The Cross of Christ
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LESSON 2: THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
It was still dark that early morning,
when the startling command came from God to Abraham:
“Abraham… Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah;
and offer him there for a burnt offering
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” [01] Genesis 22:1, 2.
The aged patriach trembled greatly
at the terrible command he just heard.
Now, God had specifically promised
that through Isaac, Abraham will become the father of multitudes.
All his hopes and dreams
are laid upon this miraculous son whom God gave him,
when both he and his wife were over 90 years old.
He just could not understand
how God could possibly issue such a command as this,
but he had learned the lesson
of absolute obedience towards his Father in heaven,
even when he doesn’t understand what’s going on.
He was so obedient,
that not only would he go against his own fatherly feelings
to obey the will of God,
but he would also hide the matter from Sarah his wife,
refused even to utilize the mother’s protest
as the excuse to step back from this command.
And thus Abraham gently wake his dear son Isaac
and two of his trusted servants,
and together, they journeyed three days to mount Moriah.
Aproaching the mountain, he ordered his two servants
to stay and wait for his return.
And then, laying the woods on his dear son’s shoulder,
he led him to the top.
Sensing that something is wrong, Isaac asked,
“My father, behold the fire and the wood:
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “My son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” [01] Genesis 22:6-8.
When they reached the top, with a broken heart,
Abraham revealed to his son the truth,
and Isaac, being an obedient Son himself,
yielded his will to the Father’s.
After a final embrace, Isaac stretched out his hands to be bound,
and Abraham lift up his dagger to strike down.
His obedience was complete.
He had passed the test,
and the Lord immediately stopped him,
and direct him to sacrifice a ram nearby,
whose horns were stuck in a thicket of thorns instead.
A Son carrying the wood on his back,
and a Father who had to led him up the hill to die,
with his heart broken at every step.
This story above was just a shadow of another
that is infinitely more heartbroken,
where an actual Father had to sacrifice His beloved Son.
Abraham wasn’t called “the friend of God” in the Bible for nothing.
He was the one man privileged by God
to know the feelings of His own heart:
how it feels like, having to sacrifice your own beloved Son.
However, in the story of God and His Son,
the dagger wasn’t stopped.
1. The male sheep, or ram, that was sacrificed in Isaac’s stead, with its head stuck in the thorns, whom does it represent?
[04] 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.
[01] Matthew 27:27-30 Then the soldiers of the governor took JESUS into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.
The ram that had its head stuck in the thicket of thorns
was a shadow of none other than the Lord JESUS Christ.
On the day of His cruxifiction,
after the wicked had twisted together a crown of thorns
and set it on His head,
they had deliberately took the staff to hit Him on that spot,
so the thorns would piece deep into His temples,
forcing the blood to flow down His beard.
So 2000 years after the age of the patriach,
the Son of God had finally came down to this darken world,
to become the sacrifice on men’s behalf,
to destroy the work of the Devil and rescue mankind.
2. What is wrong with us and why did JESUS have to die to save us?
[06] Romans 3:23 All have sinned.
[06] Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death.
[07] I Corinthians 15:3 Christ died for our sins.
[21] I Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.
When Adam and Eve sinned under the temptation of Satan,
God, as the embodiment of Justice,
could not just let the wickedness and evil of sins go unpunished.
The punishment of sin is death.
Sinners can not be allowed to live forever
and perpetuate their evil indefinitely.
Even worse, although the sins of Adam and Eve are not counted upon us,
but when they sinned, their holy nature fell and became sinful,
and then that sinful nature got transmited
to every single one of us their children as their legacy.
Even as a spout of a thorn tree,
even when it has not yet managed to develop any thorn,
it has already carry the ADN of a thorn tree since birth,
so are we of no different:
since we are conceived in our mother’s womb,
our default nature is the sinful nature.
This sinful nature alone,
with the tendency to sin naturally,
is of itself sufficient to define us as sinners,
without having to even mention the actual sins
that we all eventually commit over the course of our lives.
