The Great Exchange Project

By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

The Bible’s Longest Prophecy

Imagine you were charged with the crime of murder and was brought before the judge. The jury brings back a verdict of guilty, and the judge pronounces the sentence of death upon you. You are most deserving of this penalty. As the officers are coming to remove you from the courtroom, the judge rises up, takes off his robe, wraps it around you, and, with outstretched arms, declares that he would take the death penalty for you so that you can go free.

What a miracle that would be! What an unimaginable exchange that would be! How excited would you feel? Do you know that someone did exactly that for you before you were conceived in your mother’s womb? Yes, indeed, someone has already paid the penalty for your crimes.

It was sometime after the creation of the earth, including God’s greatest creation, our first parents, Adam and Eve. How long after? We do not know. However, what we do know is that the first humans were provided with everything they needed for their enjoyment, sustenance, wellness, and nourishment. Then they committed the first crime ever recorded and passed on to us its deadly virus. And yes, we all have become infected with that deadly virus and have contracted the disease. It’s not only a disease, but a crime. The penalty for that crime is death. Therefore, we are all subject to punishment. The apostle Paul reminds us: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

But what is this thing called sin? There is no shortage of opinions on this matter; but the only correct answer is found in God’s word, the Holy Bible. His servant John explains: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4).

In their Eden home, Adam and Eve had the privilege of eating from the unlimited abundance of healthy, delicious vegetation, whatever their hearts desired. Their loving, generous God let them know that they could eat of them all, except one. Of the unnumbered choices they had, the first couple chose to partake of the very tree that their Creator commanded them not to partake of. There is much speculation about what kind of tree it was and what kind of fruit it bore. However, it does not matter what the name or nature of the tree or fruit it produced. For the issue is not what they ate but, more profoundly, that they disobeyed their Creator’s command.

You may tend to think that death seems like a harsh punishment for such a minor infraction. But the prophet Isaiah gives us a glimpse of how God sees things as opposed to our perceptions: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

What may have appeared to Adam and Eve and us today as a minor matter was of the most serious consequence throughout all eternity. That act impacted the entire universe. To a loving God who cannot change His law, justice must be meted out for its transgression. But thanks for His mercy in His administration of His justice. He revealed to the condemned His preconceived plan for their restoration back to their rightful position with Him. That plan is the Great Exchange Project: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).

Prior to the first couple’s transgression of God’s express command, they enjoyed face-to-face communion with their Maker. But now, sin has stepped in, and that high and glorious privilege was lost. However, the just God, who is also loving and merciful, provided a way for not only Adam and Eve but every person who ever lived on His planet to be rescued from the penalty of sin and be reconciled to Him. Because all humanity suffers from the sin virus; therefore all need to be rescued from its ultimate consequence, death-eternal separation from our Creator: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23–24).

The plan that Creator God instituted is the most profound, comprehensive plan that was ever drawn up and executed. In the entirety of man’s existence, the Great Exchange Project has had the greatest impact on human civilization. It was conceived before the creation of the world and introduced immediately after the first couple sinned.

The record reveals: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). In order to make coats of skin, an animal had to be killed and its blood shed. The coats of skin represent the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the ONLY one who can cover our sins: “For he hath 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). The blood that was shed prefigured His blood that was to be shed on Calvary’s cross for the remission of the sins of the world. We are reminded by the apostle Paul: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

In attempting to persuade his fellow Hebrews that their sanctuary services pointed to Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, the Only Savior of the world, Paul declared: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man (Jesus Christ) have somewhat also to offer” (Hebrews 8:1–3). And if Jesus has something to offer, then we want to direct our focus to where He is, in the heavenly sanctuary.

About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page