The Divine Exchange Rate

Can you indulge me a moment of what may seem to be a hyperbolas overstatement? Okay, here goes. You cannot exaggerate how critical your value is to Jesus. His Message hinges on you and me believing the Gospel for ourselves in every moment of every day! Apart from faithing, believing and trusting His Message we have no hope of truly knowing or sustaining our accurate value and worth.

Our value is not measured by our performance, intellect, position, titles or pedigree. Thank God it isn’t! Instead, our value is revealed in the exchange rate of our purchase! In Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father exchanged equivalent value to redeem us to himself.

Their act of redemption and reconciliation is the mandate of our worth and ministry. (The word, ‘katalasso’ translates as reconciliation; a mutual exchange of equal value.) That makes our value the same as Jesus’! Hold on, before you declare that statement of fact as blasphemous-remember that is God’s opinion and declaration.

“This is radical! No label that could possibly previously define someone carries any further significance! Even our pet doctrines of Christ are redefined. Whatever we knew about him historically or sentimentally is challenged by this conclusion. (By discovering Christ from God’s point of view we discover ourselves and every other human life from God’s point of view!)

In the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before; in Christ you are a brand new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!

(Jesus did not reveal a “potential” you, he revealed the truth about you so that you may know and believe the truth about yourself and be free indeed!)

Too now see everything as new is to simply see what God has always known in Christ; we are not debating man’s experience, opinion, or his contribution; this is 100% God’s belief and his doing. In Jesus Christ, God exchanged equivalent value to redeem us to himself.” (Again, the word ‘katalasso’ translates as reconciliation; a mutual exchange of equal value.)  2 Cor. 5:16-18, “The Mirror”

This is the divine exchange: he who knew no sin embraced our distortion. Even though He appeared to be without form; this was the mystery of God’s prophetic poetry. He was disguised in our distorted image, marred with our iniquities; he took our sorrows, our pain, and our shame to his grave and birthed his righteousness in us. He took our sins and we became his innocence.” 2 Cor. 5:21, “The Mirror” Just what is the exchange rate of our value to God? Isaiah hit the nail on the head of our genuine value.

Isaiah 52:10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. :14-15  Just as many were astonished at you—so was he marred in his appearance, more than any human, and his form beyond that of human semblance—so will he startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand. 53:4-5 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But surely he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on him; and with his stripes we ourselves are healed.

 He was not bruised by God but by the very humanity he was about to redeem! Romans 8:30 Jesus reveals that man pre-existed in God; he defines us. He justified us and also glorified us. He redeemed our innocence and restored the glory we lost in Adam. The fundamental question is can you and I walk by faith in our redeemed innocence while we are feeling the sting, failure, shame and stain of our vain attempts at self-improvement?

Faith the Divine Exchange, Ron Ross