Christ Became a Curse That We Might Become a Blessing — Zac Poonen

The Curse on the Ground and Adam’s Body

In the Genesis chapter 3 and chapter 4 we see the word curse coming again and again. Sin brings a curse and when Adam sinned God did not curse him. It's important to know that. We read in verse 17 and the Lord told Adam in the middle of that verse, cursed is the ground because of you.

So the ground in which was not cursed until Adam sinned and that curse on the ground is not being removed and we must remember that. And the Lord said further in verse 19 in the middle, one day you will return to the ground, that's when he dies, because you were taken from there and you are dust.

So Adam's body also became cursed at that time because he himself was not cursed but his body also became cursed because the ground was cursed and he was taken from the ground. So this explains why we get sick and we die.

Even though our soul and our spirit are redeemed by the blood of Christ, it has not affected our body as yet. So it's important to remember that. It's only when Christ comes again that this body will be redeemed.

Otherwise we wonder why Christians get sick. In Genesis 4 when Cain sinned, it says here in Genesis chapter 4 that the Lord told him in verse 11, you are cursed. Here it's not Cain's body, he himself was cursed.

Genesis 3 and Genesis 4 Sins

Adam was never cursed. Adam's body got accursed because the ground was cursed. But in Cain's case he himself was cursed and he says you'll be a vagrant, twelve and a wanderer on the earth. The difference was because, as I see it, when Adam sinned, he hurt himself.

But Cain sinned, he hurt somebody else, his brother. So we see that was more serious. So Adam was not cursed but Cain was cursed. There are sins in which we hurt only ourselves. It's not as bad. That's a Genesis 3 type of sin.

But then there are sins where we hurt other people as well. That's Genesis 4 and that's more serious. For example, if we get drunk or smoke cigarettes, we hurt ourselves. People who keep on smoking cigarettes die early.

But if we gossip, we hurt other people. And yet most believers will think that getting drunk is worse than gossiping. They would never think of smoking a cigarette. But they don't take gossiping seriously.

Yet smoking a cigarette is in Genesis chapter 3 sin. Gossiping is chapter 4, which is more serious. Sometimes we don't realize that there are sins we commit that hurt others. We must take that more seriously than sins with which we hurt ourselves.

We should keep this as a lifelong lesson for us. There are sins, you know, there are bad habits that you can have with which you hurt yourself. Your dirty thoughts will hurt yourself. Anger will hurt not only yourself but hurt somebody else.

So to get angry is worse than smoking a cigarette. Because when you smoke a cigarette, you only hurt yourself. When you get angry, you hurt somebody else. So think of these as Genesis 3 sins and Genesis 4 sins.

And most Christians are all confused. If you look, if you make a list of the sins that hurt other people, like anger, gossiping, etc. Many people don't think of that as serious. They think of sins that hurt themselves as more serious.

So when we read the scriptures carefully, God will show us these things. I'll tell you, if you have a passionate desire to be totally free from sin. When I was born again, the only gospel I heard was that my sins are forgiven.

If I confess my sins, they are forgiven. And so for many years, I never thought of sins that hurt others and sins that hurt only myself. In fact, I never heard anybody preach it in my whole life till today.

But as I meditated on Genesis 3 and 4, I discovered it. And I realized that most Christians commit a lot of Genesis 4 sins. And they don't even think it's more serious than the sins that they hurt themselves.

So remember, God never cursed Adam, but he cursed Cain because he hurt somebody else. So right at the beginning of the Bible, what the Lord teaches us is, there are sins that you commit that hurt only yourself.

Christ Became a Curse on the Cross

That's not as bad as the sins that hurt other people. Now in Galatians 3, we read, we know that many things happened on the cross. Christ died for our sins on the cross. His blood was shed for our sins.

And our old man was crucified with Christ on the cross. And Satan was defeated on the cross. We looked at all those things. But there's another thing mentioned here in Galatians 3, that verse 13, that Christ became a curse for us.

That's a very strong statement. There's a curse on the law. Those who don't keep the law are accursed. And none of us have kept the law. We've all broken the law of God. And that automatically brings a curse upon us.

