31 Days of Joy: Sweet Exchange

The Gospel brings me so much hope and joy.  Even on the hardest of days, there is joy to be found because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation that He offers.  This song, Sweet Exchange, expresses beautifully the work that Christ did on the cross and the righteousness that has been imputed to all who believe. 

The inspiration for this song came from words in a 2,000 year old letter.  From Heather Payne’s bio:

Payne gets philosophical in discussing the motivation for the title track, a new hymn that declares the album’s theme. Her husband was preaching on imputed righteousness, a big theological term, and he was explaining it with a quote from a first century Greek writer’s Letter to Diognetus. The fact that this old letter could explain a difficult concept in an embraceable way, and then overflow in worship, embodied exactly what Payne hoped to accomplish with this album. Consider these words, almost 2,000 years old: “O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!”

You can hear Heather sing the chorus of this song on her website, HeatherPayneMusic.com.  The chorus will begin to play automatically when you open the webpage. 

Sweet Exchange

The crushing weight of all our shame

He took upon His mortal frame.

You left your throne so You’d become

A ransom for the fallen one.

O Sweet Exchange by God ordained.

Our death You died, Your life we gained.

Our worthless rags of wickedness,

Now traded for Your righteousness.

We sing Your praise and we proclaim,

Such wondrous love, O Sweet Exchange.

No precious jewels, or priceless gold,

Could pay the price to save one’s soul.

Yet by the grace that You provide,

We’re now declared justified!

O Sweet Exchange by God ordained.

Our death You died, Your life we gained.

Our worthless rags of wickedness,

Now traded for Your righteousness.

We sing Your praise and we proclaim,

Such wondrous love, O Sweet Exchange.

Your holy life spilled out for such unholy ones.

No longer orphans, we are daughters and we’re sons.

O what a marvel, what great mystery

You offered Your riches, for our poverty.

O Sweet Exchange by God ordained.

Our death You died, Your life we gained.

Our worthless rags of wickedness,

Now traded for Your righteousness.

We sing Your praise and we proclaim,

Such wondrous love, O Sweet Exchange.

Written by Scott Krippayne, Heather Payne, Misti Presley, and Tony Wood.