The Great Substitute

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of substition. The Lord Jesus took your place that you might take His place. He became the embodiment of sin so that you might be made righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took upon Himself your sickness, disease and infirmity that you might be healthy and strong (1 Peter 2:24). 2 Corinthians 8:9 tells that He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might be made rich. You've got to believe this because it's all in the same transaction. The Lord Jesus, according to the gospel principle of substitution, was made poor so that you might be made rich.

There are those who argue that His becoming "poor" was spiritual, but that doesn't measure up. At no time did the Lord Jesus ever become poor spiritually, for He was the Son of God.

In shedding His glory and condescending to this earthly realm, He became poor to successfully trans-late us into His realm of wealth. That's why as a Christian, you're not the rich discovering your inheritance. You were born into limitless wealth; an inexhaustible inheritance has been laid up for you.

God's idea is not to try and make you rich, for if you're born again, you've already been made rich. He expects you now to reach out and help the needy. Refuse to be counted among the poor or the masses because you're the rich child of a rich God. He desires to see you enjoy the abundance that's been laid up for you in Christ, and the way to enjoy your inheritance is by sticking with the Word of God. The Word of God "...is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:32).

"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2Corinthians 8:9).

I decree "you've been made rich in the name of Jesus Christ"!