Like it came on Cain and he was sent away to a distant land. But Christ became a curse for us. I don't know whether you ever thought of that, to be accursed by God. Because it says here, because it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

And so, if you go back to Deuteronomy and Chapter 21 in the law, Deuteronomy and Chapter 21, verse 22, says, if a man has committed a sin, which is worthy of death, he must be put to death by hanging him on a tree.

And make sure his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree. You shall bury him the same day. Because anyone who's hanged like that is accursed by God. So you don't defile the land by allowing him to hang on that tree overnight.

So the reason why Jesus Christ had to be crucified was because of this law. He could not take the curse until he hung on a tree and was accursed by God. As it says here, whoever hangs on a tree is accursed by God.

So I have often thought that, you know, it's the Romans who first started the habit of crucifying people. As far as I know, the Greeks and the Medo-Persians and the Babylonians and Assyrians, the previous world powers never crucified people.

It was the Romans. And so, Jesus came to earth at a time when criminals were crucified, not just their heads chopped off or other forms of punishment. He had to come at a time when people were being crucified.

So he had to wait until crucifixion became the means of putting people to death because he had to take the curse. We know of many things that Jesus suffered on the cross, separation from God, and that's part of the curse.

But sometimes we probably have never thought sufficiently of this truth, that the curse which came upon Adam, I'm sorry, not on Adam, on Cain and on the ground, Jesus took it. And Jesus had a body that was made from the same dust that our bodies are made of, that is ground that is cursed.

So Jesus had to experience sickness as well in order to be a forerunner for us. The Bible says he was tempted in all points as we are, Hebrews 4 .15, that is part of being a forerunner. Every single temptation that any human being has ever faced, he faced.

Jesus’ Temptation and the Grace of God

Hebrews 4, we have spoken about it many times, but if you haven't, you don't know it, you must know this verse. It's the secret of a godly life. This is the verse, Hebrews 4 .15 and 16, that brought me to seek God for a life of victory over sin.

This one truth, not just the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but the truth that Jesus Christ came in a body just like mine. There was no sin in him, but Hebrews 4 .15, he was tempted in every single point, exactly as human beings are.

Now I've not faced the whole range of temptations that human beings face, but Jesus did. He encountered the entire range of temptations I have faced and also the ones I have not faced, which other human beings have faced.

Only thus could he be a forerunner. And he came in a body like ours, was tempted exactly like us. It says here, as we are, and yet without sin, the power of the Holy Spirit, because the grace of God was upon him.

So why is it that Jesus did not sin, even though he came in a body like ours? You know, Romans 6 .14, I want to make it very clear. It's all in Scripture. Romans 6 .14 says, the only way we can overcome sin is if we are under grace.

You're not under law, but under grace. Grace is like an umbrella that protects us from the rain of sin and temptation. As long as you stay under that umbrella, you cannot sin. Any time you sin in thought, word, deed, attitude, motive, it's because you move out of that umbrella, then you sin.

But as long as you stay under the umbrella, it is impossible to sin. And you know, we've seen that God gives His grace to the humble. So the way to stay under the umbrella is to remain humble before God and before man.

To be totally humble before God, you always be under the umbrella. God gives His grace to the humble. It is impossible to sin. Any time we sin, even slightly, it's because we moved out of that umbrella into some area of pride somewhere, some high thought, some thing we began to think highly of ourselves, and then we sin.

That's the only reason we sin. We must not find any other excuse for our sin. So why is it that Jesus never sinned, even though He was tempted like us? The answer is found in Luke chapter 2. In Luke's Gospel, chapter 2, we read about Jesus in verse 40, as a little child.

Luke 2 .40, He continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and He was under the grace of God. When it says the grace of God is upon Him, it means He was under grace. The grace of God is upon Him, like an umbrella.

And when you're under grace, sin cannot have dominion over you. That is the reason why He never sinned. No other reason. It's not because He was the Son of God. And up to His death, this is from His birth, we read in Luke chapter 2.

And when you go to Hebrews, in chapter 2, we read, Hebrews chapter 2, how could Jesus undergo the tremendous suffering of death on a cross, to not sin, not just the physical aspect of it, but not sin, even when He was forsaken by God.

