God's Plan

When Adam and Eve made the worst decision in the history of mankind and plunged us all into sin and death, God already had a plan to undo their tragic mistake. And He gave them a promise: One would come who would crush the head of Satan and undo everything Satan had just brought into the world – sin and death and cursing (Genesis 3:15).[1] God gave them a picture of what that would involve - He killed one of His animals and clothed Adam and Eve in its skin (Genesis 3:21).[2] It was a picture that the one who was coming would have to die (in the full meaning of that word) in order to make people holy.
Why would this person have to die? Because sin, which means trying to live without God and usually results in doing things that are wrong (which the Bible calls “sins”), pays wages. God had told Adam and Eve that if they chose sin they would die. To every person born since, He says the same thing: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Those wages have to be paid. Either to us who sin, or to someone else who dies on our behalf. But who could die on our behalf? Certainly no other human being – they all have their own wages to contend with. Someone, then, without sin, who has earned no wages of their own, and who will die, not just for a few people, but for everyone who has ever lived and will ever live. But is there anyone in the universe that good? Just one – God Himself.
There is just one God, according to the Bible, but He is three persons. Don’t try too hard to understand that one. Three but one is not something people seem to be able to understand too easily. Some of us who know the Bible or remember some of the traditional wedding service realize that when a man and a woman marry, they are said to become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).[3] The two people become one. But if we’re honest, most of us don’t understand that very well, either. But accepting, even without understanding, that God is three persons, one of those persons was the One who would rescue mankind. He became a man called Jesus, so that He could save men from death. He suffered the first death when He was crucified. He suffered the second death of total separation from God the Father when the Father left Him in His last hours on the cross (Matthew 27:46).[4] Three days following His death, Jesus came alive again, proving that He had, in fact, paid the full price of sin and thus did not have to suffer death forever. The unique thing about Jesus’ death is that He died with the sins of the whole world on Him (John 1:29)[5] – He paid for everyone. Why? So a wonderful exchange could take place in every life.
Because of what Jesus did, every person has a chance to exchange his or her sin for the righteousness of God. Remember, only being as holy as God is good enough for God. Since we can’t make ourselves that righteous, the only way we can be that good is if God makes us that good. Remember, too, that the Bible says God can make us holy. Now we’re close to finding out how He does that.
The Bible says: “God made him who had no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We become the righteousness of God “in Jesus”. “In Jesus”, a divine exchange takes place: Jesus gets our sin, and we get His righteousness. Too good to be true, but in fact true. God simply gives us His righteousness: “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). So the only remaining question is: What does being “in Jesus” mean, and how does it happen?
Being “in Jesus” means that Jesus and we are joined so the two of us become one (that hard to understand concept again: two and separate, yet one): “[H]e who unites himself with the Lord [Jesus] is one with him in spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). That being true, everything that Jesus did to pay for sin happened to us and, since He paid all there was to pay, so did we. The wages of sin were paid out to Jesus, and we are free from death, including the second death. We are good enough for God. We can be sure that, when our body stops functioning, we will go to be with God.
If being in Jesus sounds like a wonderful thing – and it is, for more reasons than just to escape eternal death, as wonderful as that is – then you may be wondering how that can happen for you. It’s really quite simple. If you believe all that you have read here about who Jesus is and about what His death and resurrection can do for you, you are ready for the exchange. The exchange goes beyond sin for righteousness, though. It is life for life. You give Him your life, and He gives you His. It is choosing to live totally differently than you ever have before. Now, instead of living life on your own and doing the best you can, you choose to live life together with God - always, every moment of every day. Is that possible? Yes. It’s a learning experience, but entirely possible. And entirely wonderful. To have an intimate relationship with the best and the strongest and the kindest person in the universe is a great privilege. But it is an exchange. You give up being master of your life. Your life belongs to God from the moment you decide this is what you want. Will He make your life miserable? Someone as good as God would never do that. Will your life be a challenge? Sometimes, yes. But there are others who have also made the exchange who can help you. They’re all around you in Christian churches of various kinds.
If you want to join your life to God’s through Jesus, tell Him that. This is called “receiving Jesus”. It’s admitting that you can’t ever be good enough on your own, but you understand that, because of what Jesus did, you can be good enough for God. Give Him your life – lock, stock and barrel. He’ll take good care of you. The moment you give your life, He gives you things it will take you a while to discover: forgiveness for all your sins, His righteousness, His Spirit, eternal life, peace, blessing, a new nature, and so on, and so on.

Sharon Currens