Search
The cross of Christ accomplished God’s eternal redemption for us according to the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory to become the basis of our eternal salvation. Hence, we must thoroughly know the cross.
1) “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is everyone hanging on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
“Tree” here signifies the cross, which was made of wood. In Deuteronomy 21:23 of the Old Testament, God prophesied in the judgments of the Law that Christ would be hung on a tree, that is, be hung on the cross.
1) “They cried out then, Away with him, away with him, crucify him! Pilate [the Roman Governor] says to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered. We have no king but Caesar [the Roman Emperor]” (John 19:15).
The Jewish form of execution was to stone a criminal to death (Deut. 22:24). However, about sixty years before the Lord’s birth, the Jewish nation fell to Rome. Not long before the Lord was sentenced to death on the cross by the Roman governor, the Roman Empire had adopted crucifixion as the form of execution for the most evil persons. Thus, when the Jews sought to kill the Lord, they crucified Him through the hands of the Roman governor, fulfilling God’s prophecy in Deuteronomy 21:23 concerning how the Lord would die. This was done by the sovereign hand of God.
1) “Now it was the third hour [9 a.m.], and they crucified Him” (Mark 15:25).
Christ was crucified beginning at nine o’clock in the morning.
2) “Now from the sixth hour [noon] darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour [3 p.m.]” (Matt. 27:45).
Christ was crucified until three o’clock in the afternoon. From nine in the morning to three in the afternoon is a total of six hours. In the first three hours, God did not punish Him in the sinners’ place; it was men persecuting Him. In these three hours, He suffered for martyrdom, not redemption. At noon, the earth became dark. From this point until three o’clock, it was not men persecuting Him but God judging Him in the sinners’ place. In those three hours, He suffered for redemption, not martyrdom.
1) “Who Himself carried up our sins [plural, referring to man’s sins in his outward deeds] in His body onto the tree, in order that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24).
The first thing Christ accomplished on the cross was to bear the various sins in our outward actions, that is, the sins committed by a person himself, that we may be saved and pass from death into life.
2) “But now…He has been manifested for the putting away of sin [singular, referring to man’s sin in his inward nature] by His sacrifice” (Heb. 9:26).
On the cross, at the same time, Christ removed the sin in our inward nature, that is, the sin inherited by birth, that we may be delivered from our sinful nature within.
3) “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because…Cursed is every one hanging on a tree” (Gal. 3:13).
Christ bore our outward sins and removed our inward sin on the cross, receiving the curse which, according to God’s law, we should have received because of our fall and our sin.
4) “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves” (Rom. 6:6).
Christ not only dealt with our twofold sin on the cross, He also crucified our sinful old man that the body of sin might be made of none effect, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
5) “I have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). “I” is our old man. Since our old man has been crucified with Christ, our “I” is also crucified with Him.
6) “But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts” (Gal. 5:24).
Not only did Christ crucify our old man on the cross, He also crucified our flesh with its passions and lusts. Here it says that we who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. We can do this based on the fact that the Lord crucified our flesh on the cross.
7) “...blood and flesh. He also Himself in like manner shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the Devil; and might release those who through fear of death through all their life were held in slavery” (Heb. 2:14-15).
On the cross, Christ destroyed the Devil, who has the might of death, and released us from the slavery of death.
8) “And as Moses lifted up the serpent [on a pole] in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross]; that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
Since Christ destroyed the Devil, who has the power of death, obviously He also judged and dealt with him, the old serpent who had poisoned mankind, that all who believe in Christ may have God’s eternal life and pass from death into life. This is typified by Moses" lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, which brought the Israelites from death to life.
9) “Through whom [Christ] the world has been crucified to me” (Gal. 6:14).
On the cross, Christ destroyed Satan the Devil, and at the same time He crucified the world organized by Satan and hanging on Satan that the world would lose its usurping power on those who have believed into Christ.
10) “For He Himself [Christ]…has made both [the Jews and the Gentiles] one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, having abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man” (Eph. 2:14-15).
On the cross, Christ abolished the Old Testament law of the commandments in ordinances, which separated the Jews from the Gentiles, making them one and creating the two in Himself into one new man, which is the church.
11) “Unless a grain of wheat [typifying Christ] falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit [typifying the members of Christ]” (John 12:24).
Christ not only dealt with all the above negative items for God and for us on the cross, but through His death on the cross He also released the divine life within Him into us so that we could become His many members which constitute His Body.
1) “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).
Those zealous for the Jewish religion forced others to be circumcised in order to boast in others’ flesh (Gal. 6:12-13). However, the Apostle Paul, being gained by Christ, did not boast in anything but the cross of Christ.