He knew He was forsaken. And He asked, and it was not a question of rebellion. It was not in rebellion that He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? No. It was in humility that He asked God.

He didn't call Him Father, because He was standing before the judge of the universe there, because of your sin and mine. That's why He called Him God. The only time in His life, He called God, God. Otherwise, He always called Him Father.

Even at that time of tremendous agony, He never sinned. Why? Hebrews 2, verse 9. Again, the grace of God. You see there that Jesus, verse 9, He was made a little lower than the angels, Hebrews 2 9, because of the suffering of death.

And the last part of that verse says, by the grace of God, He tasted that death. He could not have tasted that death. You know, you and I, we see of many, we hear of many saints of God dying, singing songs and cheerfully committing their soul to their heavenly Father.

Jesus' death was not like that. It was in great agony. But He never sinned, because by the grace of God that is upon Him. So we read in Luke chapter 2, He began with the grace of God. Hebrews 2, we read He ended with the grace of God.

It was because He was under grace throughout. He was determined to remain in humility, so that grace would be upon Him. And that's why He never sinned. And that is the way He is open for us. So in Hebrews 4, coming back to the verse we read, Hebrews 4, 15, it says, He was tempted exactly like us in every point, but He did not sin.

So what should we do? What is the conclusion? Therefore, let us also come with great boldness. Where? To the throne of God, where we get grace. The same grace that helped Jesus from birth to death, never to sin, under the greatest provocation, even when He faced temptations that you and I will never face on the cross, being forsaken by God.

Let us come now and get the same grace. We come to the throne of grace, what for? First of all, to receive mercy. Jesus never needed mercy. Mercy means forgiveness of sins. Jesus didn't need it. We need it.

So when we come to God, the first thing we need is mercy. Mercy is the great word of the old covenant. You find it many times in the old covenant. His mercy endures forever. His mercy is one psalm where every verse, it says, His mercy endures forever.

Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, throughout the old covenant. Grace is never found in the old covenant. Grace came through Jesus Christ, John 1, 17. Grace came to the earth through Jesus Christ, never before.

So now we can go and get both mercy and grace. Mercy deals with our entire past life and then grace for every day that we live on this earth. We can receive it if we go to the throne of grace. But there is a condition.

Humility, Grace, and Victory over Sin

The condition is we must humble ourselves. It's the only condition. You don't have to know the scriptures. You don't have to claim any promise. You may not be educated. You may not have read the Bible.

You may not know all the promises. But if you're humble, anybody can be humble. An uneducated person can be humble before God. And any person, there's no respect of persons with God. You come before God in humility, grace will automatically come upon you.

It's like water always flows to the lowest place first. So whoever is the humblest person will receive the grace first. Water always flows to the lowest place. It's a law. And God giving grace to the humble is a law.

So anytime we commit any type of sin, even a little bit of a bad thought or a moment of anger or pride, we have to be honest and go before God and say, Lord, I did not get grace there because I was not somewhere along the line I was proud.

Because if I got grace, I would not have sinned. Definitely not. It is impossible to sin when you're under grace. Romans 6 .14 is clear. And Jesus has shown us the way by which we can live there all the time.

I'll tell you something. Being in a bad mood is sinful. We take it for granted. Oh, well, the pressures of the day put me in a bad mood. No. Pride made you sin with a bad mood. Can you imagine Jesus being in a bad mood sometimes?

Impossible. You could call him the devil. You could do whatever you like. Ignore him. Treat him badly. He'd always been in a good mood because of grace. It was not determination or you can't say, well, that's my temperament.

My temperament makes me moody. No, sir. It's not your temperament. It's your pride. If you don't face up to that, you'll always put the blame on our temperament or our circumstances or this is a sudden provocation.

I was not ready for it. It is none of those things. And I'll tell you something. As long as you find an excuse for your sin and your bad moods, you will never get over it in your whole life. But if you own up to it and say, Lord, this has got nothing to do with my temperaments, not something I was born with.

It's downright pride. Then there's hope because you admit what you are and then you'll seek to get rid of it. So it's good that the Bible gives us a perfect diagnosis of why we fail and why we fall. Isn't it a wonderful thing to follow Jesus who has never got angry, never got into a bad mood?