The law of God is unchangeable,
and thus we are doomed.
But God did not accept that end for us.
In infinite love, He consented to send His Only Begotten Son down
to die in our stead.
Our sins and death penalty
are transferred upon JESUS,
and we are freed.
Not only so, after JESUS rose from the dead,
He gave us His own Spirit, contains the holy and original life of God,
forged through the course of life that JESUS lived
when He endured all suffering, persecution and temptation
with just a mortal body of a man like ours,
yet was completely sinless and victorious.
With the reception of the Holy Spirit by a surrendering faith,
the sinful nature of a repentant sinner is overtaken and overpowered
by the pure and holy nature of JESUS Christ the Son of God,
transforming him from inside out into a new being,
whom the Bible called “a saint”.
With the possession of this new nature,
a former sinner shall begin to crave righteous living and abhor sins.
Living a righteous life that forsake sins,
have changed from something impossible
into something a person could naturally do.
JESUS could only have given this Holy Spirit to us
after He rose from the dead.
That is the reason why the event of His resurrection
is of no less importance
than the event of His crucifixion, dying for the sins of the world.
If He only died for us,
and later on not risen again to give us this power,
even when our sins are atoned for,
we would still remain unchanged in nature,
unable to resist further temptations and sins.
3. What is the name of this daring rescue plan?
[27] Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
The great rescue plan of God and His Son is call “the Gospel”,
meaning, “good news”.
And it truly is the best news ever for mankind!
Our death penalty was paid by Lord JESUS Christ,
and thanks to Him it is canceled upon us.
Our sinful nature is overpowered by the nature of Christ,
enabling us to defeat all evil within and without.
This is the Biblical righteousness by faith:
justified by the death of Christ,
and sanctified by the power of His resurrection in His Holy Spirit,
all by grace, through faith.
An escape from the darkness of sins
with death as its inevitable fruit,
has been provided for you, for me, for all humanity.
And the Lord is the one paying all the price,
so we can have it for free.
4. Why was God willing to sacrifice so much for us?
[04] 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.
The most fervent love upon this earth
is probably the love of a parent to a child.
When God consented to let His Son, JESUS Christ,
endure torture, humiliation and death in our stead,
He has demonstrated His love for us
with the most eloquent and powerful language.
5. What do I do so that His sacrifice for me will not be in vain? What do I do to be saved?
[05] Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.
[05] Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord JESUS Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Salvation is a priceless gift of God ([06] Romans 6:23),
not some commercial goods
that can be bought or sold by money or good works,
as taught in some churches and pagan religions.
Because Christ Himself had to pay for it with His own blood,
to have it and give it to us.
We can only receive this gift of salvation
with gratitude by a surrendering faith.
6. What do I do to be forgiven and cleansed from the stains of sins?
[23] I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
[04] John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
A completely obedient spirit towards God
and the entire victory against all sinful tendency and temptation
WITH JUST A MORTAL BODY
has been accomplished in JESUS Christ.
We only need to confess our sins,
surrender to Him to receive Him into our souls,
and continue to abide in Him thus:
spend time with Him by heart-felt sincere prayers
and the reading of His Word.
Once we have believed and received Christ into our soul,
everything else will in turn fall into place.
7. What is the name of that sacred experience? How is it like?
[04] John 3:7 Ye must be born again.
[11] Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
It is called “born again”, because the sinner is reborned
into a new creature in Christ JESUS,
not according to the sinful, fallen nature of Adam,
but according to JESUS’s holy, sin-abhoring nature,
when the Holy Spirit of God and His Son
come into the soul to dwell and rule in it.
The desire to live a righteous, godly and obedient life,
according to the will of the Lord,
is planted in the heart.
Those who have not surrendered themselves to the Lord
to have Him in them
CAN NOT pursue the godly and obedient life that the Lord taught.
To those who have Him not,
it is futile to shower them with instructions and commandments.
Instead, we are to lead them to Christ first,
by our own example and testimonies.
