily took on our guilt, pain, sorrow, and ugliness. He became our scapegoat, and our living sacrifice for our sins.
Let me demonstrate a point. If you've ever visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona, or even seen pictures of it, you might be familiar with how wide an area this canyon covers. Believe me, it's a pretty decent sized gap from one end to the other. Think of this as the space between us and God; the space between us being filled with all of our disgraceful and deplorable nature.
No matter how hard we tried, no amount of sacrifices, prayers, or good deeds would ever bridge this chasm between God and us. God knew this all along, Only a perfectly pure person could ever fit the bill to act as that bridge between us. We didn't deserve one, but since God loves us so much he sent his only Son to act as our intermediary (John 3:16).
And unselfishly, Jesus went to the cross for us, taking our sins with him. I don't have to tell you how painful and sorrowful this all was to watch. An innocent died in our place. We all should have been nailed to the cross on that day. But, He sustituted himself so that you and I might have eternal life. He sacrificed himself to reconcile that enormous divide between God and us.
This is how God's wonderful plan for our salvation came together. It didn't cost us a thing. Jesus paid it all. Why do so many fight it? I don't have an answer that question. Everyone has an equal chance at salvation because of what Christ did for us. And, He extends this invitation to anyone who is willing to repent of their sins, and have believe in Him.
Scripture: Psalm 106:3; 1 Peter 3:14; Romans 10:4; 1 Peter 2:24; Proverbs 12:28
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I praise you. I know and declare that everything in this day will be a blessing to me, and will serve my needs, because you said that all things work to the good of those who love you. Amen
May your day be blessed,
Emmie
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