Jesus’ Sickness and the Curse on the Body

He was only angry when people exploited others or when people made money in the name of religion. Then we should be angry too when we see that. So we read that Isaiah chapter 53 is the one place in the Bible where we read that Jesus was sick.

Now that's not mentioned in the New Testament. But Isaiah 53, it says in verse 3, Jesus is referring to Jesus, you know, he was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with sickness.

If you've got a margin in your Bible, it says there, the original Hebrew says sickness. But the translators of the Bible did not have the courage to put it exactly like that because they had a theology that says Jesus could not possibly have been sick.

See, it's sad when people try to interpret the Bible and put their interpretation instead of putting exactly what was written in the original. So at least these guys had the honesty to admit right in the margin.

The original says sickness, but we don't think it was sickness. So we have put grief. But it says here, verse 4, surely our griefs, again in the margin it says sickness, our sicknesses he himself bore.

Same word. Now here it becomes clear. Because this verse, we know whether it should be grief or sickness in verse 4. Surely our grief or is it our sickness that he bore? It's very easy to find out. You turn to Matthew chapter 8.

When we are diligent to compare scripture with scripture, we get the truth. God does not reveal his truths to lazy people who don't study the scriptures. Matthew chapter 8, we read that Jesus healed all who were sick in verse 16.

Matthew 8 16, when evening came, they brought to him many who were demon possessed. And he cast out the spirits with the word and healed everyone who was sick. And when that happened, in that place, Peter's hometown, because we read he was in 14, he was in Peter's hometown.

When he healed all that was sick, a particular scripture was fulfilled. Which scripture? This scripture we just read in Isaiah 53, he took our sicknesses, carried away our sicknesses. That is Isaiah 53, verse 4.

He took our sicknesses upon himself. So you see here, they use that. But if you go back to the Isaiah quotation, you find that there, they did not translate it as that he carried away our sicknesses. So to me, it's a great comfort to know that Jesus experienced sickness.

It teaches me one thing, that sickness is not the result of sin. It can be sometimes, but it's not always the result of sin. There are children who are born with defamities, not because they are sinful.

The closest to heaven on earth is a baby, no sin. But some babies are born with infirmities and defamities. That's because there's a curse on this body, which is made from the ground. So I'm so thankful to know that Jesus experienced sickness.

I got light on this many years ago, when I was having a, I think when I was in India, many years ago, I think maybe 30 years or more. And I was having a severe headache one day. And you know, when you have a headache, and you have little children in the home, they can irritate you even more.

You can feel the irritation more when you got a severe headache. So I said, Lord, did you ever have a headache on the earth? I mean, what I'm going through now, did you ever face it? Were you tempted like me?

That's when I got light on this verse, that he experienced sickness, in order to be a forerunner. And boy, that was a tremendous comfort for me, to not only that he was tempted like me, but he experienced sickness, but he never sinned.

So why did he experience sickness? Because sickness is part of the curse. And his body was made the same body as ours. That is why he died. When the curse is removed, there'll be no more death. The body we get when Christ comes back, will be a glorious body.

We read in Philippians, I'm showing you all these scriptures so that your faith can be established on the Word of God. In Philippians 3, it says in verse 20 and 21, we eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ coming from heaven.

When he comes, he will transform the body of our humble state, which is this body made from the dust of the earth, which is under a curse, into conformity with the body of his glory. Then the curse will be removed from our body.

But until that day, we can be sick and we die. The fact that all human beings die, including the best of believers, proves that the curse on the body is still there. But the curse in our spirit is removed when Christ comes in.

The Blessing of Abraham through the Holy Spirit

So now we turn back to Galatians 3 and we see with this background of what the Bible speaks about the curse. We read in Galatians 3, Christ, verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse by his becoming a curse for us.

He not only died for us, he became a curse on Calvary's tree because it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So when you think of Jesus hanging on the tree, not just that he was forsaken by God, okay.

He was cursed by God. Think of that. It's a horrible thing to think of it. You know, we know what a horrible thing it is to be cursed. To think of a person being cursed by God. The more we get closer to Christ, we understand more of what he went through.

