Just as Jesus Died on the Cross Every Mass Is Jesus Dying on the Cross Again

The Meaning of the Cross

What do the cross and resurrection mean for u.s.? First, let's look at the cross. Historically, Christians use vii major words to summarize the Bible'due south educational activity on what happened when Jesus died. They aid the states to understand how spiritually poor nosotros are past nature and how rich nosotros can become by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Substitution

The basic meaning of the word is very straightforward and in relation to the expiry of Jesus is extremely important. This comes across powerfully when we read that "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter three:18). As another New Attestation writer puts it, "He laid downward his life for united states of america'"(i John iii:16). The Bible tells us that expiry is the result of sin; so how could Jesus die when he did not have a sinful nature and never committed sin of any kind? The Bible's answer is that in his death Jesus was begetting sin's penalty (which he did non deserve) in the identify of others (who did).

His death was certainly an impressive example of meekness, forgiveness and organized religion, simply information technology was much more than that. Neither setting the finest example nor following it can make sinners correct with God. As the British preacher, John Stott says, "A blueprint cannot secure our pardon." Jesus was more than an example; he was a substitute, taking the place of those whose sin leaves them spiritually bankrupt and exposed to God'south righteous anger. In the well-nigh amazing deed of love ever known, Jesus endured sin's ultimate penalisation in the place of even the worst of his enemies.

2. Propitiation

This is non an everyday word, but information technology is vitally important that we sympathise it. "Propitiation" means appeasing an offended person past paying the penalization he demands for the offense. This enables him to receive dorsum into his favor the person who committed the offense. In the New Testament, the original Greek word for 'propitiation'is sometimes translated "atonement." This is easier to sympathise, equally to "atone" means to deal with an offense then that the offender and the person offended tin be "at one." This is what Jesus did in dying on behalf of others: "In this is love, not that nosotros have loved God merely that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John four:10).

Many people call up of God only as a God of love, always on manus to help when things go wrong and leap in the terminate to forgive everybody'southward sins and receive them into heaven forever. This idea is fatally misleading. The Bible certainly tells us that "God is love" (one John iv:7), but also that he is "royal in holiness" (Exodus xv:11) and that 'the wrath of God is revealed from heaven confronting all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (Romans ane:18). A few years agone it was all the rage for some Christians to habiliment a badge saying, 'Smiling, God loves you', just, as a friend of mine said at the fourth dimension, 'It would be more true to article of clothing one saying, "Pout, you're under judgment."

Jesus showed the cost of existence the propitiation for sin when on the cantankerous he cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Only hours before, when his closest friends were nigh to desert him, he had assured them, "I am non alone, for the Father is with me" (John 16:32). Yet in his dying moments that balls was gone. Why? Christians often have a joyful sense of God's presence as they dice, all the same for Jesus, exactly the opposite was true considering at that moment he was experiencing not simply physical death just spiritual death.

As the Bible puts it, "God made him who had no sin to exist sin for the states, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians five:21). God has 'zero tolerance' of sin, and his holiness demands that all sin be punished. When Jesus became accountable for the sins of others he was punished every bit though he had committed them, and he diameter that punishment both in his body and in his soul.

When Jesus cried that he had been forsaken by God the Begetter, information technology did not mean that the Father was not at that place (as God is always everywhere), but that he was non there to strengthen, condolement and bless him.Instead, in his righteous anger against sin, God the Father deserted, rejected and punished him. Every bit the American theologian, R. C. Sproul puts it, at that moment the figure of Jesus on the cross 'was the most grotesque, most obscene mass of concentrated sin in the history of the globe'.

3. Ransom

This is a very familiar word. We all know of people taken prisoner past someone who then demands a bribe. The Bible teaches that sin non merely separates sinners from God but imprisons them. They are "slaves of sin" (Romans half-dozen:17). What is more, sinners are not merely the captives of a sinful principle, but they are in "the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).

Most people decline this, simply every sinful habit confirms its truth. Jesus said that he had come up to "give his life as a ransom for many"(Mark x:45). His expiry on the cross was the essential bribe cost and then that God'southward justice could be satisfied and the sinners in whose place Jesus died set free.

4. Redemption

When a ransom has been paid, the captives are gear up free or redeemed, and this is what happens to those for whom Jesus gave his life. The apostle Paul says that Jesus "redeemed us from the expletive of the police force by becoming a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Past nature, we are under the 'curse' of God's holy law, which pronounces u.s.a. guilty in his sight.

