The Wednesday Word - The Loveliness of JESUS
THE LOVELINESS OF JESUS
by D. G. Miles McKee“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” -2 Corinthians 5:21
In this short Wednesday Word I want us to remember Him, the Lord Jesus. He is entirely lovely.Listen to our verse, it says of Jesus, “Who knew no sin.” What a remarkable description of the Christ. He was pure in every way. He is lovely.HE WAS PURE IN HIS BIRTH. In Luke 1:35 we read, “And the angel answered and said unto her (Mary), The Holy Ghost shall come upon you and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you: therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”Did you see that? The angel came to Mary and said that Jesus was ‘that holy thing.’ Yes, He was pure in His birth. He is lovely.And He was, PURE IN HIS LIFE. It is written of the Lord, “He did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth" (1 Peter 2 22). Just try that for a while! Try having no sin… just for today. Just for an hour! Jesus did it as a man … but not just for an hour. He was continually sinless. As God, He was not able to sin and as man He was able not to sin. He is lovely.HE TAUGHT PERFECTLY.He never revised any of His teaching. Every word He spoke was pure and the people were astonished by His doctrine. He is lovely.He was pure in His birth, pure in His life and pure in His teaching.But He was also, PURE IN HIS DEATH.Not only did He know no sin, but He offered Himself without spot unto God. We read in Hebrews 9:14. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” He had no spot in Himself. He is lovely.Christ never yielded to the swelling of pride.He never yielded to any tests of sinHe never knew the burning of lust.He never knew what it was to be envious or jealous.He knew what it was to suffer but He knew no sin!He is lovely.We need to learn about His loveliness for He is altogether lovely. His loveliness consists mainly in this that He knew no sin!If He had had one spot of sin, He could not have suffered for us! And, “Such a high priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens” Hebrews 7:26. We know He got terrible treatment from people. He was despised, rejected and hated. And how did Heaven treat Him? How did the Father deal with His spotless Son? In Isaiah 53:6 we are told that "the LORD laid on Him the iniquities of us all" and in our text (2 Corinthians 5:21) we read “He hath made Him to be sin for us.” This is dreadful.The Lord heaped upon Him the thousands and millions of our sins till at last Christ was so covered, in God’s sight, that nothing but sin appeared. He was looked upon by His Father as one entire mass of sin. He was dealt with by His Father as if He were all sin from the crown of His head to the soles of His feet.We mistakenly think of the agonies of the cross as only physical. And they were physical. But His suffering was more than physical pain. It was agony to His pure mind to have sin imputed to Him.He knew no sin, yet He was made sin.“We may not know, we cannot tellWhat pains He had to bearBut we believe it was for usHe hung and suffered there.”But why was He made sin? He was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Just as Christ was covered with innumerable sins and appeared to the Father as one mass of sin, so the vilest one of us who trusts in Christ is so covered with His glorious righteousness that in God’s eye He appears as one whole mass of righteousness.We are swallowed up by the righteousness of Christ. What an amazing provision is made for us! As truly as He was made sin. So truly are we made the righteousness of God. He is lovely.And that’s the Gospel Truth!
MilesMcKee.com
Comments