The Great Exchange

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, in order that you might be made rich through His poverty.” (2Corinthians 8:9)

Grace is the undeserved favor the Lord has poured out to us. Undeserved because our sin deserved punishment and death, nothing else. But the Lord’s grace has been shown to us through the work of Jesus on the cross.  He took our punishment and our death so we could be declared innocent of all charges against us. There was no reason in anything we did in order for the Lord to show His grace to us. We didn’t pray more fervently for it. We didn’t do any sacrifice. We didn’t donate anything. It wasn’t our good looks. It was pure grace and love.

Paul said Jesus was rich. All things are His. “All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:3) Jesus said, “All things that the Father has are mine.” (John 16:15) There is nothing in this world that we could offer the Lord that isn’t His already. He is equal to the Father. (Philippians 2:6) More than all the things in this earth, Jesus has glory and the praise of the eternal beings in heaven.

The Scripture says He became poor. He came to this world in flesh, limited and vulnerable as all flesh is. He walked on this earth as a mere man when He was God. Isaiah prophesied that there was nothing special about Him that singled Him out. “For He comes up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He has no form nor majesty that we should see Him, nor an appearance that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2) Paul writes that He took the form of a servant. (Philippians 2: 7)

In His hometown, Nazareth, they were offended because He was one of them, raised in the same town and taught as all of them were but now in the synagogue, He taught with wisdom that was from above. It was godly wisdom. “And when the sabbath day had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him, were astonished, saying, Where does this one get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him, that even such mighty works are done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at Him.” (Mark 6:2-3)

Many believe Jesus was poor because He was born in a manger. But the only reason He was born in the manger is because there was no room at the inn. It had nothing to do with Joseph not being able to pay for a room. But this shows the extent to which Jesus was humble. He didn’t demand to be born in royalty or the best the world had to offer but yielded to be born in a manger where animals were kept. (Luke 2:7) God knows all things, so Jesus knew He would be born in a manger, and He came knowing and willing to be a servant to man. Isaiah prophesied He would be a servant. “Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit on Him; He shall bring out judgment to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:1) And Jesus Himself said He was a servant. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Once He left Nazareth, it is never recorded that He ever returned to His hometown. He started His ministry and visited the towns in Galilee, teaching and ministering to their needs. When He taught in Capernaum, a scribe believed and wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus tells Him the cost of following Him is to have nothing. “And a certain scribe came and said to him, Master, I will follow You wherever You go. And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:19-20) This may be the reason it’s been taught that Jesus was poor. When the temple tax was demanded, Jesus didn’t have a treasury to draw from but miraculously produced the tax money through a fish. “But lest we should offend them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take up the first fish that comes up. And when you have opened its mouth, you shall find a stater; take that and give it to them for Me and you.” (Matthew 17:27)

Jesus had all the things on earth at His disposal and all the glory of heaven was His also. But He lived as a mere man, was tempted as all men, had the body cravings of all men such as hunger and pain. And He took man’s poverty and need in spirit, soul, body, mind, will and emotions, and man’s sin, punishment and death on the cross.  When men believe on Him and on His work of redemption, He gives them all the riches that He has. We become the children of God with all the rights of sonship. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17) He gives us everything we need to live a holy and pure life here on earth and a divine life with Him in eternity. “ Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2Peter 1:2-4) We no longer have the nature of sin and death but take on the righteousness of Jesus which He gives us at the moment we believe. “But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; even the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ, toward all and upon all those who believe. For there is no difference,” (Romans 3:21-22). And Jesus has given to us authority and power over the enemy. This is one thing the brethren forget and allow the enemy to stomp all over us with his lies of poverty, need and sickness.  But in the Name of Jesus, we can cancel every work the enemy has directed toward us. “Behold, I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the authority of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19) And at the end of time when Jesus returns to earth and is revealed in all His glory, we also shall be revealed with Him in glory. “And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one,” (John 17:22).

What an exchange!! Our poverty and all that pertains to this perishing world that we have Jesus took on Himself so that He could give us of His divine life here on this earth and for eternity.