2 Corinthians 5:15,17-19,21 NASB95
and He died for all so that they who live might no longer themselves do the living, but the One who died and rose again on their behalf so He could do the living. [17] Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. [18] Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. [21] He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
At the Cross, Jesus declared the thirsting heart of God for us. Mankind was created for the most intimate kind of relationship with God. God longed for us to be reconciled to Him, so that the fellowship He created us for could be restored, but how could that happen in our fallen condition. There is nothing fallen mankind could do to reconcile themselves to God. So what was the solution?
Even the most creative science-fiction movie could never imagine the amazing plan of God to restore us to fellowship with Him. Paul said that God “reconciled us to Himself.” Huh? God’s solution was to do our part for us, and He did it in Christ. Jesus wrapped Himself up in our fallen humanity and died as us (not just for us) at the Cross; thus, all the reasons for our separation from God were paid for by Christ as us. Jesus paid for all of our sins. Actually, we were taken to the place of execution for our sins in the person of Christ. Remarkable! The persons that we were, separated from God were crucified in Christ and buried. On the third day, we were raised up alive together in union with the resurrected Christ. The result was that we became NEW CREATURES who had become the righteousness of God in Christ. When God sees us, He doesn’t see fallen sinners. Instead, He sees us in union with Jesus and His righteousness, therefore qualified in Christ to have intimate fellowship with the triune God without ever having to fear rejection. Let me encapsule this remarkable truth about how God reconciled us to Himself. He reconciled us to Himself by becoming us Himself, and doing away with the Old Man that we were and miraculously by His grace alone, making us totally new creations who have became the righteousness of God in Christ because of our oneness with Jesus, now qualified to once again commune with a righteous God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!!!