We all gloriously assume that Christ took away Sin, but can any of us articulate the nuts-and-bolts of this miracle? Was this just something that God spoke into existence, or is there a picture in the law of Moses that would unveil for us some sort of divine procedure when it comes to the eradication of our twin enemies of Sin and Death?

The law of leprosy in Leviticus 13 (of all unlikely places) is where we first see the principle of an enemy being exhausted and thus fighting no more. When a leprosy victim contracted the disease and it was spreading, the priest would declare him unclean. Yet when the disease took over the entire body (essentially a worst-case scenario), the priest would declare him clean. How could this be? Because the disease could no longer spread. It had no more "real estate" to conquer.

Thus also with Sin. Everything Sin is and can do was hung upon Christ on the cross. This is awful to contemplate. Every arrow in Satan's quiver was unleashed upon the Savior of the world. As terrible as this is, think of our Lord as CAPTURING all that Sin is and can do, so that there would be nothing of the enemy left—no further ammunition available. Christ captured Sin upon His body (being sinless Himself), taking it to the tomb with Him—BUT THEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD WITHOUT IT.

The resurrection is what Satan had not banked upon. Satan threw EVERYTHING at Christ. It was a calculated risk. He knew he had a formidable opponent in the Son of God, yet here He was pinned to a Roman stake of execution. Now was the time to make sure He never recovered from it. Now was certainly NOT the time to hold back any offensive weapon. So Satan "bet the farm," unleashing everything Sin could do upon the naked frame of Christ.

No wonder our Lord cried out, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

But when our Lord cried, "It is accomplished!" and gave up His spirit, He was acknowledging the truth that He had indeed successfully encountered every malevolence Satan could generate, and would now enter the death state—for as James writes in 1:15, "Now sin, fully consummated, is teeming forth death." The result of becoming Sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), therefore, was death. Our Lord died, yes. BUT THREE DAYS LATER, HIS FATHER ROUSED HIM FROM DEATH, NEVER TO DIE AGAIN.

This, indeed, was the end of Sin's reign. And Satan knew it. All he could do now was lie about it—as though nothing ever happened at Calvary. The entire Christian religion believes this audacious lie.

We do not.

We are clean and free.