8. How can we know this “born again” experience will end well?
[11] Philippians 1:6 He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of JESUS Christ.
Because it will not be performed by the limited power of men,
but by the Almighty power of the Lord,
being with us in His Spirit form.
In fact, JESUS has already finished defeating all sinful tendencies
with just a mortal body,
and all we have to do
is to just receive Him and keep Him in us.
As long as a saint is still by faith keep the old man “died” (surrendered to the Lord),
and maintain his connection with Christ, having Him in the soul,
sin can not overcome him.
Examples of real, hard-core Christians like that are not rare,
both in the Bible and in the church’s history.
They are those who would rather die than compromise with evil,
to go against the commandments of God.
The apostles of JESUS and myriads of martyrs
have sealed their testimonies with blood rather than sinning,
and thus betraying the One who have sacrificed so much for them.
9. Then why did so many Christians live a life so defeated by sins?
[23] Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.
[16] II Timothy 3:8 Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
Christians can only be overcame by sins
whenever they failed to maintain the continual abiding in JESUS Christ,
which can only be done by a surrendering faith.
When a Christian sinned,
the reason usually is one of the following:
1) That person is not surrendered to the Lord,
and still live in willful disobedience against Christ
while claiming to be a Christian.
2) Forgot to spend time with the Lord,
to read and meditate His Word daily
and maintain a continual connection with Him.
3) When tempted, instead of praying
to hold fast to the Lord, the source of strength of the Christians,
one would turned to the use of personal will power
to fight off temptations by one’s own strength.
Strong will power is very useful,
but it has to be used to focus on clinging to the Lord
instead of fighting off temptations just with one’s own force of will.
Take a look at the oak tree:
when a storm comes,
it only focus on piercing its roots even deeper into the ground,
instead of focusing upon the storm.
We are to be the same.
When the storm of temptations comes,
Christians are to use all our will power
to cling ever fiercer to Christ by the arm of faith,
instead of focusing on the temptation to fight it our own.
That is how we shall stand, because of our own,
we are not capable of withstanding the tempting power
of Satan and his demons,
whom are so much stronger than us.
Everytime we are tempted,
it is always actually Satan and/or his minions assaulting us,
even when we can not see them by naked eyes.
And don’t ever forget
that only the Lord is strong enough to fend them off.
All the more reason why we must depend upon Him,
and not upon our own strength,
to resist these powerful demons.
10. Conclusion.
The Gospel, simply put, is this:
the Most High rules His moral universe by moral laws,
you and I have broken His laws,
JESUS came to pay the fine.
In a court of law, even when you are guilty,
if the fine has been paid,
the Judge is no longer under any obligation of justice
to execute the judgment again upon you.
Some opinions of men may disagree,
but the court of God, that we get to know through His own words,
totally accepts this,
under the condition that you must repent of your sins
and cling on the One who took your punishment.
And thus, the Lord shall begin His work of reforming you
and one day receive you into the society of sinless angels.
That’s the overview of the plan of redemption.
The man who trust upon himself
to stand before the Judgment of the last day
is like someone who jumped from an airplane 10.000 feet above the ground,
planning to save himself by flapping his arms in the air!
I want to say that you CAN NOT save yourself thus.
Instead, transfer your entire trust upon the Parachute,
put Him on, and OBEY His instruction manual.
The question is: when shall you put Him on?
Next week? Next month? Next year?
Leaving yourself without a parachute from now until then?
What if you “fell off the airplane” unexpectedly?
Do you know everyday over 150.000 people died?
Over 150.000 people never get to see the dawn of the next day,
many of whom are younger than you,
died a sudden death by a sudden cause, such as traffic accident!
Is there anyone of us who can be sure
that he will definitely survive tomorrow?
This is my counsel as a “flight attendant”:
just put on the Parachute NOW
and start reading His instruction manual,
then do whatever it is that you need to do.
Isn’t that a much wiser and safer course to pursue?
