50 Days of Wisdom

Reconciliation happens by God's will, by God's act of forgiveness, and by man's obedience of faith. But one other point remains to understand reconciliation, and this is the heart of the whole thing. And that poses the questions: "How can God do this? How does He deal with sin? How does He reconcile sinners? How does He satisfy His just and holy condemnation of sin with a full and deserved punishment and still be able to show mercy to sinners who deserve no mercy? How does He do that?" The answer comes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, and they tell us this final point: Reconciliation is by the work of substitution. This point has already been indicated to us back in verse 18: "God reconciled us to himself through Christ." Verse 19: "God was in Christ." Verse 20: "We are ambassadors for Christ. We beg you on behalf of Christ." Four times Paul says that Christ is the means of this reconciliation. Now in verse 21 he explains how: "He"—being God—"made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Now this is the work of substitution. Let's start at the beginning. "He made," that's God again. It was God, the reconciler, who planned it, designed it, developed the ministry of reconciliation, revealed the word of reconciliation, and sent us forth as ambassadors of reconciliation. It's completely His plan. And at the very heart of that plan, "He made Him who knew no sin." Who's that? Jesus Christ, the sinless one. So God chose the sinless one. For what purpose? To be made sin. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." And in what sense did Jesus become a sinner? Well, Jesus never sinned, but He was made a sinner in this sense: God treated Him as if He were one, though He wasn't. Because God imputed or credited your sins onto Christ. That should be clear from any study of the Old Testament animal sacrificial system. The animal on the altar didn't do anything to deserve that either, but that animal was treated as if it was the sinner, to show the sinner what the sinner deserved. If you understand that, you understand the first side of substitution and imputation. But there's another side, "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." None of us is righteous, right? But God treats you as if you were. Because God imputed Christ's righteousness onto you. That's the other side of substitution and imputation. Let me say it this way. On the cross Jesus was not a sinner, but God treated Him as if He were. And because of the cross, you're not righteous, but He treats you as if you are. That's because your sins have all been punished. They've all been dealt with, expiated, propitiated, and covered. The judgment has been paid. The fury has been spent. God's wrath is over, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who believe. That's substitution and imputation and the heart of reconciliation. That's the gospel. And that's the ministry of reconciliation. And there are no works in it anywhere; it's all of grace. Reconciliation is what we're all about. We have the wonderful privilege to go into this world of people dying of the S-I-N virus and tell them that we know the cure. Amen? Repent and believe! GTY.org (80-164) – The Mission of the Church

Today's Wisdom

Day: 1002

August 16, 2026

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The Truth in Love,

Mark Paul - Servant of God

Now grant, O Lord, that when the souls who read these books cast their eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated and their consciences convinced and awakened, that they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and be converted so that You may heal them. Amen!