Jesus was under no such curse, yet in order to satisfy the demands of divine justice, he diameter the curse of the law in total. The ransom price to bring redemption to helpless sinners was zero less than his death in their identify, and he paid it in full, setting prisoners of sin-free to live in a way that is pleasing to God.

v. Forgiveness

The Bible sees sin as a debt owed past the sinner to God, merely those on whose behalf Jesus died to receive non merely "redemption through his blood" but also "the forgiveness of sins" (Ephesians i:seven). In the death of Jesus, the Christian believer is cut loose from the double burden of guilt and debt and is freely and fully forgiven — forever.

six. Reconciliation

Reconciliation means bringing together those who are separated for ane reason or another. By nature and choice, nosotros are all separated from God because of our cocky-centered rebellion against his authority and our deter­min­ation to go our ain mode. Every bit Jesus put it, "The calorie-free has come up into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). The Bible too says that because of sin God has become homo's enemy: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven confronting all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (Romans 1:18).

All the same God (the innocent party) has taken the initiative and done something astonishing to enable man (the guilty party) to be at peace with him past dealing with the root crusade of the rift — homo sin. In the decease of his Son, God not only punished human sin but also satisfied his own righteous judgment, and in this, he mode removed the barrier separating him from sinners. This is why the campaigner Paul writes, "While we were enemies we were reconciled to God past the death of his Son" (Romans 5:ten) and tells early Christians, "You lot who once were far off have been brought nearly by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13).

At the precise moment Jesus died, God provided an amazing visual aid to illustrate this. In the temple in Jerusalem, the focal indicate of the nation'due south worship, a richly-embroidered veil or curtain separated the "Holy Place" from the "About Holy Place," the inner sanctuary that represented God's presence. As Jesus drew his concluding breath, "The drapery of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom" (Matthew 27:51).

This miracle was a sign that, whereas under the erstwhile religious system the high priest lonely could enter the symbolic presence of God, and and then only once a yr, the expiry of Jesus had removed the sin bulwark between God and man.

Now, all those for whom he died could be reconciled to God without any religious trappings. Afterwards, a first-century Christian wrote, "We take confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the claret of Jesus, by a new and living manner opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body" (Hebrews ten:nineteen).

seven. Justification

This discussion comes from the law courts. It describes what happens when a judge declares that the prisoner before him is not liable to whatever penalty demanded past the law and is to be treated equally though he had never broken information technology. Still, as sinners stand condemned past a God whose eyes are "too pure to look on evil" and who "cannot tolerate incorrect" (Habakkuk 1:13), how can nosotros mayhap exist declared "Not Guilty" in his sight and treated equally though we had never sinned? Jesus provides the reply. His perfect life met all the demands of God'southward constabulary — he was "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners" (Hebrews seven:26) — and his death paid in full the penalization that God'south police demands.

Jesus was punished every bit though he had never been holy so that those in whose identify he died could exist treated as though they had never been unholy. God declares a person righteous on the basis of the life and expiry of his Son, who was interim on that person's behalf.

This is why the apostle Paul claims, "Therefore, since we have been justified by religion, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). The justified sinner is brought into God's favor and family and received every bit though he had met all the demands of God's holy law. To be justified means to be made correct with God for time and eternity.

What is more than, the justified sinner receives eternal life immediately. When one of the criminals crucified alongside Jesus turned to him in organized religion, Jesus promised him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Their bodies would soon exist cached, but the spirits of the sinner and his Saviour would past and so exist in heaven.

Left to ourselves, how poor are we? We are...

• Exposed to God'southward righteous anger
• Spiritually dead
• Prisoners of Satan and sin
• Helpless captives
• Hopelessly in debt to God
• Sworn enemies of our Creator
• Guilty without alibi or escape

How rich can we become because of Jesus' death? We can escape sin's death penalisation, detect favour with God, be set free from prison house, escape from our self-imposed captivity, take all our sins forgiven, have spiritual peace and be correct with God forever.

The Proof of Promises Fulfilled: Christ's Resurrection

These seven big words reveal the virtually amazing promises, only how can we knowthat they are truthful and relevant to us today?

The respond lies in the earth-shattering truth that on the third twenty-four hours later on he died and was buried Jesus rose from the dead.A cross with a homo body hanging on information technology completely misrepresents the Christian message. The symbol of Christianity is an empty cross considering the Bible'south glorious message is that Jesus is alive today, having triumphed gloriously over sin and death. As C. S. Lewis put information technology:

[Jesus] has forced open up a door that has been locked since the death of the first man. He has met, fought and beaten the King of Death. Everything is different because he has done and then. This is the kickoff of the New Cosmos; a new chapter in cosmic history has opened.

I have laid out the bear witness for this stupendous truth elsewhere. Here are a few of the obvious pointers:

1. Jesus undoubtedly died on the cross. Theories that he was buried while still alive and somehow recovered full wellness and strength once more are absurd.
   
2. Non even his worst enemies denied that by Sunday morning (Jesus died and was buried on Friday) his tomb was empty.
   
3. If for some strange reason the Roman or Jewish government had removed the body from the tomb, they would have produced it as before long as Jesus' followers claimed that he was alive once more and the Christian church would have collapsed on the spot.
   
