The Divine Exchange

My purpose tonight is to show you that the curse was dealt with by the death of Christ on the cross.

Consequently, we are released from the curse. The key scripture there—and it’s a very important one—is Galatians 3:13–14:

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”

One of the great basic truths of revelation is that on the cross there was divinely ordained exchange. I believe this is central to the entire gospel message. If we do not understand this much about what took place when Jesus died on the cross we really have no anchor for our faith, no stability, no solidity. On the cross by the fore ordained purpose of God there was an exchange, very, very simple in its basic nature. Jesus the sinless, obedient Son of God took upon him all the evil that was due by divine justice to all our rebellion and disobedience that in return through faith we might receive all the good that was due to the perfect obedience of Jesus. More simply, Jesus took all the evil that was due to us that we might receive all the good that was due to him. This was the exchange. You can work this out in every aspect of what took place on the cross.

It’s not my purpose to do that tonight but here is one main aspect of the exchange. Jesus was made a curse — what’s the opposite of a curse? Blessing. —that we might receive the blessing. There’s the exchange. The curse was due to our disobedience but Jesus as our representative and our substitute took the curse upon him that we might have what? The blessing. Jesus took the curse that we might receive the blessing. Say that. Jesus took the curse that we might receive the blessing. The evidence that Jesus was made a curse was that he hung upon the cross.

Now, in Hebrew—and it just so happens it’s true also in the Swahili language used in East Africa—the word “tree” is used for a beam or a trunk whether it’s growing or whether it’s cut down. That’s not easy for some English speaking people to understand. It speaks about Jesus hanging on the tree, it was a cut down tree but it was still a tree. And the Old Covenant said cursed is every one who hangs on a tree. So when Jesus hung on the tree, that is the cross, this was God’s visible demonstration to the universe that Jesus had been made a curse. He hung there a curse—rejected by man and forsaken by God, neither on earth nor in heaven. Totally alienated, cut off, rejected, forsaken, all summed up in one evil, ugly word a curse.

Why did Jesus become a curse? That we might receive the alternative, the blessing. One of the themes of Galatians is that through faith we become—no matter what race we may be from—the children of Abraham by faith. So as the children of Abraham we are entitled to the blessing of Abraham because Jesus bore the curse and through faith in him we become children of Abraham we are entitled to the blessing of Abraham. That’s very clear.

I want to read it again because I want you to absorb it.
“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law [that’s the curse of the broken law, Deuteronomy 28 which is the whole list of the curses for breaking the law], being made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that he blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles [that’s most of us here tonight] through Jesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

What was the blessing of Abraham? We don’t need to speculate about that because it’s revealed in scripture. I suggest you keep your finger in Galatians 3 and turn to Genesis 24:1.

“Abraham was old and well stricken in age . . .”

I object to that translation because it gives you the impression he was hobbling around with a cane. All it says is he was well advanced in years. I think it’s pretty obvious he was not hobbling around with a cane because quite a number of years later he made a long journey to Mount Moriah and came back again. It says:

“. . . the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.”

What is the blessing of Abraham? What does it cover? All things. Are you sure? What does the blessing of Abraham cover? All things.

Now, in this connection Paul says that we must receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. We’re back in Galatians 3:14. What I believe that means is that it’s only through receiving the Holy Spirit that we can receive the blessing. The Holy Spirit is the administrator of all the inheritance. If you look in that same chapter that we looked at, Genesis 24, you’ll find that there’s a beautiful parable. I didn’t intend to get into this because when I get into it it’s hard to get out of it. But now I’ve got into it, I might as well stay there.

If you read Genesis 24 it’s the story about how Abraham obtained a bride for his son Isaac. It’s a very, very simple but beautiful parable in which there are four main characters. Some of you have heard me teach this before. Abraham the father represents God the Father. Isaac the only begotten son represents Jesus Christ the Son. Rebekah the bride represents the church, the bride of Christ. There’s one other, in a sense, the main character. The servant, the nameless servant who represents who? The Holy Spirit. Read the chapter with that in mind one day and it will open up almost limitless truths to you. Notice that it says at the beginning of the chapter every thing that Abraham owned was under the control of the servant. The servant was the administrator of the entire estate of Abraham the father and Isaac the son.

That’s true of the Holy Spirit. He is the administrator of the entire wealth of the godhead. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. But the administrator of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit. So apart from the Holy Spirit we cannot receive or enjoy our inheritance. When it speaks about our inheritance as the children of Abraham, it speaks specifically about receiving the promise of the Spirit because it’s only the Spirit that brings us into all the blessings which are our inheritance. The blessing of Abraham is in all things. But the administrator of the blessing is the Holy Spirit. That’s why it speaks specifically about receiving the promise of the Spirit.

I don’t usually speak about things like this because I have reservations about very finicky interpretations of names and numbers. But, there is, I think, a very beautiful thought here that before either Abraham or Sarah could receive their inheritance, each of them had to have a name change. There’s no question this is significant. Abraham’s name originally was Abram. It had to be changed to Abraham. Sarah’s name originally was Sarai. It had to be changed to Sarah. I do not question that it’s extremely significant that in each case a particular letter had to be inserted in their name In each case it was the same letter, the Hebrew letter Hê which is the breath letter. You cannot say Hê without breathing. That’s what makes it somewhat difficult for people who’ve grown up in English immediately to get the correct pronunciation. I believe this is just a very particular way of showing us that neither Abraham nor Sarah could receive their inheritance apart from the Holy Spirit, the breath of the Almighty.

This is likewise true of us. It’s only through the Holy Spirit that we can understand and receive and enter into our inheritance. In a certain sense, every one of us has to receive the breath of the Almighty before we qualify for the inheritance.