THE GREATEST EXCHANGES

This is the day after Christmas and in my readings this morning I had some thoughts that I thought were very appropriate for this time of year when we have been celebrating the birthday of the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and the Everlasting Father. (Isa.9:6). He will establish His government and peace, which shall be forever. Jesus came into a world that was as dark as the night, held in fear by a cruel dictator; a world filled with hunger, poverty, disease and ignorance (sound familiar?). Think of all the things with which our world is troubled – war, political conflict, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hunger, disease, poverty, ignorance, racial strife. At some time or other we all suffer with loss, discouragement, death, emotional breakdowns, family quarrels, loneliness and even suicide. The darkness of the sins of the world and even our own sins can become an almost overwhelming burden. But God the Father has interceded by sending His Son into our world as a baby. By that interception of grace, He began the wonderful possibility of the most glorious exchange for mankind that could be imagined. By accepting the fact that Jesus came as a baby, born of a virgin, lived and died on a cross for our sins, and accepting Him as our Savior, we can become the beneficiary of this GREAT EXCHANGE. But God, while we were sinners sitting spiritually poor, naked, starving and blind in the dark cesspool of our own sin, the Father loved us and sent us “the LIGHT.” Now that we have seen the light and have been lifted out of our pit of despair, we have been deluged with the most magnificent gifts imaginable. The following is a compilation of years of some of my thoughts and findings from the Scriptures on this GREAT EXCHANGE: 1) Jesus became sin on our behalf so we could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (II Cor.5:21). 2) Jesus died so we might live (Jn.3:16). 3) He became poor that we might be rich and have an eternal inheritance (II Cor.8:9, I Pet.1:4). 4) He took our spiritual blindness, nakedness, hunger and poverty and gave us eyes that could see, clothed us with white clothes, and made us wealthy kings and priests (Rev.3:17-18; I Pet.2:9). 5) He took our weakness and gave us His strength (Phil.4:13; II Cor.12:9). 6) He took on Himself our guilt that we might have His forgiveness (Matt.26:28) 7) He was forsaken by the Father so we could be accepted and adopted into the family of God and become heirs with Christ (Rom.8:15; I Pet.1:4). 8) He took our curse and gave us His blessing (Gal.3:13; Eph.1:3). 9) He took our deserved sorrows, pains and sickness and gave us His healing (spirit, soul and body (Isa.53:4-5; Ps.103:1-5). 10) He bought us out of bondage and gave us His freedom (Rom.8:15; Jn.8:32; I Pet.1:18-19). 11) He took our alienation from God and through His blood brought us near to the Father (Eph.2:13; II Cor.5:18). 12) He brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and made us citizens in the Kingdom of Light (Col.1:13). 13) He gives us hope for our despair (Rom.8). 14) He took our rejection by men and gave us acceptance in “the Beloved” (Eph.1:5-6). 15) He gave us the gift of salvation so we would not have to be paid the wages of sin (which is death) (Eph.2:8-9; Rom.6:23). 16) From being enemies He made us to be His friends and even trusted ambassadors (Rom.5:4-11; II Cor.5:20; Jn.15:13-14). 17) He takes us from the ugly cocoon of sin we are in and transforms us into new creatures in Christ and to ultimately become the perfect image of Christ (II Cor.5:17). 18) He becomes our conquering hero when we are lost and helpless (Heb.4:16). 19) He gives us joy for mourning, beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness (Isa.61:3). 20) He takes our inability and gives us His gifts of abilities (I Cor.12; Rom.12:5-8; Eph.4:8-11). 21) He became the perfect, eternal High Priest sacrifice for our sins and took the place of the need for a yearly, imperfect sacrifice presented by an earthy priest (Heb.7:26-27; 9:14). 22) He takes our rugged places and makes them plain (Isa.42:16). 23) He takes emptiness and fills us with joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Pet.1:7-8). 24) He takes our old name, “sinner,” and gives us a new name, “The Righteousness of God In Christ Jesus” (II Cor.5:21). 25) He gives us a new destination, Heaven, instead of our old destination, hell, (Mt.23:15, 33; Rev.20:15; Col.1:5). 26) He gives us all His fullness when we give Him all our emptiness (Col.2:9-10). 27) He took our defeat and gave us His victory (I Jn.5:4). 28) Instead of instruments of Satan, God changes us into vessels of honor (Rom.6:13; 9:21). 29) The Holy Spirit enables us to put off the old man with his anger, clamor and evil speaking and to put on the new man with His kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness (Eph.4:31-32; Col.3:8-11). 30) When we give Him our doubts and fears He gives us faith and confidence (II Tim.1:7; I Jn.3:21; 5:14). 31) We lose the old powerlessness over sin that is part of the old nature and we gain the overcoming power over sin through the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom.8:3-5). 32) At the cross Jesus took our regrettable sins in exchange for a heart of rejoicing (Jer.15:16). 33) Jesus took our bankruptcy (my complete inability to pay, and paid our debt in full with His death (Heb.9:26). 34) We were once dead in sin, are now alive with Christ (Col.2:13). 35) Jesus gives us peace that passes all understanding, hope and assurance for the war that waged within,with its fears and doubts (Phil.4:6-7; II Tim.1:7; Heb.10:31). 36) We were alone, but now never alone (Heb.13:5). 37) We exchange a sorrowful departure from this world, to a glorious arrival in Heaven (II Cor.4:8- 14; I Thess.4:17; Heb.11:14-16). If we acknowledge and appropriate these great exchanges in our lives we can live joyful, victorious lives. Jesus made those exchanges available for us at the cross, and He now lives on high seated at the right hand of the Father. And we who once were seated with sinners and scorners (Ps.1), but by virtue of the fact of knowing Him and being “in Him,” He now has exchanged that “seat” for the great privilege of sitting with Him at the Father’s right hand (Eph.2:6)! Hallelujah!! PRAYER: Thank You, God, for sending Jesus to earth to die for me so my old life can be exchanged for everything new! I ask You to continue to change me into the image of Your Son! http://lightfrommywindow.blogspot.com.