THE CROSS OF CHRIST — A DIVINELY PREPARED TURNING POINT

A double barrier separates God and the sinner. Sin has caused man to be offended toward God as truly as it has caused God to be offended toward man. The cross of Christ shall have failed to deal adequately with sin if it only removes the cause of offense in its Godward aspect and does not equally remove it in its manward aspect.

And this is precisely what the cross of Christ does. “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). “By grace are ye saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). The grace of God built the bridge of salvation before a single sinner started to cross it. Grace took God into the garden in the cool of the day to seek the first two sinners and offer them the gracious promise of salvation through a Savior even before He dealt righteously with their sin in pronouncing upon them the judgment of the curse. Even in the prophecy-promise given in Eden, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. God took the initiative in effecting reconciliation by giving His Son to die.

Romans 5:10

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Colossians 1:21-22

“And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight.”

2 Corinthians 5:18

“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.” 

The Son of God endured the suffering and the shame of the cross so He might tell a world of sinners who have turned their backs on God that God loves them with an everlasting love. When the sinner sees the Savior suffering, the just for the unjust, when he sees Christ crucified by his sin, dying his death, enduring his punishment, then his heart is melted, his rebellion is removed, his whole attitude toward God is changed from enmity to love, from estrangement to fellowship, from indifference to devotion, from fear to faith, from shame to peace.

In Christ crucified, God has provided such propitiation and reconciliation as has made possible the removal of the barrier of separation between God and man, and has opened a merciful yet righteous way of access and acceptance; thus giving to every man who will avail himself of God’s grace the opportunity for full restoration to God’s favor and fellowship. 

THE CROSS OF CHRIST — 

THE END OF THE OLD CREATION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW

Through propitiation and reconciliation accomplished in Christ’s death, adequate provision has been made for a change of relationship between the sinner and God, which effects a radical change in the sinner’s position before God. But is there provision for a change in his condition also? The natural man is a slave, “sold under sin” (Romans 7:14).

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. God’s boundless grace was undaunted by the sinner’s helpless, hopeless condition. God’s right to proprietorship through creation still remained, but it had been lost to Him through man’s surrender of himself to the sovereignty of another. But God would Himself go down unto the slave market of sin and buy back that which was His own. He would then take the sinner out of the sphere of Satan, out of the slave market of sin, and set him free in the glorious liberty of a new life in Christ.

Such redemption demanded a ransom. It required a life for a life. “The life is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). To redeem the race from the bondage of sin involved paying a price that was nothing less than the precious blood of the spotless Lamb of God. God paid the costly price of His own blood to buy back His own for a possession.

Acts 20:28

“Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His own blood.”

1 Peter 1:18-19

For ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from your vain way of living which ye received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Revelation 5:9

“And they sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, from every kindred and tongue, and people and nation.”

But God did not go into the slave market of sin only to buy the captive sinner but also to bring him out of that old sphere of bondage and set him free in a new sphere of liberty. He would not lead him out of Egypt alone, but He would bring him into Canaan. Christ Jesus would become not only the sinner’s Savior but also the believer’s Lord and Life. In the cross of Christ, God rejected the old order of fallen, sinful humanity “sold under sin” through the first Adam’s disobedience so that He might raise up a new order of holy, heavenly beings redeemed from sin through the last Adam’s obedience.

The death of Christ upon the cross not only redeems but it re-creates; it not only provides complete emancipation from the old life but abundant entrance into the new.

Exodus 13:3

“And Moses said unto the people, “Remember this day in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place.”

Exodus 13:11
 “And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it to thee.”

Titus 2:14

“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, not only did You become our Savior, but You are now our Lord and our Life. Hallelujah!!