4. Equally at that place was an armed guard of Roman soldiers at the tomb, Jesus' followers could non have stolen the body, nor would they have wanted to as it was buried safely in a friend's grave.
   
5. Earlier Jesus rose from the dead his followers hid behind locked doors "for fearfulness of the Jews" (John 20:19). Still a few weeks later on they risked persecution, imprisonment, torture and even death because they had seen Jesus live again. People sometimes dice for something they believe to be true (even if information technology tin can exist shown that it is non), but nobody is prepared to die for something they know to be false, especially if they concocted the lie.
   
6. Six independent witnesses record Jesus actualization afterward his decease in eleven separate incidents over a catamenia of forty days. On 1 oc­casion over 500 saw him at the same time, and when the apostle Paul recorded this well over half of them were yet alive and could confirm the fact (1 Corinthians 1:6).
   
7. The Christian church is the largest religious body the world has ever known (over ii billion and growing past the thou every day) and no other group, religious or otherwise, has made a greater contribution to the well-being of humankind. Yet the church is non based on the moral example Jesus prepare, nor on his death, merely on his resurrection. For 2,000 years this has been its driving force and the only explan­ation for its existence. The first Christian church was known equally "the Way" (Acts ix:2), simply if Jesus had remained in the grave "the Way" would have become a dead end! As the American preacher D. James Kennedy put it, "The Grand Canyon wasn't acquired by an Indian dragging a stick, and the Christian church wasn't created by a myth."

The Significant

The Bible has "many convincing proofs" (Acts 1:three) of the resurrection of Jesus, simply what does it mean? The Bible's showtime answer is that Jesus "was declared to be the Son of God in power … by his resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). His resurrection did not brand Jesus the Son of God, as he has always been so; it proved that he was. It was a declaration of his deity.

It showed him to be everything he claimed to be. Before Jesus died his deity had been 'veiled' by his humanity, so that, in spite of his grapheme, his instruction, and his miracles, he was in many ways no unlike from others. His resurrection changed everything, and his divine power over expiry proved that he was exactly who he claimed to be. When he invited a disciple (always since known as "Doubting Thomas") to examine the wounds caused past his crucifixion so as to confirm that he had indeed risen, Thomas was convinced and cried out, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

Still his resurrection also proved that his death was not a defeat but a glorious victory. Almost a year earlier his death iii of his disciples were given a glimpse of his divine celebrity and Jesus "spoke of his deviation, which he was about to achieve at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:31). Nobody speaks of "accomplishing" their death, but Jesus did. His expiry did not conclude his life; it crowned it.

Although he was crucified "by the hands of lawless men," his death was "according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). Far from being something over which God had no control, or a knee-jerk reaction to an unforeseen crisis, information technology was something he had planned "before the foundation of the earth" (1 Peter i:20).

This explains why, equally he was dying, Jesus cried out, "Information technology is finished" (John xix:30). This was not a terrifying weep of defeat, just a triumphant cry of victory. Information technology meant "mission achieved," not "mission abandoned." Immediately prior to his abort and execution, he told his disciples, "The hour has come for the Son of Human being to be glorified," and went on to say, "for this purpose I accept come up to this 60 minutes" (John 12:23). In his death, he achieved exactly what God the Father had sent him into the earth to do (John 17:4). Death did non demolish him; information technology glorified him in what information technology achieved.

But how tin nosotros be sure of this? How do we know the price Jesus paid was accustomed and the debt paid? Many years agone in Britain, there were "debtors' prisons," where those who could not pay what they owed were held under abort. If someone had agreed to stand as a guarantor for the debtor and the debtor could non be found, the guarantor could be jailed in his identify.

If you had been the debtor and had left the land owing a large sum of money, your guarantor would have been jailed until the debt was cleared. If you returned and saw your guarantor walking the street as a free human being you would know that the debt you had incurred had been paid in full on your behalf.

The illustration is not perfect, simply the main point is clear. Jesus was "imprisoned" past decease on behalf of those in whose place he was acting, merely when he had paid sin's penalty in full, "God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the desperation of death because it was impossible for death to go on its concord on him" (Acts 2:24).

The 1 who paid the debt was released from the prison house of expiry. In the original language used, Jesus' last cry, "Information technology is finished," is just one give-and-take — tetelestai —a give-and-take that was often written beyond a bill when it had been paid in full. His resurrection is all the proof we need that those in whose place he died can never be asked to pay sin's debt again.

As the 20th-century American theologian, Donald Gray Barnhouse put it, "The resurrection of Christ is our receipted bill." The person in whose identify Jesus died can never be asked to pay the bill again.

The Invitation

For some forty years I have lived within fifteen miles of Buckingham Palace, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth 2, the Great britain's caput of state. I have been to Buckingham Palace once as a tourist, but never at Her Majesty's invitation. If I were to receive a majestic invitation I would not treat it like any other, which I might choose to refuse.

