1 Corinthians
1:18 – 19 - “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The
cross is not an empty memorial, but a living message today that Jesus Christ is
alive and well. He identifies Himself to
the Apostle John in Revelation 1:18 as “He who lives, and was dead, and behold,
I am alive forevermore.” The cross
testifies, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
The cross stands
today as a living testimony. It
testifies that Christ is the Savior of lost humanity. Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore
He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him,
since He always lives to make intercession for them.” “The life Christ lived
qualified Him for the death He died—and the death He died qualifies us for the
life we live.”[i]
The cross
witnesses that Jesus alone delivers from the bondage of sin. Psalms 18:7 reads, “He delivered me from my strong
enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.” The cross
testifies of His healing power. The
Apostle Peter pens these words concerning the death of our Savior on the cross
in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that
we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were
healed.”
God took an
instrument of death and turned it into an instrument of victory. Calvary became a place of victory. The cross stands as a witness to the world
today. It speaks of the love of God for
His creation. Billy Graham is quoted
saying, “God proved His love on the cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and
died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.’” John 15:13 says, “Greater love has
no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
The cross witnesses of Satan’s defeat. The Apostle Paul writes about this defeat in
Colossians 2:15, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public
spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
Dr. Frank Damazio writes, “Satan held the power of sin, sickness,
disease and death, as well as control over his own kingdom of principalities,
powers and wicked spirits of this world system.
At Christ’s death, He disarmed the princes and powers of Satan,
stripping Satan of the keys of death and hell.
He turned what seemed to be the greatest defeat into the greatest
victory. He spoiled principalities and
powers, making a show of them openly, and triumphed over all in the cross. The death of Christ was the conquest of the
whole of Satan’s realm.”[ii]
We can enter into the victory of the cross
today. The cross continues to be God’s
love statement to the world.
Comments