He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Imagine walking into a filthy room—dust and dirt everywhere. You get out the vacuum cleaner, vacuum up the dirt, and empty out all that you have gathered. This is what God did with our sins.
God poured out our gathered iniquity onto Jesus: our self-absorbed rebellion, our self-pitying resentment, our self-indulgent laziness, and our self-righteous presumption. This is why He was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities; and it is why the chastisement that brought us peace was upon Him (Isa. 53:5).
Martin Luther described how our merciful Father, seeing that we were overwhelmed by the curse of the law, sent His only Son into the world and laid our sins upon Him.
Luther pictures God the Father giving direction to God the Son: “You be Peter that denier. You be Paul that persecutor, blasphemer, and oppressor. You be David that adulterer. You be that sinner who ate the fruit in Paradise, and that thief who hung on the cross. You be the person who has committed the sins of all men; and see that You pay for them in full.”
Here is what this means for us: our sins, our iniquities, and our transgressions have all been laid on Him. And since they have been laid on Him, they are no longer on us. That is why there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).
What has God done with your sins? The sins of your youth? Your sins from yesterday and today? The sins you have not yet committed?
