THE CROSS OF CHRIST — A DIVINELY PROVIDED MEETING PLACE

In becoming the Sin-bearer, Jesus Christ fully met and solved the problem of sin. “In His death, everything was made His that sin had made ours . . . everything in sin except its sinfulness” (James Denney, The Death of Christ).

The cross of Christ is God’s starting point of victory over Satan and all his allies. God is the One who has been hurt most by sin. “Satan was putting the knife into God’s heart through Adam’s hand.” So, any effectual dealing with sin must go back to its first cause, and any permanent victory for God must be a crushing defeat for Satan.

The first curse pronounced after the fall was upon the serpent. The serpent’s curse and the Savior’s cross are inextricably interwoven. The prophecy containing the curse foretells a double bruising. “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Men and women are being taught that the record of the fall in Genesis three is just a myth and that no scholarly person believes it today. This is indeed the devil’s lie, and he has a very good reason for telling it. By the death of Christ, his head was bruised, and his doom was sealed. The cross of Christ robbed that Satanic usurper of every vestige of rightful claim to the world and of all dominion over any man or woman who fully trusts in the atoning blood of the Savior and who yields to the Lordship of Jesus. Christ’s cry of victory from Calvary’s cross, “It is finished,” was Satan’s death knell. The victory over the devil commenced in the wilderness, continued in Gethsemane, and culminated on Calvary. The hour of Christ’s death was the hour of Satan’s defeat.

John 12:31

“Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”

The death of the cross deprived him of his power and rendered him inoperative.

Hebrews 2:14

“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.”

The death of Jesus Christ meant an open and decisive victory for God over all the principalities and powers in rebellion against Him. It severs the believer from the powers of darkness.

Colossians 2:14-15

¹⁴ ”Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. He took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; ¹⁵ and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

The devil has two active, aggressive allies in his diabolical work of keeping sinners living in self-will and rebellion toward God. They are the “world” and the “flesh.” For the defeat of both of these, God has made ample provision in the cross of Christ.

Galatians 6:14

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

Galatians 5:24

“And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.”

In the cross of Christ, the sinner who truly desires it may find complete deliverance from the evil one and all his entanglements. Satan’s reign over him may end there if he seeks release through the cross.

Sin made every man unrighteous in God’s sight (Romans 3:1:12), and by so doing, it created an impassable chasm between a righteous God and an unrighteous sinner. It did more than that; it totally disqualified man from doing anything to bridge this chasm, thus placing upon God the whole responsibility of making a way of access into His presence and of providing a meeting place between Himself and the sinner.

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

Dear God, thank You for making it possible for us, the sinners, to have a way back into Your presence!