“’What shall I do, then with Jesus who is called Christ?’ Pilate asked. They all answered, “crucify him!’” [Mark 15:12-13 NIV]. When Jesus Christ was put to death by being nailed to a wooden Cross, wicked men thought they were executing a man who was disturbing their way of life. They did not realize that the cross was planned by God.

At the end of his life, the man whom wise men from the east had called a content to worship was sold like a slave for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus got a royal robe and crown at last, but it was cruel and a mockery. He was scourged [Matt 27:26], then made to carry the cross to Golgotha (in Hebrew) or Calvary (in Latin) [both means a place of skull]. Blood from the wounds on his back clotted on the robe, and the crown of thorns streaked His face with more blood. He was stripped, and then nailed by hands and feet. He was left hanging in agony, as the Roman soldiers played dice and gambled for his clothes, until he died. This is the greatest crime in history, murdering the Son of the Almighty God.

What is the Cross?

It was made from a tree [Acts 5:30] and alludes to the curse attached to a dead body hung on a tree. According to the Jewish law: “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree,” [Deut 21:22-23]. They made sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is cursed. So the cross is a curse and the hanging person is cursed. Jesus freed us from the curse of sin by Him becoming a curse. In the same manner he restores to us the blessing of Abraham [Gal 3:13]. Jesus never liked the cross. He endured it for us.

There are many crosses, but the cross of Jesus Christ is the cross of redemption. How can it be redemptive? It carried a man who never sinned, a man who exchanged his holiness for our cursed sins. Just as he was still on the cross, the power of His cross began to manifest, shown by the fact that the thief gave his life to Christ on the cross. The thief was heading for hell, but he saw the cross of redemption, the cross of Christ. This is the cross that can save us. This is the cross that you need. Being sorry for your sins is not good enough. It won’t save you. Sin dwells in the soul. It is a like cancer. You can’t just forget your cancer and expect it to be cured. It is only through the cross that you can be saved.

It is a fact that:

• Jesus died in place of every individual in the world – 1 John 2:2.
• Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross – Isa 53:5-6.
• God removed our sorrows on the cross – Isa 53:4.
• God revealed His power through the cross – 1 Cor 1:18.
• God shows His love on the cross – Rom 5:8.

Reconciliation Through The Cross

The cross made it possible for us to know God personally, to experience his love, peace and joy. We became acceptable to God through the cross. “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To which, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, you to be reconciled to God. For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” [2 Cor 5:17-21]. We receive forgiveness through the cross and become members of God’s family through the cross. Racial barriers are broken through the cross. Therefore there is no Jew or Greek, no black or white, no male or female. We are all the same in Christ.

This series will continue next time in part two as What the Power of the Blood Can Do For You.

(Adapted from the book The Discipleship Series.) 

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