Jesus Took YOUR Place On The Cross

Acts 4:12

For there is no other name by which we must be saved. -- Jesus, God's Christ.

I Timothy 2:5

For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus. --

There is no mediatrix, or any priest or minister that can negotiate between God and mankind, other than Jesus, Himself.

Genesis 3:6

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. -- 

When Eve ate the Forbidden Fruit, she thought she was doing a good thing. She had sinned a personal sin. But when Adam ate it, he knew he was disobeying God. 

I Corinthians 15:22

For as in Adam all die; --

We know enough today about DNA and genes and how traits are "inherited" from our parents, and how the mother and the father each contribute different traits.

Adam would pass along his "original sin" to every other person born into the human race, so each of us is born with that "sin-nature," that bent that draws every one of us into thinking that we know better, we're smart enough to make our own decisions; we are our own god. That's what leads us into making the poor decisions that cause our problems, missing the bull's eye.

We are each born into this life already under condemnation.

II Corinthians 5:21

God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin ... --

Jesus didn't die for certain sins, He took the whole basket, our sin-nature, which is the root and fountainhead of every sin, from the smallest to the most horrendous. 

... for us, --

In our place, just as a lawyer will represent us and speak for us before the judge.

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. --

This is a possibility for us now, that we might become, not just have, God's own righteousness. But only when we face our own frailty and culpability, and recognize God for Who He is and what He's done for us, and let Jesus take our place in the death each one of us deserves on the Cross.

Isaiah 53:12

... And he (1) bare the sin of many, and (2) made intercession for the transgressors. --

This is the chapter that describes Jesus so accurately that Jewish people today who study it recognize Him as their Messiah. Jesus' Divine blood had endless value, to cover all sins everywhere. Often in doctrinal passages, "many" actually refers to "all;" and "sin" is the sin-nature, "sins" are individual acts. 

The end of this verse, essentially, is saying, "Jesus' blood ransomed all those who have been born with a sin-nature, and paid in full the whole debt of those who have disobeyed a law."

So babies, even though born with a sin-nature, are covered; and those who have reached the "age of accountability" and deliberately disobeyed a rule, can be redeemed by admitting their guilt, and letting Jesus pay their debt for them. 

God does not leave out anyone, no matter who they are, when or where they live, or what kind of life they've lived. All we need to do is just turn around, He's there with arms stretched out to receive every one of us.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!