Christ was made Sin for us so that Sin might be Condemned and we have Eternal Life

Because of the fall of man, we are sinners, we have an indwelling sin, and we simply sin all the time, but Hallelujah, Christ was made sin for us in order that through His death on the cross sin might be condemned.

We all need to realise that we are not merely flawed people who need improvement and perfecting, we are not merely imperfect beings who make mistakes from time to time, but we are sinful, for the sinful nature of Satan is in our being one with our flesh, and we cannot but sin.

We are a sin factory, always producing sin. By default, without anyone teaching us how to do this, we sin. You don’t have to teach a little child to lie – it comes our spontaneously from him as he lives out the sinful nature within him.

Satan is the father of all the sinners, and all men are born in sin; we are all born by default to be children of the devil. Even after believing into the Lord and receiving His life, we still have the sinful nature of Satan within us, and we are still capable to sin.

The apostle John says that, If we say we have no sin, we lie and we do not speak the truth. We are constituted sinners. We cannot overcome sin. We cannot improve, change or perfect our sinful nature.

Even when we want to do the good, evil is present with us, and we end up doing what we don’t want to do because the indwelling sin is stronger than our will. Sin defeats us all the time. We were brought forth in iniquity, we have the poison of the devil in our being, and our very nature is sinful.

We are in desperate need of a sin offering – we need a Savior, One who can deal with sin, condemn sin, and forgive us of our sins. We need Christ as the reality of the sin offering, and we need to enjoy, experience, and apply Him every day, even moment by moment.

In Lev. 4:2 we are told that we may sin even without intent, and such a sin separates us from God; so we need Christ as our sin offering.

The sin in our fallen nature – the indwelling sin that came through Adam into mankind from Satan – causes us to sin unintentionally. Most times we don’t purpose to sin, and we don’t deliberately set out to sin. If we simply live by our human nature, we miss the mark. This is what it means to sin – to miss the mark.

We were created in the image of God for the purpose of expressing God, but we fail God by expressing ourselves. This is sin. Whenever we don’t express God, whenever we come short of the glory of God, we live in sin.

As we are living a life that may not be characterized by evil things but by good things, even charitable and nice things, yet without expressing God in His glory, we sin. All have sinned. All fall short of the glory of God.

All except Christ, the sin offering. He did not sin. He put on the likeness of the flesh of sin but never committed any sin. He died on the cross to condemn sin in the flesh, and by believing into Him we are saved. Therefore, we need to apply Christ as our sin offering.

The more we see how sinful we are, the more we will love the Lord and apply Him as our sin offering. The more we realise how powerless we are to obey God’s law, do His will, and express Him, simply because of the indwelling sin, the more we will depend on the Lord and come to Him to take Him as our sin offering.

Christ was made Sin for us in order that through His Death Sin might be Condemned

The sin offering in Lev. 4:1-35 signifies that Christ was made sin for us in order that, through His death on the cross, sin might be condemned (see vv. 1-3, 13-14, 22-23, 27-28; Rom. 8:3).

Christ came and died for us – Christ was made sin for us to be our sin offering and thus deal with our sin, our sinful nature (see Lev. 4; Rom. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 9:26). Also, on the cross he bore our sins, our trespasses, to be our trespass offering (see Lev. 5; Isa. 53:5-6, 11; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 9:28).

On the one hand He was the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29) and on the other He bore all our sins and iniquities (Isa. 53:10). Through His incarnation, Christ as God became flesh, that is, He became in the likeness of the flesh of sin – in the likeness of a fallen man (see John 1:1, 14; Rom. 8:3).

He was crucified in the flesh and He died in the flesh. He did not have sin in His flesh – He lived a life without sin, but He was in the likeness of the flesh; therefore, when he was on the cross, God counted that likeness as real.

When He was on the cross, Christ was made sin on our behalf, and sin was judged and condemned.

Since sin, the old man, Satan, the world, and the ruler of the world are all one with the flesh, when Christ died in the flesh, sin was condemned (Rom. 8:3), the old man was crucified (Rom. 6:6), Satan was destroyed (Heb. 2:14), the world was judged, and the ruler of the world was cast out (John 12:31). Hallelujah!

Through Christ’s death on the cross all the negative things in the universe were dealt with and judged! What a sin offering He was, and how effective this sin offering is!

