march 31

From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions    ......   March 31

"For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."-–2
Corinthians
5:21

Our blessed Lord offered himself for sin; that is, that
he might put away sin by the sacrifice of himself--"Who his own self
bore
our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). It was
absolutely
necessary either that the sinner should suffer in his own person, or
in that
of a substitute. Jesus became this substitute; he stood virtually in
the
sinner's place, and endured in his holy body and soul the punishment
due to
him; for he "was numbered with the transgressors." He thus, by the
shedding
of his most precious blood, opened in his sacred body a fountain for
all sin
and all uncleanness (Zech. 13:1).

The cross was the place on which this sacrifice was
offered; for as the blood of the slain lamb was poured out at the
foot of
the altar, sprinkled upon its horns, and burned in its ever-enduring
fire,
so our blessed Lord shed his blood upon the cross. He there endured
the
wrath of God to the uttermost; he there put away sin by the
sacrifice of
himself; he there offered his holy soul and body, the whole of his
pure and
sacred humanity, in union with his eternal Deity, as an expiation
for the
sins of his people.

Thus all their sin was atoned for, expiated, put away,
blotted out, and will never more be imputed to them. This is the
grand
mystery of redeeming love and atoning blood. Here the cross shines
forth in
all its splendor; here God and man meet at the sacrifice of the
God-man; and
here, amid the sufferings and sorrows, the groans and tears, the
blood and
obedience of God's dear Son in our nature, grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life.