“God made him [Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
—2 Corinthians 5:21.

Because of Christ, God can perform a marvelous act of substitution. Our life of sin is exchanged, in a judicial sense, for Christ’s life of righteousness. Because of Jesus’ sinless life and death, God can forgive us and treat us as if we’d never sinned. What is more, He buries our sins in the depth of the sea and presents the record of His sinless life (which the cross has declared “admissible evidence”) as a replacement for the damning record of our sinful life. This is exactly what we need in the judgment in order to stand before a holy God.

Heaven preserves a record of every individual life (Revelation 20:12). God evaluates every action (1 Samuel 2:3). He keeps track of every word ever spoken and every thought that has ever crossed the mind (Matthew 12:36). That’s the bad news for those who imagine their secret sins and crimes will never return to haunt them.

But there is wonderfully good news for all who’ve sincerely accepted Christ as their Advocate before the Father: “The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Jesus has “wiped out” our sins (Acts 3:19). In place of our very flawed past, Christ presents the spotless record of His perfect life (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Let’s take an in-depth look at what qualifies Jesus, our Advocate and Judge, to deal with our sin problem. (If you have trouble with mathematics, which many people do, we’d like to suggest that you read the next three sections through rapidly. Don’t get bogged down in the numbers. You can understand the important facts in the rest of this guide even if you don’t fully understand the math.)