Things that Jesus took instead of us on the cross
1- Christ became sin for us: to justify us before God:
For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2- Christ became a curse for us: to let us be blessed with all the blessings of Abraham.
(Galatians 3:13-14)
(13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (14) That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
(Deuteronomy 28:1-14) “ (1) And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: (2) And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. (3) Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. (4) Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. (5) Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. (6) Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
(7) The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. (8) The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (9) The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. (10) And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. (11) And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. (12) The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. (13) And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: (14) And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
(Galatians 3:16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Christ bore the curse written in the law of poverty, disease, starvation and spiritual death on the cross.
This curse was placed on those who do not follow the law’s commandments and work with them. And after that, Jesus took all curses and blessed us with every spiritual blessing as we read in Ephesians 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: Physically, the blessings of Abraham, as we understand from the Galatians’ message, is we who believe in him who bear the curse on our behalf, Galatians 3:13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
3- Christ became sickness to give us healing Isaiah 53:4-5 “…and with his stripes we are healed.”
Note that healing here means physical healing that is by his wounds we are healed.
It is not the healing of the spirit, because God does not heal the dead spirit of the sinner but put a “new” spirit. He changes it with a new heart. There is no cleansing of the sinner’s heart that did not accept Christ but rather a new birth again (a new spiritual person).
It is also clear to us when the apostle quotes Mathew 8:16-17 “(16) When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: “(17) That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
It is clear to us that according to the inspiration of the holy spirit that it is about the healing of the body as per the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 53:4-5) “…and with his stripes we are healed.”
(+) The Greek translation of the Hebrew word (Hazan) (Isaiah 53:4) translates to sickness. We read this as follows:
َBut our sorrows (our sickness) he carries them, and our pain he bears them. Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: …“(sickness).
(+) As St. Peter quotes from the same prophecy of Isaiah, he talks about the sin and sickness that Christ endured on the cross in Golgotha.
1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
4- Christ became poor (on the cross): so that we may become rich with his poverty.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor (on the cross), that ye through his poverty might be rich.”( meaning become prosperous Spirit, Soul and Body)
Note that chapters 8 and 9 talk about the material offerings and gifts that St. Paul incites the believers to sow.
We do not incite greed and love of money. But we call to trust in who meets our needs and uses our gifts for his glory.
5- Jesus became rejected (on the cross): in order to make us acceptable.
(Ephesians 1: 4) “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:”
Jesus suffered from people’s refusal he who made good in the midst of them and from the chief priests, and also was abandoned by his disciples, even the one who followed him to the courtyard of the high priest.
He was rejected so that we could enjoy absolute acceptance before God’s holiness, justice and perfect love.
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