Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 4:25, 5:12, John 8:46
In this message, Dr. Merritt looks at what happened 2,000 years ago on the most momentous weekend in history--from a totally different point of view. Normally, a preacher comes to this event looking at it through our eyes—what did the cross mean to us? But what would happen if we looked at the cross through God's eyes. When God looks at what happened on the cross, and subsequently at the tomb, He sees a "Beautiful Exchange". The cross is really God’s way of saying, “I’m going to make you an offer that you not only can’t refuse it would make absolutely no sense to refuse.” The details of that exchange are found in a single verse of scripture that may be the single, deepest, theological verse in the entire Bible.
"What Christianity is all about is a Beautiful Exchange. It is an exchange where God offers the one thing that we desperately need in exchange for the only thing that we can give with the result being the greatest miracle we can ever experience. The beautiful exchange at the cross brings the greatest change through the cross." --Dr. Merritt
Keywords: crucifixion, Calvary, forgiveness, salvation, God, Christ, died, death, cross, court, judge, words, request, sympathy, exchange, substitution, propitiation, sinless, Donald Trump, New York, Manhattan Island, deal, trade, sacrifice, significant, Easter
Pastors Edge provides Bible preachers and teachers with ready-to-use resources and materials based on the preaching of Dr. James Merritt, Senior Pastor at Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, GA and host of the international broadcast ministry Touching Lives.