One morning I awoke with the song “At Calvary” going through my thoughts.  This is one of the first songs I learned to play on the piano; I love it.  This week I want us to meditate on the great “exchange” that was made at Calvary.

The chorus has such powerful words:

“Mercy there was great and grace was free,

Pardon there was multiplied to me

There my burden soul found liberty,

At Calvary”.

Jesus took death and gave us life.  The Bible refers to death with two definitions: spiritual death and the physical death of the body.  Adam died first spiritually and then died physically.  Jesus died spiritually first and then physically.  When Adam sinned with his disobedience his spirit became darkened and separated from the Spirit of God (spiritual death), and 930 years later his physical body died.  This spiritual death was passed on to all mankind from Adam.  (Romans 5:12) Jesus being born of a woman is called the Son of Man but being conceived by the Holy Spirit is called the Son of God. Jesus never sinned so even though He lived on earth as a man, His Spirit was still connected to God.  Therefore He had to die spiritually before His body would die.  When a person accepts Jesus as Savior their spirit is born again and alive again to God.  Notice that a person does NOT lose their spirit even when spiritually dead (separated from God); which means that we live forever because we are a spirit who has a soul (mind and emotions) and we live in a natural body. The question is “where will you spend eternity when the body you live in dies”?  That’s the big question.  The good news is that you, I and everyone, can choose which eternity, heaven or hell.

Jesus took sin and gave us righteousness.  Sin is the offense (disobedience)  or attack against God and righteousness is being in accordance with God.  When Jesus died on the Cross, He took the punishment sin’s offense for all mankind.  (Romans 5:18)

Jesus took the punishment of sin and gave us pardon.  Punishment is the penalty, the wage or result of sin, while pardon is an official release from legal punishment which restores us back to fellowship with God.  (Romans 3:23-24)

Jesus took the judgment for sin and gave us mercy.  Judgment is a formal decision ruling us guilty because of sin, but mercy is God counting us not guilty because Jesus took our guilty judgment.  Romans 3:23-24 states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that we are justified and redeemed by Jesus.

Jesus took weaknesses of sin and gave us grace.  A weakness is a defect, a lack of strength, not able to resist much pressure, not having or exerting authority.  Do you see yourself in that list?  I see myself, and like everyone else don’t deserve God’s help, but since He loves us so much He give us His Grace.  Grace is the unmerited help God gives to us, freedom from sin through divine virtue from God.

Jesus took sickness, disease and poverty, and gave us healing, health and prosperity.  The devil steals from us through sickness, disease, and poverty, but Jesus gives us life abundantly with healing, health, and prosperity.  (John 10:10)  We learn from Psalm 107:20 that God sent His Word to heal us and deliver us from our destruction.  Sickness and poverty are destructions.  Then in John 1:1, 14 we are told that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (referring to Jesus).  Acts 8:38 tells us that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. (Acts 10:38)  That verse alone settles the issue of where sickness comes from; from the devil; and sickness is oppressive.  As we read more Bible we learn that Jesus heals all manner of sickness and is able to provide for our every need financially.  (Matthew 4:23, Philippians 4:19)  Because Jesus is the same today as then, He still heals today.  (Hebrews 13:8)

Jesus took the burden and condemnation of sin and gave us liberty.  Burden is an oppressive load or care.  Condemnation is the declaration of being wrong or guilty, but liberty is the setting free from the burden of being guilty.  There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.  It is by faith that we walk in the liberty that Christ has made us free.  (Romans (8:1, Galatians 5:1)  Faith is believing the Bible; believing who God says He is, believing what God says He has done and will do; and believing who God says we are in Christ and what we can do because we are in Him.

Jesus took the darkness of sin and gave us the marvelous light of Himself.   The darkness of the sin nature of the devil veils our understanding of who we are to be; but the Light of Jesus reveals who we are in Christ.  We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his (Jesus) marvelous light.  (1 Peter 2:9)  The word peculiar is an interesting word.  It means “belonging exclusively to one person or group, characteristically and distinctively”.  When we accept Jesus as Savior we belong exclusively to Him, receiving His characteristics of love and kindness (etc), and belong distinctively to the Kingdom of God.

This week let’s meditate on all the blessings we have because Jesus went to the Cross of Calvary; and let’s endeavor to walk in those blessings.