All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
The Cross
During a discussion, many other mini-discussions came up. I feel these questions will address the last one.
What was the purpose of the cross?
What does the cross mean to you?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tammy on
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Amen Amanda. Words almost seem a waste when it comes to the glory that was crucified that day. It's the passageway from death into life. It's the salvation for those who believe & repent. It's love nailed on a tree. It's compassion for you & me. It's pure, sweet, unadulterated grace & mercy. It's the representation of Finished work that we no longer have to strive to do to receive our just reward. It's perfection. It's His sacrifice for our sins. It's forgiveness of our transgressions. It's calm in the middle of the storm. It's a strong tower when tests come our way. It's a fortress when the flesh is weary. It's righteousness that we too can have if we only believe. It's the ultimate example of peace. It's power over the grave. It's VICTORY.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Very beautiful. The cross means justification to me, atonement, sacrifice. The tomb means the grave is temporary and there is eternal life on the other side of death. The resurrection ... now that is something else for without the resurrection there is no salvation.
I like Matthew 28:5-6 "...for He is risen, as He said ..."
He did just what He said.
The crucifixion is an example of suffering ... as we look at Jesus, the Suffering Servant, we learn how suffering is to be borne.
Help us, Lord, not to lose heart but to remember You are in control. Amen.
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Amanda,
Amen. Without the resurrection & empty tomb, the cross would be empty & worthless.
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It is nothing less than the power of God.Paul the apostle said this about the cross: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Ga6.14) and "I have been crucified Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Ga2.20)."We preach Christ crucified" (1Co1.23). ... "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1Co1.18).
What Jesus accomplished on the cross, writes Paul, was to liberate us from sin and its grip on our lives. "Our old self was crucified with him [Christ] so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin" (Ro6.6).
It's the cross of Christ where we meet the nature of God must powerfully. The reconciliation that was accomplished on that cross is where we experience most clearly the love of God. Jesus, the God-man, "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Php2.8). The forgiving love of God for us is embodied on that cross. Jesus on the cross reconciles us to God. The cross is God's strike against sin in the world. Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross--this "one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men" (Ro5.18). There is no resurrection without the cross.
The cross of Jesus tells us that God forgives us and the resurrection of Jesus tells us that God loves us, and not just for a little while, but eternally. Let me say it again just to belabor the point: there is nothing we can do about it. Our sin, no matter what it is, will not stop God from forgiving us and loving us, because Jesus has taken away the sin of the world.
God’s invitation to us is to embrace Jesus on the cross, to make his way our way, and to finally know and understand that the way of the cross is the way to eternal life with God.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn3.16). ... Whoever believes in the son has eternal life" (Jn3.36).
But wait, that's not all. It's not just the saving cross we proclaim. It's also what Jesus taught us about how we are to live our lives in God. We are called not just to believe but to follow Jesus, by "faith expressing itself through love" (Gal 5.6), to live by what he taught us. "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (Ja2.17).
Our Lord said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." [Mt16.24, 10.38; Lk14.27, 9.23]
Colby Chase
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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What does the cross mean to you?
Everything!! Without "the cross," the death and resurrection of my Lord and savior, I am eternally lost. The cross means everything that is beautiful and worth living for.
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