The Greatest Exchange!

The Greatest Exchange!

We learn in the laws of physics about conservation – conservation of mass, momentum, and energy. Those laws state that the total of the property (mass, momentum, and energy) remains the same for an ISOLATED or CLOSED SYSTEM, even though it can be transferable from one point to another within the SAME SYSTEM.

An example of a closed system is Noah’s Ark, where no one else was allowed except Noah’s family and the animals. God closed the Ark. Another crude example of a closed system is a balloon filled with air and tied up.

The volume of the balloon remains the same, though it can be squeezed at one end. While the squeezed end may decrease in volume, the volume on the other side (not squeezed) will increase, keeping the total volume the same.

I have joked with people in the streets when I hear them say, “I have lost 20 pounds,” by replying to them, “Don’t worry. I have gained 20 pounds. It is called ‘Conservation of mass!’” The conservation law only applies to a CLOSED SYSTEM, and a stranger and I are not in that CLOSED system.

Jesus and the Church are a CLOSED/ISOLATED SYSTEM! Jesus is the Head, and we are the body. Within this system, exchanges take place, and the greatest of the exchanges comes from Jesus to all of us, His believers within that system. JESUS WENT THROUGH THE SQUEEZE FOR US TO GAIN ALL THAT HE HAS!  

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS A CLOSED/ISOLATED SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL ROOM FOR ANYONE WHO RESPONDS TO THE INVITATION OF GOD TO COME IN BY RECEIVING JESUS!

Here are the great exchanges from Jesus to His believers:

Exchange of Garment!

The Bible describes our garments as filthy rags: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Jesus was stripped of His robe at the cross: “And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified” (Matthew 27:31).

The robe Jesus lost is the robe of righteousness we have gained: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).

Exchange of Sin for Righteousness!

We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God: “…All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

Jesus was the substitute for our sin. He hung on the cross as a symbol of our sin and shame while we became the righteousness of God through Him: “For (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21).

Exchange of Suffering for Our Healing and Health!

Here is a perfect law of conservation of Jesus taking upon Himself our suffering on the cross to grant us healing: “But He was wounded (pierced through) for our transgressions, He was bruised (crushed) for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes (blows that cut in) we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Exchange of Status!

Jesus was counted as a transgressor to be crucified along with two thieves on the cross: “He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

Jesus lost His status to gain us our status in God as His ambassadors: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20).

Exchange of Riches!

Conservation of riches – Jesus exchanged His riches for our poverty: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (II Corinthians 8:9).

The Greatest of Exchanges - Exchange of His Life for Our Friendship!

The greatest of all exchanges is Jesus’ Greater Love for which He laid down His life for us: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13).

I have come to understand that Jesus’ sacrifice is complete on the cross, but His friendship and even greater love He died for are available to me at PRESENT! While I do not discount the sacrifice of Jesus, I very much long to experience more of Jesus’ friendship with greater love He has yielded His life for!

Jesus told His disciples who yielded to His friendship by giving up ALL: “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:15-17).

Here is the significance of Jesus’ friendship:

·        “I have called you friends!” – Imagine the friendship with the Creator of the Universe! There is nothing that compares to it!

·        “All things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you!” – A full disclosure and revelation of all that the Father has revealed to Jesus that is made available to us from the Lord!

·        “I chose you!” – Many are called, but a few are chosen, and we are one among those chosen for the friendship of Jesus!

·        “I appointed you to go and bear fruit!” – We are appointed by Jesus to produce fruit by virtue of intimacy with His friendship! While our friendship with Jesus is invisible to others, the fruit we bear cannot be hidden. The fruits of intimacy with Jesus are love, joy, and peace, which are NOT hidden!

·        “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you!” – In favor of asking and receiving from the Father all that we need!

Jesus gave us ALL that He has from the Father:

Given us His Word: “For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me” (John 17:8).

Given us His Truth: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).

Given us His anointing: John the Baptist mentioned the baptism in the Holy Spirit Jesus offers to His believers: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).

Given us His Glory: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:22).

Given us Authority by His Blood: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11).

Given us His Works (Enterprise): “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12).

God Made Us Joint Heirs with Jesus: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:15-17).

What Jesus lost, we His believers gained!

Jesus lost His garment to clothe us with the Robe of Salvation!

Jesus Became Sin for us to Become the Righteousness of God in Christ!

Jesus was Crucified Among Criminals While We Gain the Status of Becoming His Ambassadors!

Jesus Exchanged His Riches for Our Poverty!

Jesus gave Us His Word!

Jesus gave us His Anointing!

Jesus granted us Authority Over Satan by His Blood!

Jesus Put Us in Charge of His Works (Enterprise)!

Jesus Gave Us His Glory!

The Greatest of All Exchanges – Jesus Offered Us His Life for Our Friendship!

We are Joint Heirs with Jesus by the Will of the Father!

Here is the simple test – If we are not increasing with what Jesus has shared in the CLOSED SYSTEM, WE ARE NOT IN THE SYSTEM but wandering around elsewhere!

What Do We Do When We Are Squeezed?

Jesus gave us everything He has with His friendship!

What do we give back to Him when the squeeze is on us?

In the example above with a balloon, when you squeeze it on one side, the other side increases in volume.

If we are with Jesus as His friend, He alone must be exalted when we go through the “squeeze.” The proverb says: “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). If we are a friend of Jesus, there is no better chance to prove it than when we are (in a “squeeze”) tempted, attacked, faced with trials and sufferings. We will be the REFLECTION OF JESUS with His transforming qualities, picking up His cross and following Him faithfully!

Apostle Paul became a dear friend to Jesus, who did not mind but indeed welcomed the loss of things for the knowledge and increase of Christ in his life: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain (arrive at) to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8,10-11).

Apostle Paul’s loss reflected the increase of Christ in his life. So must our lives be when the “squeeze” is on us: “Jesus must increase, we must decrease.”

Jesus sets the Example for us to follow by laying down our lives for the brethren: “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (I John 3:16).

On a personal note, I have come to understand that the more I appropriate and appropriate all that Jesus yielded His life for, the more I am in friendship with Jesus. There is room only to grow more every day than to wander away from my Jesus and lose His friendship.

JESUS WENT THROUGH THE SQUEEZE FOR ME TO GAIN ALL OF HIM!

WE ARE THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST! CHRIST IS THE HEAD!

SATAN OR THE WORLD HAS NO POWER OVER THIS SYSTEM!

I AM PRIVILEGED TO BE IN THIS SYSTEM LOCKED IN WITH MY JESUS!

JESUS ALONE IS EXALTED IN MY BLESSINGS (INCREASE) AS WELL AS IN MY SUFFERINGS (DECREASE)!

I AM BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE AND PRAISING MY GOD FOR THIS GREAT HONOR!

Prayer

“Heavenly Father, I love You and Adore You. You are immeasurable and uncomprehensible in Your wisdom and understanding to send me Jesus, Your Beloved Son, to exchange what He has with me. I am born anew by Your grace and mercy to represent You through the example of Your Precious Son, Jesus. Grant me, I pray, a life worthy of Your son in righteousness, truth, power, and anointing to draw many more into Your Kingdom. In the Precious Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen! Amen!!”

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John Jeyaseelan

www.globalprayercenter.net