Jump Start # 3050
2 Corinthians 5:21 ‘He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Omniscience is the word used to describe the all-knowing God. God knows. God knows everything. Now, we know a lot of things. We can split atoms, send a rocket to the moon, build electric cars that drive themselves, and beat the daily Wordle in five steps. But we don’t know how to make things out of nothing. God does. We don’t know how to create life. God does. We don’t know how to create a soul. God does. We don’t know what tomorrow will be, or even if there will be a tomorrow. God does. We don’t know what it is like to be on the other side of life. God does.
However, there is something that we know that Jesus doesn’t. Our verse today brings that to the surface. We know sin. Jesus doesn’t. He became the sin sacrifice, but He never tasted sin. He was tempted. He was tempted in all ways. He was tempted like we are. Yet, He knew no sin.
Here are some things:
· Jesus never knew what it was like to break the heart of His Father. We do. We’ve disappointed, rebelled and walked away from God. That created a distance and a transgression in our lives. It took Jesus to restore, rebuild and reunite us to the Father.
· Jesus never knew what it was like to tell a lie. Satan does. He lied to Eve. We do, because we’ve told lies. Lying may have been one of the first sins most of us ever committed and we told it to the people who loved us the most, our parents. And, for many of us, those lies continued. In school to our teachers, then to our coaches. We’ve lied at work. Some have lied on their taxes. Others have lied to their mates and their children. We’ve told lies to avoid getting a ticket. Jesus never lied. He never lied to the apostles. He never lied to His Father. He never lied to us. If Jesus said it, you can believe it and trust it, because He knew no lie.
· Jesus never knew what it was like to hurt others by sin. Vows broken. Promises forgotten. Mean things said. As Ephesians states, bitterness, clamor, wrath, anger, slander, malice—all tools of mass destruction. Homes divided because of divorce. Theft. Violence. Hatred. Prejudice. Wars. The river of tears created by our sins. The disappointment because we let others down. The worry we have caused. The fear we have manifested. When Jesus showed up, people gathered. Good things was going to happen. The sick would be cured. God’s word would be taught. No one ran and hid from Jesus. There was no fear when Jesus was around, except by the demons. They knew what He was going to do to them. Can’t say that about us. There are some who are just prone to do wrong. They will hurt if they can get away with it. They will take, steal and do harm, whenever and however they can. Jesus knew no sin.
· Jesus never uttered words that were out of place and wrong. Even in that powerful Matthew 23 exchange with the Pharisees, His words are blunt, powerful and to the point, but not condescending, not degrading, not destroying. We’ve cussed. We’ve blasphemed. We’ve threatened. We’ve spoken things in anger. Our lips have said things that should never have been said. Yet, we’ve said them. Not Jesus. Jesus knew no sin.
· Jesus never worshipped God falsely. Oh, we have. We’ve slept in church. Our minds have been a million miles away from the words we were singing and the thoughts that we’re prayed. Some of us have worshipped God in ways He has never described or prescribed. We’ve bowed to the idols of modern religion. We’ve danced with the devil. And, while doing this, we had the time of our lives, never realizing that we were standing in the shadows of Cain, Nadab, and Jeroboam. Not Jesus. He never worshipped vainly. He never went through the motions. Jesus knew no sin.
· Jesus never knew what it was like to have to ask for forgiveness or to apologize for being wrong. Oh, we sure have. Most of our public prayers have “forgive us for our sins,” in them somewhere. We say that often and I suppose it is because we sin often. Not Jesus. Never had to swallow His pride and tell someone He was sorry.
Yes, there are things that you and I know that Jesus doesn’t. He knows what led to our sin. He knows what our sins have done. He knows what He had to do to redeem us from our sins. However, Jesus never sinned. We know something that Jesus doesn’t know, and, this isn’t something to be proud about or to brag. I wish we didn’t know those things.
But thanks be to God for His wonderful gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be righteous. We can be like Jesus, forgiven, honest and Heaven bound.
Roger