Reading  Col. Ch 1 v27  “Christ in you”            The hope of glory

               Gal.Ch 2 v20  “Christ liveth in me”    The assurance of victory

Easter a time of reflection,

The death and resurrection is soon over. Our focus is drawn to events preceding the death and the events following the resurrection .And yet we lose so much about the cross by concentrating so much on the events of the cross and not concentrating the consequences or the outcomes of the cross

The disciples lost so much by missing the main reason of the cross the two on the Emmaus Road, were so full of sorrow, their hopes and ambitions shattered through the events that transpired  “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people”  “But were hoping that it was He, who was going to redeem Israel.” They failed to understand the purpose of the Lord’s ministry and the true nature and deity.

So often in our Christian living we lose so much of what God has for us because we concentrate all our energies  on objects or symbols of religion,

Three  things come to mind when we look at the cross

1. The Cross is  The place of Propitiation

It is the place of expiation of sacrifice; it is where God dealt with the sin question. It is the basic foundational truth of the Christian message. It is where God pronounced sentence upon all men, in that all have sinned and the wages of sin is death.

But the way of deliverance from sin had to be found somewhere beyond man. So the grace of God sent His Son into human history.

In the Old Testament the mercy seat was the place where the atoning blood was sprinkled on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:14) representing that the righteous sentence of the law had been executed it’s a judgement seat. What Christ’s sacrifice represented was so much more than judgement it was satisfying the righteousness of a holy God, thereby making it possible for Him to show mercy righteously

“To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins”

The word Atonement in the Old Testament is to translate the Hebrew word which means cover, covering or to cover.  It did not take away sin merely covered it i.e., God passed over.

The redemptive and propitiatory work of Christ is judicial act of God whereby He justly declares and treats as righteous the one who believes in Jesus Christ. The justified believer has been declared by the judge Himself (Rom 31:31) to have nothing laid to his charge  

(Rom 8:1, 31-34) There is therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2.  The Cross is    The place of Defeat

The cross did not mark the defeat of the Son of God, It was not the untimely death of a good man, and He did not die as a martyr. He did even die to set before us the supreme example of devotion to a principle

His death was not a defeat, but a glorious victory, when the Lord Jesus Christ uttered those words upon the cross “it is finished” it was the shout of victory his work was complete

Notice in John 17: 4  I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

But it was a defeat; it was the defeat of the Adversary of our souls, Satan, the devil. It was the scene of judgement

Sin and death entered into a perfect world through Adam, he disobeyed God, and though his rebellion was separated from communion with God. The Scriptures tell us “in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die”  And they died spiritually

Adam and Eve become slaves to sin and to the evil one, and all who are outside the sanctuary of Gods grace are under the same condemnation. Man was made for authority and dominion but he sold that right and allowed the Evil one to have rule over him.

The cross broke that power   Notice in John 12:31 “Now shall the prince of this world be cast out”

The devil is a defeated foe; no man has to beaten by the devil. No soul has to be dragged in the dust of defeat by the enemy.  No matter how strong the habit of sin has hold over you, the Almighty Saviour who has overcome the evil one has broke the chains of sin, He has broken the fetters of iniquity and will deliver the soul that trusts in Him. “Now is the prince of this world cast out”

3.  The Cross is   The place where God dealt with the old man

The cross not only spoke of death but also of resurrection, because,  if there is no resurrection, then the cross is of no avail, there is no power in death.   The power of the cross is that death could not hold Him, not only did the Saviour conquer sin but also death

For by one man came death (first Adam) so by man brings victory (last Adam) This ensures that those who believe on Him and His gift of freedom from sin, Are brought out of the state where sin and its consequences reign, and into a realm onto which neither death not judgement can enter.

Through the cross man’s sin is destroyed, the old man typifies Adam both morally and judicially, corrupt in human nature and has an inborn tendency to evil.

Through the old nature we were Spiritually dead, through Christ Jesus we are made Spiritually alive, we have become partakers of the Divine nature.

Ephesians Ch2:1-3 reminds us  And you hath he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

In which times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.

In His birth Christ became identified with us, that we might become identified with Him in His death. This is effected by our union with Christ by the baptism of the Spirit  Rom  7:6

But now we are delivered from the law, that being in which we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Through the Baptism of the Spirit, of which water baptism is an outward symbol, constitutes us one with Christ in a Body that has passed through death, burial and resurrection into new life.

Our Salvation is one of position “In Christ” it is our hope of glory And our confidence of victory

It not head knowledge, but an experiential knowledge, what we are in Christ becomes an experiential experience. We cannot stay at the cross, but must more on, experiencing Gods riches and appropriating them into our daily lives, that we may become more like Him.

Christianity is not just a system of beliefs or a philosophical view of life. Christianity is Christ, If you take Christ out Christianity will cease to exist, If you exclude  Calvary, and the death and resurrection of Christ, Our faith is an empty shell for this life only.

Threefold Meaning of the Cross