He Made Him To Be Sin Who Knew No Sin

As I write this, former Iraqi dictator and mass murderer Saddam Hussein was executed just a few hours ago. While watching the news off and on in the hours and minutes leading up to his death, I kept reflecting on the fate of this man and the biblical reality of hell. Saddam was not at all prepared to meet his Maker. Any religious duties he carried out during his time on earth mean nothing now. He went to the gallows clothed in unrepentant sin and now faces the judgment of the One “who dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). There is absolutely nothing more terrifying in all the world. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” We would do well to meditate on these words and tremble.

Scripture teaches that hell is the fate not only for brutal dictators like Saddam but also for all who have sinned against God. It is easy for me to think, “Saddam deserves hell for all the blood on his hands.” As true as that is, I must remember that I too deserve God’s punishment in hell for all the ways I have rebelled against and dishonored Him in my thoughts, words, and deeds.

In my last post, I pondered the (unpopular) attribute of God’s wrath on sin and how it stems from His absolute holiness. The biblical text I focused on was John 3:36 – “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” Let us not overlook this word “remains.” The Scripture here is testifying to the terrible predicament that has existed since the fall of mankind in Genesis 3: all of us have willingly rebelled against the God who made us, and therefore God’s righteous wrath hangs over us. Not only are we all subjected to a physical death, but also because of our sin we are already spiritually dead. We are born with our minds set on earthly things, and naturally we love drinking from the broken cisterns of our own sin rather than from the Almighty God, who is the Fountain of Living Water for our souls (Jeremiah 17:13). Naturally we are self-exalters rather than God-exalters. We have despised His revealed Law and bowed down to other gods. In this condition, we stand no chance before the Sovereign Lord of the universe. The gate to heaven is shut. God’s wrath remains on us. But does the story end there? Thanks be to God that it does not end there!

Now let us turn to the most astounding and precious message that will ever be proclaimed.

I just want to focus on one particular verse in the New Testament that sums up so succinctly the glory and wonder of the Gospel:

“For our sake He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

When I heard this verse preached (perhaps for the first time) in a sermon about three years ago, God began to open my eyes to see the Gospel like I had never seen it before. This Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, in whom there is no sin, took on flesh to dwell with us—and not only to dwell with us, but to become our Substitute through the suffering and humiliation of the cross. As Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ helped to illustrate, the physical suffering Jesus endured was more horrendous than we can fathom. But far more dreadful for Jesus was drinking the cup of His Father’s wrath as He suffered and died on Calvary. We get a glimpse of Christ’s agony in Mark 15:34 (also Matthew 27:46), when He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” What is going on here? As Paul’s exposition of the Gospel in 2 Corinthians 5:21 indicates, God the Father sent His Son to the cross to be sin on our behalf. As we have seen, God’s holiness means that no sin will go unpunished. The Good News is that Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross and absorbed the full wrath of God for the sins of all who would repent and trust in Him. Going back to the first half of John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” What a mind-blowing truth! For those who become united to Christ in faith, our sinful self is crucified with Christ, we are cleansed from our wickedness, and we no longer have to fear God’s righteous wrath and judgment. As redeemed children of the Most High, we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ and enabled to worship Him and savor His infinite glory for all of eternity. Our boast is only in the cross and what God has done for us!

Let us herald this Gospel and take it to the nations, that more and more people from every tribe, language, people, and nation would trust in the wrath-absorbing, substitutionary work of Christ Jesus in their place and embrace Him as their supreme Joy and Treasure.