His/Our Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

"Jesus' sacrifice was God's judgement on sin once and for all, done in order to reconcile the world to God."

I just read this this morning in the book, Good and Beautiful God by James Smith, and thought it was a great passage in the bible, and then a great description of the purpose and meaning of the wrath of God that was pored out on Christ. 

God's love and wrath, as seen on the cross, are well defined earlier in the book in this way...

"PASSION VURSES PATHOS

Love is...a desire for the well being of another, so much so that personal sacrifice would not get in the way. 
 
Wrath - the wrath of Yahweh is portrayed somewhat differently from human anger in the Hebrew bible. In some respects this is essentially the difference between passion and pathos. Passion can be explained as an emotional explosion and loss of self-control. Pathos on the other hand is an act formed with care and intention the result of determination and decision."

So, we can see the Love shown on the cross, and the pathos (wrath) that was required to be pored out on Christ, with the determined result and decision being to reconcile us to God.  It was not an uncontrolled wrath, as we see in people of this world, but a pathos. 

His plan to reconcile us back to Him was completed on the cross. No more wrath for those who believe.