Easter 2022 The Completion of the Great Exchange
Good morning and welcome! Happy consummation of penal substitutionary atonement day… I mean happy Easter!
People all over the world are gathering today to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, Jesus has risen from the dead, the stone was rolled away and the tomb is empty because Jesus is alive! Hallelujah!
I’d like to welcome all of you that have joined our church family this morning to celebrate along with us this morning!
Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, over two thousand years ago, is one of the best attested facts in human history. It was predicted in the Old Testament, predicted by Jesus Himself, and after he rose from the dead He appeared over the course of forty days to over five hundred of His disciples, eating and drinking with them. He was no ghost, He is alive!
On Easter Sunday we celebrate the event of Jesus rising from the grave, but there is significance, not only in the event itself, but in the meaning of His resurrection.
What does it mean that Jesus rose from the dead? That’s what we are going to talk about today.
But first, let’s pray.
So what is it that makes today special?
The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the central event in all of history and it is definitely worth celebrating. And while the event itself is amazing, that someone who was dead would come back to life, it’s the meaning behind Jesus’ resurrection that has the most profound impact on all of humanity.
The old song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone…” But why? Simply because Jesus is alive? Well, yes and no.
The reason to celebrate Easter really is the consummation of penal substitutionary atonement!
I know how much you all like to show off your vocabulary to your friends!
When Jesus rose from the dead He proved His last words from the cross as recorded in John 19:30, “It is finished.”
What was finished is what the scholars call, “The Great Exchange.”
The idea is based on 2 Corinthians 5:21, which says: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is the definition of penal substitutionary atonement.
The word, “penal,” has to do with punishment.
“Substitutionary,” means that Someone took the place of someone else.
“Atonement,” means to reconcile or to right a wrong.
Jesus was punished in our place so that we could be made right with God through faith in Christ. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead was the consummation of that work, the proof that it was completed.
So now you can with your friends and family a happy Consummation of Penal Substitutionary Atonement Day! Together we can celebrate the completion of the great exchange.
John Piper wrote, “God lays our sins on Christ and punishes them in Him, and in Christ’s obedient death, God fulfills and vindicates His righteousness and credits it to us. Our sin of Christ; His righteousness on us.” That is the great exchange.
If you’re sitting there listening to this and thinking something like, “I came to church to feel good and here this guy is telling me about sin, saying that I’m a sinner…”
Yup. Actually it’s God that defines sin, and He recorded that definition in the Bible. He gave us His Law so that we would know what sin is and so we would seek His forgiveness for our sin. The Bible also tells us that if we break one part of the Law we are guilty of breaking all of it. God summarized this Law in what we know of as the Ten Commandments.
If you want to know if you are a sinner try this out, see if you can make it through this little test.
1st Commandment: You shall have no other gods before me. Have you ever considered anything or anyone more important in your life than God?
2nd Commandment: You shall not make any idols. Have you ever considered your stuff more important than God or tried to change God to fit your opinions of who He should be or do or think?
3rd Commandment: You shall not take the Lord’s Name in vain. Have you ever used God’s Name as a curse word? Or have you claimed to follow God when you really don’t?
Shall I go on? That’s only three! Pick a number!
This is what God calls sin and we are all guilty of it and that is what makes the great exchange so great.
If you are feeling bad because of your sin, start feeling good because of God’s great love for you that in Jesus he exchanged your sin for His righteousness.
John Piper also wrote, “This is the gospel – the Good News that our sins are laid on Christ and His righteousness is laid on us, and that this great exchange becomes ours, not by [good] works but by faith alone.”
Romans 4:24-25 says, Righteousness will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Martin Luther was credited with introducing the idea of the great exchange and wrote about it this way, “Therefore, my dear brother, learn Christ and Him crucified. Learn to pray to Him, and despairing our yourself say: ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’”
I asked before, like the old song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives all fear is gone…” But why? Simply because Jesus is alive? Do we celebrate simple because Jesus is alive? The answer was, yes and no.
I’ve tried to answer, “no,” because we celebrate what Christ’s resurrection from the dead means in that His work on earth was completed, He had taken our place on the cross, bore our sins, and died the death that we deserved. By rising from the dead he showed that the work was in fact completed.
But the answer is also, “yes,” we also celebrate today simply because Jesus is alive!
By rising from the dead, Jesus Christ demonstrated that he has cleansed the guilt of our past and is able still to help us in our present because he is alive!
In John 14:18-21 Jesus said,
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and clearly reveal myself to him.”
Because He lives, He continues to guide those that love Him and gives us eternal life.
And because He lives, He continually intercedes for us.
Hebrews 7:23-25 says,
23 The former priests [meaning the Old Testament priests] were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Because He lives He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, sine He always lives to make intercession for them.
The Old Testament priests offered sacrifice after sacrifice for the atonement of the people but they were never really enough. But Jesus, the Great High Priest, offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for us and continues as our Great Intercessor.
That is what Jesus is doing right now, alive and standing before the Father interceding for us, praying for us. When the Father, in His holiness, looks at us, He no longer sees our sin on us, he sees Christ’s righteousness on us His dearly loved children.
I think we can all agree with Martin Luther, whether you’ve had faith in Jesus for years, or are just believing in Him for the first time today.
“Learn Christ and Him crucified. Learn to pray to Him, and despairing our yourself say: ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’”
Amen.
