God’s Love Meant Christ Became Hated for Us
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
God hates sin. There is no sweeping it under the rug. There is no making light of the situation. God holds a deep seeded hatred for that which is unholy, that which is contrary to His Law and His will. There is no other way about it – God hates sin. Sin is defined as every thought, desire, word and deed, which is contrary to God’s Law. That covers a lot of territory. Sin is not just deeds, but also thoughts and desires. This means that every lustful thought, every selfish desire, every silent curse is sin. And God hates sin.
The reality is that God doesn’t just hate the sin, He hates the sinner too! Sin has made us enemies of God. We are more than just estranged from God. Sin has fractured the relationship and made us God’s enemies and there is nothing worse than being an enemy of God.
Yes, God hates the sins that we have committed. Those sins also make us enemies of God. But greater than God’s hatred is His love. God wants all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son so that everyone who would believe would not be hated, but would be loved by God. The way that God worked out this great predicament is through Jesus – God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. God sent Jesus to be perfect in every way, the perfect Lamb without blemish. But God made Jesus to be sin for us. What that means is that when Jesus came and hung upon the cross, He became sin for us. That means that He was hated by God because God hates sin. There on the cross, Jesus endures all of the Father’s hatred and scorn for all of your filthy language, all of your selfish ambitions, all of your unloving attitudes, all of your greedy desires, all of your lustful thoughts and deeds. There on the cross, Jesus becomes sin that is hated by God. In other words, Jesus becomes us because He takes our place and the punishment that we deserved for our sin. God hates sin and He must punish it. But God’s love ultimately sends Jesus to the cross to become sin for us and to take the punishment that we rightly deserved.
So on account of Christ, we confess our sins before God and we are forgiven and declared righteous. And instead of being hated by God, we are loved. Ash Wednesday is not about wiggling out from under the Law. No, the Law condemns all of us. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have all done things hated by God, not just once or twice, but each day for we daily sin much. However, God made Jesus to be sin for us, to be hated for us, to be punished for us so that we might be made righteous. We don’t deserve it. But that’s why God’s love is greater than His hatred because it was His love that sent Jesus to the cross. During this Lenten season, we reflect on God’s Law, on our sin, our own mortality and our need for a Savior. And we find our comfort, our confidence, our certainty at the cross, where Christ became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God.
Prayer – Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Fraternally in Christ,
President Lee Hagan