Do we see the CROSS as POWERFUL? - - - HOW?
MY MIND IS EXPLODING!!!!
I was talking with a dear friend about Good Friday...and how many services are...well, ...morbid. I've been to quite a few - Why Do I mostly stay away? Aside from the fact that you leave feeling like you were just in a morgue? In order to try and share the power of the event they reconstruct the horror and morbidity of the event.
Here's a poor comparison, but I think you'll get the idea....it's like having a party for one of my kids and reciting every gruesome and painful agony of childbirth! Why would I do that? If I constantly reminded them of the pain I endured to bring them into the world, would it change their attitude toward me for the better? Isn't it always only used to inflict guilt and manipulate emotions with, at best, short-term effects? - Interestingly, in Genesis, Jacob's wife Rachel died during childbirth, and she named that son Ben Oni ("son of my mourning"), but Jacob changed it to Ben Yamin (Benjamin) meaning son of my right hand.
He did not want his child to live with the sorrow of his birth, but the power of His purpose.
Ok, I digress....back to Good Friday...
I understand the very real pain Jesus endured, the humiliation, the mutilation, the rejection. I understand that He died a gruesome and horrific death. I've played the scene from the scriptures over and over in my head...I've studied the timelines....the false courts, and the accusations... I've seen many movies, and yes, I cry; I'm amazed by them,, and enraged by them humbled by my guilt in them shocked by them! BUT -At the same time, I recognize that the power of the cross is SO much more than what happened to Jesus' physical body. That's just the shallow end of the pool.
Do we walk away transformed and empowered by it, merely emotionally moved by it, or obligated and guilted by it?
I wonder, too, if the disciples ever commemorated the morbidity of the event again. I know the death of Christ and the Blood of Christ are often spoken of, but the sense of morbidity is not there because they speak of those things in context with the POWER of the Cross.
That is what I want to hear more about - the actual POWER of it. What HAPPENED? Was it just a horrific scene? Or can we get a glimpse and see past the veil of this world and see into eternity and spiritual places with the eyes of the Holy Spirit to know a little bit more of what happened...?
Here are a few indicators that something deeper, something unseen, something dynamic, Something Celestial, something explosive, something spiritual and radical took place -
The HEAVENS went BLACK at MID-DAY for 3 hours = 180 minutes -
- This was no solar eclipse!
The ROCKS Split, and there was a MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE!
The 30-foot high, 6-inch thick VEIL that Separated ALL MEN from the presence of God in the TEMPLE was RIPPED to SHREDS!
This TERRIFIED EVERYONE!
The heavens, the earth, and the religious order were experiencing something so powerful that they were tearing apart at the seams!
Not since God Spoke and Said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT," did anything this EXPLOSIVE happen in the universe.
-The DEBT OWED for SIN WAS PAID in FULL!
-SATAN was made a PUBLIC SPECTACLE because
-CHRIST CANCELLED all transgressions and ordinances by nailing them to the Cross!
-The SEPARATION of MEN from GOD was REMOVED!
-The SEPARATION among men from Each other is REMOVED!
-SIN Was CONQUERED at the CROSS!
-THE RECONCILIATION and PEACE between GOD & MANKIND RESTORED!
-LOVE for HIS CREATION WAS DISPLAYED in the GREATEST SACRIFICE!
-He PREPARED a WAY for us to be SET FREE!
-HE RESTORED the ORDER of the UNIVERSE!
-Once again the WORD OF GOD (JESUS) CREATED ORDER FROM CHAOS!
-He VANQUISHED HIS ENEMIES!
-He TOOK THE SPOILS of VICTORY - and gives gifts to men!
-Mankind can be RELEASED from the Shackles & Bondage as slaves to sin
-WE ARE RELEASED from the Authority of Sin & Death over us who believe
-CHRIST CANCELLED THE WRITTEN CODE AGAINST US and took it out of our way
-A Newer and Better Covenant was established on Better Promises
-We are NOW Invited into the MOST HOLY PLACE, the VERY Throne room of GOD To receive MERCY and GRACE in times of NEED, UNLIKE BEFORE!
-THE DOOR once CLOSED is FOREVER OPEN to Whosoever would come!
-Unmerited FORGIVENESS is Granted
-OVERWHELMING Debt - eliminated
-Righteousness and Blamelessness is IMPUTED to us who were wretched and guilty.
-HIS BLOOD Secured our SAFETY from Angel of DEATH!
-We are Washed WHITE by RED BLOOD!
-We are JUSTIFIED by HIS Sacrifice!
-Our RANSOMED was paid and we are Secured out of the enemies clutches!
-The KEYS OF HELL & DEATH were secured and removed from an evil taskmaster!
-The Bite and curse of the deadly serpent, the slow and sure death, has been reversed, and we are HEALED!
I don't know about you, but THAT IS EXPLOSIVE - AND I HAVEN'T even LOOKED at the EMPTY TOMB YET!!! OH MY!
In seeing these truths, and recognizing them, and then knowing that the Resurrection of Jesus, was to put the exclamation point on His Power and Authority to make all these changes in the universe makes me all the more humble all the more rejoicing, all the more surrendering of my sinful heart, my life forever, and my desires to worship and please him with everything in me.... And Knowing that the Resurrection Power is Now what is offered to those who are willing to live for Him with their heart, attitudes, actions, behaviors and agendas... OH MY DEAR SWEET JESUS - How I love you!
How I am amazed by You!
THIS is some of the POWER of the CROSS!!!!!
"And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Col 2:15
Comments