Do we really know, do we really understand what sin is? Do we understand how vast a chasm exists between the holiness of God and sin? Do we then understand exactly what it is that Christ has done for us that "...He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him?
What is sin, when we get down to brass tacks? Let's look at the classic definition. I looked it up in Strong's dictionary and did a double take when Strong's came back with 45 definitions. Going through them all, however, many are variations of a basic definition and it turns out there are a core of various words used to name sin:
guilt, to miss, crime, offence, soiled, impious, treachery, transgression, perversity, iniquity, mischief, revolt/rebellion, to stray or mislead, to turn aside from what is right.
In 2 Cor 5:21, the Word of God declares that God made Him (Jesus) to be sin (hamartia - offence) for us , who knew no sin (hamartia - offence).
Sin is offence. Period.
Sin is offence to, and against, God who is HOLY.Sin is offence, it is rebellion, it is treachery, a crime against God!
And we are ALL guilty! 1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin (hamartia - offence), we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
We are guilty of SIN, guilty of offence against a holy and righteous God.
Do you get it? Read 2 Cor 5:21 again. Jesus, the spotless, sinless Lamb of God who knew NO sin (Hebrews 4:15, He was without sin; again hamartia - offence) to become sin for us, or on our behalf! Jesus, completely innocent of offence against God was made an offence to God on our behalf.
Think about that. Just stop and THINK about that.
The wages of sin is death. DEATH!!!! And we (mankind) are guilty of sin. We deserve DEATH!!! Not just physical death but eternal separation from God - damnation forever.
And, yet, Jesus Christ was made sin, made an offence to the Holy God, on our behalf - in our stead - that "we might become the righteousness of God in Him". (2 Cor 5:21)
Can we grasp the enormity of what the cross means? Can we begin to understand what the price paid for our salvation is? Do we realise why Jesus was in anguish in Gethsemane? Why He prayed that, if possible, the cup might pass from Him? Do we have ANY idea at all the depth of Christ's suffering when he cried out "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
How tritely we often sing about Him dying for our sins.
Do we understand what it cost Father and Son to make atonement for our sin? The Bible says it pleased God to bruise Jesus (Isaiah 53:10) - why? For God so loved the world.....the Weymouth translates it "For so greatly did God love the world" (John 3:16), that He did not withhold His own Son (Romans 8:32). For God desires that NONE should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). It pleased God to bruise Jesus, to afflict Jesus, to lay upon His pure, spotless, sinless Son the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:10) that His created beings - fallen, sinful, wicked - might become His righteousness in Christ Jesus.
The wages of sin is death. Separation from God, for God does not simply turn away from sin, but God judges it because He is holy and righteous and His justice demands that sin be judged and punished. God did not merely turn His face from Jesus, but judged Him an offence and laid upon Him the punishment that should have been ours.
May the Holy Spirit of God move our hearts to grasp this truth! Sin is abomination to God (Pro 15:9). Abomination is "tô‛êbah", that variously means disgusting, abhorrent - an abomination. When the Bible declares that Jesus was made sin for us, this is what the Word means. Jesus was made abhorrent to God, on our behalf.
Oh, the terrible, terrible enormity of the cross! Physical death was not Jesus' concern - becoming abhorrent to His Father was the thing that drove Him to sweat drops of blood in His anguish in the garden.
We who are called to be a "holy people", and to "be holy as God is holy" - can we hate sin as God hates it? We should. God loves you and me, but His justice will not allow us to enter His presence because of our sinful state - Jesus death on the cross satisfied His justice and makes a way for us to now enter into the Holy of Holies. Can we hate sin?
Do you hate sin?
What is sin, when we get down to brass tacks? Let's look at the classic definition. I looked it up in Strong's dictionary and did a double take when Strong's came back with 45 definitions. Going through them all, however, many are variations of a basic definition and it turns out there are a core of various words used to name sin:
guilt, to miss, crime, offence, soiled, impious, treachery, transgression, perversity, iniquity, mischief, revolt/rebellion, to stray or mislead, to turn aside from what is right.
In 2 Cor 5:21, the Word of God declares that God made Him (Jesus) to be sin (hamartia - offence) for us , who knew no sin (hamartia - offence).
Sin is offence. Period.
Sin is offence to, and against, God who is HOLY.Sin is offence, it is rebellion, it is treachery, a crime against God!
And we are ALL guilty! 1 John 1:8 - If we say that we have no sin (hamartia - offence), we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
We are guilty of SIN, guilty of offence against a holy and righteous God.
Do you get it? Read 2 Cor 5:21 again. Jesus, the spotless, sinless Lamb of God who knew NO sin (Hebrews 4:15, He was without sin; again hamartia - offence) to become sin for us, or on our behalf! Jesus, completely innocent of offence against God was made an offence to God on our behalf.
Think about that. Just stop and THINK about that.
The wages of sin is death. DEATH!!!! And we (mankind) are guilty of sin. We deserve DEATH!!! Not just physical death but eternal separation from God - damnation forever.
And, yet, Jesus Christ was made sin, made an offence to the Holy God, on our behalf - in our stead - that "we might become the righteousness of God in Him". (2 Cor 5:21)
Can we grasp the enormity of what the cross means? Can we begin to understand what the price paid for our salvation is? Do we realise why Jesus was in anguish in Gethsemane? Why He prayed that, if possible, the cup might pass from Him? Do we have ANY idea at all the depth of Christ's suffering when he cried out "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
How tritely we often sing about Him dying for our sins.
Do we understand what it cost Father and Son to make atonement for our sin? The Bible says it pleased God to bruise Jesus (Isaiah 53:10) - why? For God so loved the world.....the Weymouth translates it "For so greatly did God love the world" (John 3:16), that He did not withhold His own Son (Romans 8:32). For God desires that NONE should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). It pleased God to bruise Jesus, to afflict Jesus, to lay upon His pure, spotless, sinless Son the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:10) that His created beings - fallen, sinful, wicked - might become His righteousness in Christ Jesus.
The wages of sin is death. Separation from God, for God does not simply turn away from sin, but God judges it because He is holy and righteous and His justice demands that sin be judged and punished. God did not merely turn His face from Jesus, but judged Him an offence and laid upon Him the punishment that should have been ours.
May the Holy Spirit of God move our hearts to grasp this truth! Sin is abomination to God (Pro 15:9). Abomination is "tô‛êbah", that variously means disgusting, abhorrent - an abomination. When the Bible declares that Jesus was made sin for us, this is what the Word means. Jesus was made abhorrent to God, on our behalf.
Oh, the terrible, terrible enormity of the cross! Physical death was not Jesus' concern - becoming abhorrent to His Father was the thing that drove Him to sweat drops of blood in His anguish in the garden.
We who are called to be a "holy people", and to "be holy as God is holy" - can we hate sin as God hates it? We should. God loves you and me, but His justice will not allow us to enter His presence because of our sinful state - Jesus death on the cross satisfied His justice and makes a way for us to now enter into the Holy of Holies. Can we hate sin?
Do you hate sin?
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