Jesus becoming sin?

Numbers 35:33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


For many years I had thought through the physical brutality of the cross and Jesus' death on cross. I read about the agony Jesus faced as he sweat blood (Luke 22:44) as He prayed for God to give Him the strength to carry out His will on the Cross the next day. The one mistake I made was that I assigned all of the cause of Jesus spiritual and mental distress to the physical brutality of the Cross. There have been many films that portray His brutal death, and by no means do I want to minimize the heavy physical price of the cross. It was a huge growth point in my walk when I realized there have been martyrs since Jesus, that have been burned and skinned alive, while they sang hymns of praise....surely they were not stronger than our Lord! Surely if they could have Joy to the point of death then there had to be something else tugging away at Jesus that caused His distress. There definitely was. His agony was stimulated by the fact that He was sent to become the very thing he hates -sin, and to invict His own punishment upon that sin on Himself. (What a savior we have!). He chose to be seperated (temporarily) from all that is Holy and to become sin, so that once and for all it could be punished righteously. The fact that Jesus had to become the object of God's wrath as He was wrapped in sin, is why the Father had to turn His face away from Jesus on the cross. Jesus cry of "Father why have you forsaken me" occurs because my sins and yours were dripping over Jesus. The sweat of blood from the night before seems justified, as a tidal wave of wrath from a Holy God comes crashing down on Him as He hangs alone on two pieces of wood. He boldy grabs the cup of wrath that you and I deserve, drinks it, and then victoriously declares "It is finished" (john 19:30).

Yes, Jesus paid it all. He became sin. He was punished for sin. He was seperated for sin. And he put sin to death on the cross for those who choose Him. He literally trades places with those who follow him, and that satisfies the laws of the OT like the one above in Numbers. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:10-11 "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh."

Have you traded places with Him? If he is your savior, are you now walking as he walked, serving others and doing God's will? Be careful here as there is a strong temptation to want to claim a grace that gets you what you need to keep doing what you want. If we claim the Cross, we must "Take up our Cross and Follow Him" as he walked, not to serve ourselves, but to accomplish the will of the Father.