The Divine Exchange

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

If Derek Prince’s teaching has a centre, it is here. Late in his ministry he summed up what he had come to believe about the cross in a short book called The Divine Exchange, and he regarded it as the key to everything else he taught. The idea is simple, and he stated it again and again in different forms. At the cross, God arranged an exchange. All the evil that was due to us came upon Jesus, so that all the good that was due to Jesus might be offered to us.

One sacrifice, many sides

Prince built the teaching chiefly on the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, which he read, as the New Testament does, as a portrait of the suffering Messiah. He noticed how many different words the prophet uses for what the Servant bore — griefs, sorrows, transgressions, iniquities — and how many different benefits flow from it — peace, healing, justification.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. ISAIAH 53:4–5

From this and from the New Testament he drew up a list of exchanges. Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven. He was wounded that we might be healed. He was made sin that we might be made righteous. He died our death that we might share His life. He became poor that we might be rich. He bore our shame that we might share His glory. He endured rejection that we might be accepted. He was made a curse that we might receive the blessing. Each one he anchored in a text.

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 2 CORINTHIANS 8:9

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. GALATIANS 3:13–14

The great strength of this teaching is that it keeps everything tied to the cross. Prince would not let his hearers look for blessing anywhere else. Forgiveness, healing, acceptance, freedom — none of it was to be sought as a separate spiritual achievement. All of it had been purchased in one act, at one place, by one Person. The believer’s part was not to earn any of it but to receive it by faith.

Grace, not merit

Prince insisted that the exchange is wholly of grace. It rests on nothing we have done. We do not qualify for it by our goodness, and we are not disqualified by our failure. The only condition is to come in faith, acknowledging our need.

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 PETER 2:24

This has great pastoral force. Many Christians live under a vague sense that God tolerates them but does not quite welcome them, and that the good things of the gospel are reserved for the more spiritual. Prince cut through that. What Jesus received, He received for you. What He offers, He offers to you. The cross is not a reward for the worthy. It is a gift to the needy.

Where care is needed

This is also the point at which Prince’s teaching needs the most careful handling, because two parts of it have been pressed further than Scripture allows.

The first concerns healing. Prince taught that physical healing is included in the atonement, citing Isaiah 53 and 1 Peter 2:24. Many sound teachers have held something like this, and it rightly reminds us that the salvation Christ won reaches the whole person and will one day include the resurrection of the body. But it does not follow that every believer may claim immediate healing now, or that continuing illness shows a lack of faith. The New Testament records Paul leaving Trophimus sick at Miletum (2 Timothy 4:20), and Paul himself was refused the removal of his thorn. The full harvest of the exchange awaits the resurrection. To tell a sick believer otherwise is to add a burden the cross was meant to lift.

The second concerns prosperity. Prince taught that Christ became poor that we might be rich, and he meant it to include God’s provision for our needs, with enough to give to others. He was not a prosperity preacher in the crude sense, and he lived modestly. But the verse has been used by others as a promise of wealth, and some of Prince’s hearers heard it that way. In context Paul is speaking of the grace of Christ and urging the Corinthians to give generously. The riches are first of all the riches of grace. Contentment, not accumulation, is the apostolic pattern (Philippians 4:11–12).

With those qualifications, the core of the teaching is gloriously scriptural, and it is the core that matters.

The forsaken Son

Prince would not let his hearers think of the exchange as a transaction without cost. It was paid for in agony. The one who knew no sin was made sin, and the Son who had known the Father’s face from eternity cried out that He had been forsaken.

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? MATTHEW 27:46

That cry, he taught, is the measure of what was exchanged. Jesus was rejected by the Father that we might be accepted by Him. The distance between that cry and our welcome is the whole distance of the gospel.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. ISAIAH 53:10

Receiving the exchange

How is it received? Prince’s answer was characteristically practical. Know what was done; believe it; and thank God for it specifically. He encouraged believers to learn the exchanges, to speak them back to God, and to take their stand upon them when doubt or accusation came. Not because words are magic, but because faith grows by hearing and confessing what God has said.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. HEBREWS 2:9

The best of Prince is here: a man who had once weighed every argument and found none to live by, standing at last before the cross and finding everything there.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read Isaiah 53 slowly, aloud if you can. Underline every word for what the Servant bore, and every word for what we receive.

2. Write out the exchanges listed in this chapter. Beside each, write the verse. Keep the list where you will see it.

3. Which of the exchanges do you find hardest to believe is for you? Bring that one to God in prayer every day this week.

4. If you are ill, or love someone who is, ask God for healing boldly — and refuse the lie that continued illness means you have too little faith.

5. Ask whether you have received the riches of grace as a reason to give. Make one generous gift this month in thanks for the cross.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You took what was mine so that I might have what is Yours. I cannot take it in, and I do not deserve it.

You were wounded for my transgressions, made sin for me, made a curse for me, forsaken for me. I bow before a love that paid so much.

Teach me to receive what You bought, without pride and without fear. Where I am still waiting for what You have promised, give me patience, and keep my eyes on the day when all will be complete.

I thank You, and I will go on thanking You. Amen.