027 The Great Exchange: Sin and Forgiveness

The Lord chose and made a promise to Abram or Abraham, to be the father of the Hebrews known as the Israelites. Remember, Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac also had two sons, Jacob and Esau. It is Jacob who is significant in God’s plan to fulfill the Covenant of Law. You may also recall that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. This is where the term “Israelites” comes from. Israel had 12 sons and they became known as the sons or tribes of Israel. The book of Genesis gives an account of all of this.

Several generations later a child is born called Moses. He is the descendant of the third son of Jacob or Israel named Levi therefore, Moses was a Levite. It is Moses whom God fulfills the covenant of Law, which was promised to Abraham.

“The Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible, called “Torah” in the Hebrew Scriptures. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Though we often call these books “The Law,” Torah does not mean “law,” but “teaching.” Basic to the Torah is the idea of the covenant. A covenant is an agreement. In the Bible, covenants are special, because God is one of the parties to the covenant. Biblical covenants have three parts:

1. A statement about God’s saving act (what God brings to the agreement); (To make Abraham’s descendants a great nation called Israel.)
2. A statement about what God expects from humanity in response; (Obedience to the Laws or teachings that would produce blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.)
3. A sign or symbol as a reminder of the covenant. (The sign of Circumcision.)” 

The Covenant of Grace

Biblical history shows that God fulfilled His promise to the people of Israel to make them a great nation. The Lord did this under the rule of King David. Despite God keeping His promise, the nation of Israel utterly failed at keeping the Lord Jehovah at the center of life, and government. 

This is an important lesson for us to understand. No one is able to keep the “Law” perfectly or completely. Because God knew in advance that mankind would fail and that they would see that they needed, not a system of rules and regulations to please God, but a Savior!

The Lord promised a New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31. What God promises He fulfills. He will always keep His promises.

1. Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good”?
2. Titus 1:2 “in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began”.
3. Hebrews 6:13-20 makes the case for God’s infallible purpose in Christ, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” 15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16 For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”.
   1. Two unchangeable things – God’s promise (covenant) and His oath. In other words, what God promised and what he vowed cannot change and thus will most surely happen.

The Better Covenant

Earlier I said that Bible covenants are special because God is one of the parties to the covenant. Biblical covenants have three parts: 

1. a statement about God’s saving act (what God brings to the agreement); (Salvation comes to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ)
2. a statement about what God expects from humanity in response; (To walk in and by the Holy Spirit in every area of life)
3. and a sign or symbol as a reminder of the covenant. (The sign of Baptism, which represents a circumcised heart.) 

In the words of the Book of Hebrews, the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant because it is based upon better promises!

Looking at the first item in the Great Exchange we will look at the fact that Jesus took our sins and gave us His forgiveness! Jesus’s forgiveness is what should make us so grateful that we would not want to abuse His grace. It is this important truth that makes us want to change.

In all covenants with God, an exchange takes place. As covenants are made and kept, God, as the stronger party, gives blessing, provision, protection, wisdom and more to the weaker party, which is mankind. 

In our look at covenants, there is no better example of this exchange than the New Covenant. The exchange is so clear, and what we receive is so glorious and abundant, that it is known by some Bible teachers as “The Great Exchange.” 

Let’s look at the first example of the exchange provided by the New Covenant:

1. Jesus took our sin and gave us forgiveness; “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:20-21).
   1. Sin vs. sin nature – the symptom of sin vs. the root cause of sin! Instead of covering over sin as in the Old Covenant, Jesus took our sin away and replaced our sin nature with the Holy Spirit who is righteous!

Of all the exchanges and agreements that have taken place since the beginning of time, the most important exchanges by far are those we have received from Jesus. He truly provided us with The Great Exchange!

As believers, we gave Jesus our sins, failures, guilt, shame, and past. In return, Jesus: 

1. Extends His friendship to us (John 15:14); 
2. Makes us joint-heirs with Him (Rom 8:17); 
3. Wipes away our sins and our past (2 Cor 5:17); 
4. Gives us a hope and a future for this life and eternity (John 14:1-3; Col 1:27; 1 Pet 1:3). 

Let us thank God for Jesus and the New Covenant which is far better than any prior covenant!