Monday, March 1, 2010

The Centrality of the Cross

1 Corinthians 2:2….. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The Cross where Jesus Christ was crucified is so pivotal that it even determines our western-world calendars. Traditionally, we speak of events in history taking place BC; before Christ and AD; (Anno Domini) – the year of Our Lord’s birth, the official start date of the Gregorian calendar.

However, it is not only in the establishing of historical times and dates that gives the Cross of Jesus such importance, far more important are the events that took place there.

Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son – God manifest on earth, was crucified on Calvary’s Cross. The innocent Lamb of God who never sinned, took your sin and mine upon Himself and paid the penalty for our sin on our behalf so that, if we choose, we can be reconciled to His Father in heaven

If we believe this and acknowledge that our sins are now paid for by the blood of Jesus, we will be forgiven, washed clean and adopted into the family of God as sons and co-heirs with Christ. His Father will become our Father.

Jesus won a tremendous victory on the Cross for us. He overcame sin and death and made the way for us to spend eternity with Him.

That’s not all, when we ask Jesus to forgive us and invite Him to be not only our Saviour but our Lord also, we embark on an amazing journey of salvation that leads to our destiny and the fulfilment of the purpose of our life on earth.

After His death on the Cross and His burial, on the third day Jesus rose from the grave. He overcame death to give us the hope of eternal life. Forty days after His crucifixion He ascended back to heaven telling his disciples as He was taken into the clouds, to wait on the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Ten days after His ascension, on the first day of the Feast of Pentecost, that promise came to pass when the Holy Spirit filled the 120 followers of Jesus who were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.

By the end of that day there were 3,000 more people added to their number through the outworking of what the prophet Joel speaks of in Chapter 2 of his book in the bible….

A series of cataclysmic events starting at Calvary’s Cross and spread over the next fifty days have changed the whole course of mankind. Have they changed you?

Lord Jesus, thank you for the Cross. Amen

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