When Christ died on the cross – on the altar of burnt offering, sin was condemned, Satan was destroyed, the world was judged, the old man was crucified, and the ruler of this world was cast out.

By this one act of death on the cross, all the negative things were removed and dealt with. Hallelujah!

We are sinners – we are indwelt by the personified sin in the flesh, with no hope in sight, but God became a man, and on the cross Christ was made sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).

Through believing into Christ, we lay our hands on Him and apply His death to the old man, the flesh, death, the world, Satan, and sin.

Jesus Christ was unique – He was God from all eternity, yet He joined Himself to sinful humanity in the incarnation; He put on the flesh, and on the cross Christ was made sin for us. When we see this, we will tell the Lord,

Thank You Lord Jesus for being made sin for me on the cross so that through Your death sin might be condemned. Thank You for putting on the likeness of the flesh of sin yet without sin, and dying for us on the cross to condemn sin in the flesh. Hallelujah, sin is condemned! Praise the Lord, the old man was crucified! Hallelujah, Satan has been destroyed! Hallelujah, the world was judged, and the ruler of the world was cast out through Christ’s death on the cross! Lord, we praise You for Your death on the cross!

Christ put on the Likeness of the Flesh of Sin and was made Sin for us so that we may have Eternal Life

It is very mysterious what happened when the Lord Jesus was born; He was not only man and He was not only God – He was a God-man. Somehow, in a mysterious yet wonderful way, God came in humanity and He put on the likeness of the flesh of sin.

God put on flesh: He didn’t have any sin, but He had the likeness of the flesh sin, yet without the sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3).

The Lord said of Himself that He will be raised up just as Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness on a pole (John 3:14), and whoever believers into Him shall be saved.

The serpent Moses raised on a pole was not a real serpent – it was a bronze serpent, in the likeness of the fiery serpent but without its poison, and whoever looked at the bronze serpent lived (Num. 21:4-9).

We, like the people of Israel who sinned against God, are daily being bitten by fiery snakes – the flesh, the sin in the flesh; in God’s eyes we are all dead, but if we look to Christ, we will live.

Christ came in the likeness of our serpentine nature but without its poison; He put on the likeness of the flesh but without the sin of the flesh, and He is the reality of the bronze serpent. He was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He had no participation in the sin of the flesh (see 2 Cor. 5:21; Hen. 4:15).

He was lifted up on the cross, just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent on a pole (John 3:14-15), and whoever believes into the Lord shall be saved!

On the cross Christ was made sin for us in God’s eyes, and God condemned sin in the flesh of Christ. Satan’s evil nature in man’s flesh was judged on the cross through the death of Christ in the form of a serpent, so that we who believe into Him may have eternal life.

If we believe into the Lord and His sacrifice on the cross, we will receive eternal life and live. We are serpents, still being bitten by the serpent, but we look to the Lord and believe into Him, and we receive eternal life! Hallelujah!

As the One who didn’t know sin, Christ was made sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). What a miracle!

We who were condemned sinners, serpentine in our nature, with the indwelling sin in our flesh, we can believe into the Lord and apply Him as our sin offering, and we will be saved, receive eternal life, and even become the righteousness of God in Christ! Hallelujah!

Sin as a person was condemned on the cross by God in the flesh of Christ, and by faith in Christ we apply Him as our sin offering, and thus become the righteousness of God in Christ.

Thank You Lord for putting on the flesh of sin (yet without sin) so that You might judge sin in the flesh through Your death on the cross. Thank You for being lifted up as the reality of the bronze serpent – You had the flesh of sin but with no sin in the flesh – so that we may look at You, believe into You, be saved, and receive eternal life! Hallelujah, Christ who didn’t know sin was made sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! We praise You Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Leviticus, msg. 18, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Leviticus (1), week 6, The Revelation, Appreciation, and Application of Christ as Our Sin Offering.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # For me forgiveness He has gained, / And full acquittal was obtained, / All debts of sin are paid; / God would not have His claim on two, / First on His Son, my Surety true, / And then upon me laid. (Hymns #1003)
  # Christ has sin condemned at Calv’ry / And its power done away; / Now it has no ground within me, / I am freed from all its sway. (Hymns #540)
  # Hallelujah! Our Redeemer, / Christ, to God has purchased us; / Now enjoying His redemption, / We become God’s righteousness. (Hymns #1203)