1 Corinthians 2:2, For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
The apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians says he does not want to know anything except Jesus’ death. This took place on the cross. Then, the cross is not just a wood. It is the revelation of the father’s love towards us. It is the love that involves someone laying down his life for his friends. So he took upon himself the wages of sin which is death by dying in our stead.
MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Before this verse of this scripture above, Jesus met a teacher of the law, a man named Nicodemus. Jesus told him he must be born again. The guy didn’t understand what Jesus meant. Jesus explained further, from what Nicodemus could relate with.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
In this story, the people of Israel were dying because God sent a fiery serpent among them, due to the fact that they spoke against God. Moses stood in the gap to intercede for this nation.
Numbers 21:8-9
And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
Did you see, it is not about what bite them but what they were looking at. Moses lifted the serpent like a cross and all who were bitten that saw the lifted serpent, were healed. Jesus told Nicodemus that as the serpent was lifted even so He must be lifted. Then he said that if ANYBODY BELIEVES that sacrifice, he should have life, not whosoever stops doing something - but whosoever believes. It is high time we started crediting our stand, to the cross that poured out grace. The action word is BELIEVE.
Before I get to explain the cross, it is important we know what man is.
The anatomy of man
Man is a spirit, just as God is a spirit and the Devil also is a spirit.
John 4:24 GOD IS A SPIRIT: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
And the bible tells us that the man was created in the image and the likeness of God. So man is a spirit. He is not tripartite that is, he is not spirit, soul and body. But he is typically a spirit. God is not spirit, soul and body, God is a Spirit. So man is in the same class with his source, a spirit being. But the soul and the body was given him as a possession. Man is a spirit who has a soul and dwells in a body.
Before i continue, it is important that we know about The Origin of Sin.
1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this PURPOSE THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED, THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.THE CROSS
If there is any reason why Jesus was revealed, it was for the destruction of sin. Did we see that?
Jesus was not the first to die on the cross and he wasn’t the last. In fact when he was dying, there were other two thieves on their own separate crosses. But Jesus death was different. It was not just a scene play that he came to perform. There was a behind the scene event that shook the whole world.
On His cross he became SIN NOT SINS. He became the very nature. He was born without sin, but this he did for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin; that we might be MADE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD in him.
John the Baptist declared this when Jesus was coming to Jordan.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
Do you see you see that? It says THE SIN OF THE WORLD not the sins. The emphasis of this is for us to know that sin is not a doing per say, it is a nature. John said he takes the sin of the world away. Hallelujah, he took away sin indeed. It was on the cross that Jesus dealt with sin. It was there he destroyed the works of the devil. So many folks are trying to deal with a fault in their lives. They keep fighting sin, and they’ve not just come to the knowledge of the truth that Jesus has dealt with sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He [God] hath MADE HIM TO BE SIN for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
On the cross, Jesus was MADE SIN, NOT A SINNER - but sin itself. So the sin that was in me and you, he became on the cross so that in him we are made righteous. Not by my works but by His grace, as revealed on the cross.
It was a substitution sacrifice. A lot of believers are very ignorant of this truth. I call them unbelieving believers. If you could believe Jesus who knew no sin was made righteous, what is stopping you from easily believing that someone who has been sinning is made righteous through the cross?
Now that we are born again, we have become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.
In fact God has nothing with sin again because sin has been dealt with.
2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, NOT IMPUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
God is not even imputing sin against us. The amplified version says NOT COUNTING OUR TRESPASSES AGAINST US. We have been forgiven over 2000 years ago. But He is not pleased with those who are still ignorant. If anyone must please God now, it must be by faith. What is this faith? It is acting on the finished work Christ on the cross.
It is so lovely that from this understanding comes that life we want to live.
Colossians 1:20-22
20 And, having made peace through the BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 AND YOU, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now HATH HE RECONCILED
22 IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH [on the cross], to present you HOLY AND UNBLAMEABLE AND UNREPROVEABLE IN HIS SIGHT:
Verse 22 says we are presented HOLY, UNBLAMEABLE AND UNREPROVEABLE IN HIS SIGHT
Glory to God!!! I don’t know the way we see ourselves; as a victim or as a victor, as unholy or holy, blameable or unblameable, reproveable or unreproveable, as a sinner or as a saint. If we want to start expressing the fullness of the divine nature, we need to start seeing ourselves the way God sees us now. Verse 22 says in his sight we are holy, unblameable, and unreproveable. This could happen because IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH [on the cross].
It was on the cross that the exchange happened. Forget about what you do or didn’t do, it is His love for us that counts which he revealed on the cross. Now that we are righteous, as a nature of the created spirit, we can now teach our member the new principle in our spirit. Therefore we now begin to reveal righteousness in our act.
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