An invitation I received from my queen would to me be a command, and one I would feel under a willing oblig­ation to obey. The same is true of an infinitely more important invitation, one that comes to everybody from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:xv). Let me spell it out every bit y'all come up towards the finish.

Firstly, it is a genuine and loving invitation. To those concerned virtually their need to get right with God, only struggling nether a mountain of rules and regulations imposed past the religious authorities, Jesus said, "Come to me, all yous who are weary and burdened, and I volition give you lot rest" (Matthew 11:28). He gives the same invitation today.

Religious observance can never make you lot correct with God. Services and sacraments, rites and rituals tin never bridge the gap that sin has created. But if you turn to Jesus and trust him to save you, he volition release you from the burden of trying to get right with God by your ain efforts and give you the "balance" you need.

To those who plant life empty, without meaning or purpose, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John vi:35). He bug the same invitation today. He lone tin give you spiritual life and then sustain y'all twenty-four hours past 24-hour interval as you seek to live for him.

To those who were concerned about their eternal destiny, Jesus said, "Whoever hears my discussion and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come up into judgment but has passed from death to life" (John v:24). He makes the same invitation today. All who respond to it are promised that they will spend eternity in God's glorious presence in heaven, where there volition be no more trials or traumas, fear, or failure, sin or suffering, disease, decay or death.

These are amazing invitations and promises. Sinners are offered forgiveness; rebels are offered immunity; enemies are offered friendship; outsiders are offered places in God'due south family; slaves to sin are offered release from its grip; prisoners are offered liberty; those doomed to spend eternity in hell are promised eternity in sky — and all these are lovingly made to everybody, even those who deny God'due south being or flatly decline the Bible'due south testimony that Jesus is divine.

Yet they are also commanded. When Jesus said, 'Come up to me', it was not a coincidental suggestion or a vague 'take it or leave it' offer, but a serious and firm instruction. Elsewhere God makes the wonderful promise, "You volition seek me and find me when you seek me with all your eye" (Jeremiah 29:13), but he likewise says, "Seek the Lord while he may be institute; telephone call upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). This is a command, and to disobey information technology is outright rebellion.

You may receive many invitations of ane kind of another. Some can be thrown away immediately, while deciding what to do about others is only a matter of choice, with no serious consequences. God'due south invitations and commands are very different because left to yourself you are in articulate and present danger.

Not only are you lot helplessly exposed to God's righteous acrimony day after solar day (even if yous are non aware of this), merely by rejecting his invitation, fabricated at such unimaginable cost, y'all are "stor­ing upward [God's] wrath" for the 24-hour interval when "God'southward righteous judgment volition exist revealed" (Romans 2:5).

Some years agone I was in Greece at the time of a general election. On Election Day I was told that the polling booths opened at sunrise. When I asked, "When do they close?" my host replied, "The moment the lord's day sets." I have never forgotten that. Information technology is a powerful movie of the urgent need to respond to God's invitation to plough to him while y'all can. The opportunity to practise then lasts only for as long as the "sun" of 1's life is in the sky — and nobody knows when information technology will set.

God may not allow you another day, permit alone another week, calendar month or yr, in which to turn to him. As the Bible warns you, "Do non boast nigh tomorrow, for you exercise not know what a day may bring" (Proverbs 27:1). Any your age or country of health, at this moment you are xx-iv hours nearer your death than you were at this time yesterday.

This is non beingness miserable or morbid; it is a simple fact. It is just past God's grace that you are existence given the present opportunity to respond to his invitation, obey his command and lay agree on the promises of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life that he is making to you at this very moment.

God says, "I have no pleasance in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; plough dorsum, plow back from your evil means, for why volition y'all die…?" (Ezekiel 33:eleven). He says the aforementioned to you at this very moment.

Are you lot ready to meet your Maker? Are y'all certain that y'all are right with God? Are you sure that your sins are forgiven and that when your life on earth ends yous volition spend eternity in heaven? If not, call upon him now, asking him to have mercy on you and to enable you to lay hold on the promises of the gospel. As you do, you will truly understand the answer to the question, "Why the cross?"

[Editor'south note: Taken from "Why the Cross?" by Dr. John Blanchard ( ep books , used by permission).
See too before installments of this article series: part 1, part 2,  part 3 , function 4, part 5, and part 6.
For a consummate copy of this series, visit EP Books here .]

Dr. John Blanchard is an internationally known Christian author, and his xx-four books include two of the UK'due south most widely used evangelistic publications, Right with God and Ultimate Questions. Published in 2000, his 655-folio volume Does God believe in Atheists? was voted 'Best Christian Book' in the inaugural UK Christian Book Awards held in 2001. Dr. Blanchard makes his home in Banstead, Surrey, UK.

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