“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross…
Experimenting is an age-old way of testing something to see if it is true. For example, when somebody says, “Try this, you’ll like it!” you might believe them or you might not. When I was twelve, my uncle handed me an oyster and gave me that line. It tasted terrible! “Try it again,” he said. I did. It didn’t taste any better the second time. So he took the oyster, tried it, and spit it out. “No wonder,” he said, “it’s rotten!” So I still don’t know if I like oysters or not, but I do know that I don’t like rotten ones.
There is another kind of experiment that can be helpful. It is called a thought experiment. In this kind of experiment, we imagine a situation and then ask ourselves questions about what we see. I think it might be helpful to do an experiment like this to help understand today’s passage.
In our experiment, we have to imagine a very special human being. This person has lived their whole life and only sinned one time. For the whole of their existence, they have been in relationship with God and have been obedient to him in every way except for once. For one short moment, this person lost their focus on God and thought a sinful thought. Now, the question: When this person dies are they worthy of heaven or hell? Why or why not?
If you were shopping for a white tuxedo, and you found one that had a small permanent stain on one sleeve, would you buy it? Would you pay full price for it?
You are at a restaurant and you order a glass of milk. The server brings your milk to your table and sets the glass down. The milk looks good and smells good, but there is a little black spot floating in the glass. You don’t know what it is. Would you drink the milk?
Before Adam and Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), they were innocent. They were human, but there was no black spot on their soul because they did not know the difference between good and evil. When they ate the fruit they (and we) acquired the knowledge of good and evil. At that moment our innocence was lost. Knowing that we have done wrong changes everything.
Even if you could be perfect in every way and had only sinned once, knowing you had done wrong is a black spot that you cannot wash away. The sin itself accuses you of not being worthy of heaven and being in God’s presence.
Now to finish our experiment, let’s take that one little sin, that tiny black spot, and give it to Jesus. Now look at Jesus on the cross and you can see what it cost to take the spot away and restore your innocence. Look at the face of Jesus. The crown of thorns jammed into the flesh of his head. The bruises where he was struck. The dried spit from the soldier’s mocking. The torn flesh from the flogging. Look at the pain in his face, and the scratches from carrying the cross. Then look at the nails in his hands and his feet. Look at him hanging in the afternoon sun, soldiers dividing his clothes while he hangs naked, dying.
The cost of restoring your innocence before God depends on the only innocent man in all humanity. He stands in for you and suffers the consequence of that sin.
Application: Keep this truth in mind every minute of every day.
Food for Thought: What does it mean to be innocent?
What does it mean to be innocent?
It is the condition of all who have repented and turned from their revealed sins, accepted the cleansing power of the sacrifice of Christ, by asking Him to come into their heart and rule their life.
God also speaks of the innocences of children and of Gentiles who have Gods word written in their hearts and by nature do His will. Romans 2:14-16
Ron,
Thank you for your comment today. I really appreciate you pointing us to the “innocences of children.” I think that is key. Jesus says:
“And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.‘”
(Matthew 18: 3)
Somehow we need to regain that innocence through Jesus.
What an exciting challenge!
I love your analogies and I appreciate your emphasis here that no sin is acceptable to a holy God.
Mark Twain was once asked – what are the best words in the English language? His answer was “not guilty.” To be innocent means to be guilty of no wrongdoing. No sin is acceptable (James 2: 10). And we all sin (Romans 3: 23). And the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23). But we are all justified freely through the work of the cross and declared to be innocent – we are justified by receiving the righteousness of the only just One who represents us. We need Jesus (Romans 3: 24 – 26; 2 Corinthians 5: 21; 1 Peter 3: 18; John 14: 6; Acts 4: 12; John 3: 36).
Rich,
Thank you for your encouragement! I like the Mark Twain quote. 🙂
We do need Jesus indeed!
Thank you for all of your insights. You all help me grow in spiritual wisdom more everyday.
Tim,
I thank God for your growth. It is His Spirit that guides our growth and leads us in the ways of wisdom. You are being a good listener!
Blessings!!
To be innocent is to not be the cause of an action but to be held responsible for the consequences of that action.
Jesus was innocent, but took on our guilt of sin so that we can experience victory.
Rob,
You have given us a very interesting insight. Thank you! It is one thing to be innocent as a child, but it is another to be innocent and wrongly accused. That takes it to the next level and I think that is a really important concept for us to wrap our heads around.
I grew up thinking that I was innocent until proven guilty,..it wasn’t until I studied God’s word and found out that I have always been guilty until proven innocent. My innocence only comes from surrendering to Jesus and His forgiveness for my guilt,..His grace has freed me of my guilt, shame, sin and wretchedness,..He has counted me innocent because of the blood He shed at the cross,..He counts me innocent because of the empty tomb I believe He rose from,..He counts me innocent as I grow my faith in waiting for His return,..yeah,..I have a long way to go and the list of innocence continues to grow as I continue to confess sin to Him,..
What does innocent mean? To me it means being in the arms of a Savior who loves me for who I am,..I don’t have to put on some kind of facade to fake my way up next to Him,..He is right here next to me, inside of me, all around me,..I am innocent because I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Holy Spirit,..I think He knows I will always need Him because I can’t live this life without Him,..I would choose to screw up every time with out Him,..I wouldn’t pray to Him,..I wouldn’t worship Him, I wouldn’t love Him because I wouldn’t have known Him,..but because of His great love I do know Him and what He did for me,..
I have been proven innocent because I was once guilty as charged,..a sinner
👍🏻