One of the prayers I prayed when I was converted and got baptized more than 60 years ago, I said, Lord, teach me more and more of the meaning of the cross on which you died. And it's been an amazing revelation that God has given me in these 60 years of what Jesus went through on the cross.

I shared some of it the other day during the conference. And here's the other thing. And the depth of what it means to be forsaken by God, we can't understand. And the depth of what it means to be accursed of God, we can't understand.

But because of that, the curse has been lifted from our spirit, but not from our body. It will be lifted from our body, as we read in Philippians, only when he comes again. So Jesus died because the curse was on the body.

He had a body just like ours. Now, I want to go on from there to the positive side. When the curse is removed, it's not into an empty space that God brings us. Okay, the curse is gone. Period. No, there's no period there.

Comma. The curse is removed so that, verse 14, the blessing of Abraham should come on us. And that is the promise of the Holy Spirit. So the promise of the Holy Spirit being the baptism in the Holy Spirit of being filled with the Holy Spirit is called here the promise God gave to Abraham in a picture.

Abraham did not have the Holy Spirit, but the blessing God promised Abraham in a much larger sense is what comes upon us through the Holy Spirit. But that could not come upon us until the curse was removed.

So that is why I went through this long Bible study to show you all about the curse. The final goal was that if you believe the curse, Jesus took the curse, just like long ago, you believed he took your sins.

And you believed some time ago, I hope that your old man was crucified with him. You believed also that the devil was defeated when Jesus died on the cross. Here's another truth that Jesus became a curse on the cross with a purpose.

Why did he take our sins on the cross so that we might be forgiven? Why was our old man crucified with him on the cross so that we might have victory over sin? Why did he defeat Satan on the cross so that we might never be afraid of Satan, so that Satan will have no power over us, so that one word in Jesus name and Satan will flee, flee from your home, flee from your church, flee from any difficult situation, flee from a human being who is possessed if you rebuke the devil in Jesus name.

And also, number four, he became a curse on the cross so that the blessing of the Holy Spirit, which is called here the blessing of Abraham, it was symbolically given to Abraham. The reality is in the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

So we have a birthright. You know what a birthright is. You see how Jacob so eager to get the birthright from Isaac. It meant a big thing in the Old Testament. And the elder son always got the birthright.

So our birthright as children of God is the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Don't despise it. Don't neglect it. You cannot live without it. And that has come to us. The price Jesus paid to get us that birthright is he became a curse so that the blessing of Abraham might come on us.

We receive the promise of the Holy Spirit. So now let's turn to look at the blessing of Abraham back in Genesis and chapter 12. See what exactly it is. Then we'll see what the promise of the Holy Spirit is supposed to do in our lives.

In Genesis chapter 12, we read about the promise God gave to Abraham. This is what is what comes upon us. Because Jesus took the curse upon himself. You know, when Jesus has done something for us, we must make use of that benefit that we have got.

Because he paid such a price to get this for us, we should not despise it. He paid shed his blood so that my sin can be forgiven. He was crucified so that my old man might be crucified. He defeated the devil so that I might never be afraid of the devil.

So that the devil will be afraid of me and you. That's why he defeated the devil on the cross. That's my birthright. And here's another thing. The promise of Abraham, which is called the gift of the Holy Spirit.

What is the blessing of Abraham? Genesis 12, verse 2. In one sentence, middle of verse 2. Two parts. I will bless you and you will be a blessing to other people. Verse 3. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

So the blessing of Abraham is basically two things. God will bless me and make me a blessing to every family I encounter on the face of this earth. That's how it applies to me. We encounter different families in our lifetime.

And God's purpose is that we become a blessing to every one of those families. Genesis 12, verse 3. This is the blessing of Abraham. Christ became a curse so that this blessing of Abraham might come upon us.

That we might experience this. Abraham could not experience it fully. His seed of earthly blessing they got. But the real blessing is through the Holy Spirit that we can be blessed and the greatest blessing that God can give us through the Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus Christ.

Eternal life it's called. Eternal life is not living forever. It is the life of Jesus Christ. The quality of life. Many people think of eternal life as quantity. Not quantity. We always think in terms of quantity.

