It is not all that often that someone does something for us. It is usually nice when somebody does something for us. If it is a good thing they have done then certainly we should appreciate it and show our gratitude … our thankfulness. But do we? All too often we fail to do so. I have had some very nice and good things done for me in my life. And I have tried to thank any and all who have done them. It is probably most impressive when a stranger does something for us. We might wonder why they did it. What was/is their motive for doing it? Sometimes we know the answer and other times we don’t. Probably the most impressive thing anyone can do for us is to undergo something negative or painful or hurtful in their life in order to provide whatever it was they did for us.

Does it sound like I am going around in circles here? Perhaps. But I really am trying to get to the point. I know I have one. Let’s see … oh yes, God has said in His Word that Christ has become a curse for us. What does that mean? Well, it simply means that Jesus was going along just fine seated in Heaven at the right side of His Father. The Father had a plan involving Jesus. The plan was for Jesus to leave Heaven and come to earth to be born as a human being for the sole purpose of providing the much needed salvation for us. In order for Jesus to do this He would literally take on and become cursed of God the Father. He was without sin Himself, but He would become sin for us. He would come to the point where He cried out to the Father asking why He had forsaken Him as He hung there on the cross. Ouch! Yes, He would go from one extreme to another. And He did this for us … for you and for me. He went from co-reigning in Heaven to being beaten, tortured, and dying an unimaginable death on a wooden cross so that you and I could have our sins forgiven and not have to pay the penalty or wages of our sin … which is eternal death (damnation) in hell.

Mind you, Jesus did not have to do this. He could had said no to the Father. But He loves us and He loves the Father and so He agreed to undergo such suffering so that we could experience His forgiveness and cleansing from our sin. And we could escape the fate we deserved. We owed the debt, but Jesus paid it. He paid it in full. So it is all to Him we owe.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And that blood … that blood alone can wash away your sin … for there is forgiveness in no other name under heaven by which we can be and must be saved.