No. Quality of life. Eternal. Quality of life God gives us is eternal life which is the life of Jesus. It's the very life of God. Nobody else has it. It's not living forever. Living forever, everlasting life is even for those who go to hell, live forever.

They are everlasting. But eternal life is a quality of life which God is God's own life. He is the only one who has it. Because eternity does not mean, everlasting can mean something that has no end. But eternity means something that had no beginning and has no end.

So eternal life is a life that had no beginning and has no end. Whose life is that? No angel, no man, only God. So we must understand eternal life properly. It's not length of life. It's a quality of life.

That's why Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6, lay hold of eternal life. Is he telling him to be born again? No. He was already born again. But he says this eternal life, the life of Jesus, lay hold of it.

This quality of life. Timothy, you have not possessed it fully. And I would say to every one of you, lay hold of eternal life. We are called to that. So that the blessing of God can be upon our life and we can be a blessing to every family we encounter.

It says all the families of the earth. Verse 3. Every family we encounter should be blessed through us in some way. Because they came in touch with us. Maybe through something we say or something we do or just even by smiling at them.

There are so many believers who are not. I'm sorry to say they are not a blessing to others. Very often we are critical and judgmental. We are not a blessing. Well, it's because we are not filled with the Holy Spirit.

Fullness of the Holy Spirit and Rivers of Living Water

The more we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be blessed ourselves and that blessing will overflow to others. Those are the rivers of living water. When Jesus said rivers of living water will flow out from you.

See, the great need in the Old Testament was always water. God used to punish Israel with famine and dryness. He said, I'll send a drought into the land. That was the punishment. A curse meant a drought in the land.

And when believers are dry, it's not the way we should be. We should always be fresh. Always like a watered garden. All the time. It is not something we work up and it's got nothing to do with temperament.

It's got to do with being filled with the Holy Spirit every day. So many people speak glibly about the Holy Spirit and you know how Pentecostals and Charismatics make it speaking in tongues. A lot of people who speak in tongues are not fresh and overflowing with the joy of the Lord at all.

That's a good gift. God gives it to some people, but not to everyone. 1 Corinthians 12 makes that clear. But the blessing, to be a blessing to everyone. That is God's gift for every believer. So remember this.

This is God's will for you. That the blessing, to be a blessing to every family you encounter. Only possible through being filled with the Holy Spirit. And that's why Jesus said, you know the very well-known verse, people ask me, what is the mark of being filled with the Spirit?

They say, didn't everybody speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost? I said, you read, compare Scripture with Scripture. 1 Corinthians 12 says very clearly, all do not speak in tongues. But what did Jesus say would be the mark of the fullness of the Spirit?

I'll tell you a little principle in studying Acts of the Apostles. I'm telling you as a Bible teacher. Never get a doctrine from an event in the Bible. Get a doctrine from a promise in the Bible. Event, Paul circumcised Timothy.

We shouldn't do it. The doctrine is in Galatians that you should not be circumcised. Paul made a mistake. Paul shouted at the high priest. That's in Acts of the Apostles. Very dangerous to get a doctrine from Acts of the Apostles.

Because it's a book of history. And the only place the Pentecostals get the doctrine of everybody speaking in tongues in Acts of the Apostles. They have not understood the fundamental principle of Bible teaching that you don't get a doctrine from a statement in history.

You get a doctrine from a statement of fact in the Epistles. So let's see what the promise Jesus said. When you are filled with the Spirit, what will happen? Here it is. Jesus said it. Acts 1 verse 8.

When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive, not speaking in tongues. He never said that. He said you will receive power. Power for what? Power to be my witness in every part of the earth.

Or power to be a blessing to every family on the earth. Same thing. Blessing of Abraham. That's the same thing in Acts 1 verse 8. You will be my witness means you will reflect my life and share my life with everybody everywhere on the earth that you go.

And there's a difference. I hope you know the difference between bearing witness and being a witness. What is the difference? If Jesus had said you will bear witness for me, that is only with our tongue.

I bear witness with my tongue to others about Jesus. But being a witness is entirely different. It is tongue plus my life. My life backs up what I say with my tongue. So many people don't read the scripture carefully.