Do that, invite the Parachute to come into your soul
by a most simple prayer:
“Lord God Almighty,
I confess that I am a sinner,
I repent of my sins and wish to forsake them,
I believe JESUS Christ is your Son, who came and died for my sins,
I wish to receive Him as my Savior and Lord,
Please forgive me my sins,
adopt me to be your child,
and come into my soul.
I pray in the name of JESUS Christ.
Amen.”
Appendix
I. The sign of Jonah – three days and three nights in “the heart of the earth”.
Lord JESUS has said:
“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly;
so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” [01] Matthew 12:40.
Many understood the “heart of the earth” to mean the tomb,
but we know for a certainty that He died on friday afternoon ([03] Luke 23:44-46),
then was burried,
and then by the dawn of the first day of the week
He has already came back to life ([03] Luke 24:1-6).
However we count it,
He was in the tomb for only 2 nights,
friday night and saturday night.
What’s up with that?
With a correct understanding of the term “heart of the earth”,
the answer becomes clear.
The Lord didn’t mean
that He will be burried in the ground for 3 days and 3 nights,
but that He will be delivered into the midst of this planet,
for 3 days and 3 nights.
Counting from thursday night in the garden of Gethsemane,
when the “time of the power of darkness” has come,
the crushing weight of the sins of the world
has already been laid upon JESUS.
“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” [01] Matthew 26:38.
The soul agony of billions
that otherwise would have perished in Hell
was crushing down upon Him,
that He fell with his face down to the ground ([01] Matthew 26:39),
perspirating sweats of blood ([03] Luke 22:44).
Right from that night, JESUS was delivered into the midst of this darken world.
Before that time, whenever a mob was trying to kill Him,
He would just simply walked through them, or vanish,
and no one could do Him a single harm.
But now, when Judas Iscariot led the scribes and soldiers to take Him,
He no longer resisted or attempted to escape,
but just let them arrest and torture Him to death.
Thursday night, friday morning, friday night, saturday morning, saturday night,
to the dawn of sunday morning,
is exactly 3 nights and just enough to get to the 3rd day.
This is the correct understanding of [01] Matthew 12:40.
The two angels at the tomb of JESUS
also confirmed this to the disciples
and helped them recall what the Lord has said unto them:
“Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” [03] Luke 24:6-7.
“The third day” is counted
since He was “delivered into the hands of sinful men”.
Thus since the night of His arrest,
the period of 3 days and 3 nights had already begun.
II. Once saved, always saved?
Can someone still be lost after he declared his faith in JESUS Christ as his Savior?
Only in the Word of God can we find the reliable answer.
The Bible says: “If we sin wilfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries.” [19] Hebrews 10:26, 27.
We are saved entirely by faith.
But it is the true faith that repents, believes, and surrenders to JESUS,
the kind of faith that is obedient,
and given enough time, will work noble characters and righteous deeds.
There is no where in the Bible that says
the kind of faith that is merely in the mouth,
having no obedience,
is the one that can save the soul.
The Word of God declares plainly:
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world
through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour JESUS Christ,
they are again entangled therein, and overcome,
the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than, after they have known it,
to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb,
The dog is turned to his own vomit again;
and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” [22] II Peter 2:20-22.
The journey to follow Christ
does not stop at one single decision.
Our salvation depends upon whether we would continue to abide in Him ([04] John 15:4).
The apostle Paul said: “I die daily.” [07] I Corinthians 15:31.
Which means, everyday Paul had to make the decision
to crucify self and follow JESUS.
Lord JESUS Himself said: “If any man will come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” [03] Luke 9:23.
The Bible does not in the least teach
that we can turn our back to the Truth and still be saved.
[26] Ezekiel 18:24 declares:
“When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness,
and committeth iniquity,
and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth,
shall he live?
All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned:
in his trespass that he hath trespassed,
and in his sin that he hath sinned,
in them shall he die.”
Paul made further notice:
“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” [07] I Corinthians 10:12.
Many thought that to be saved, they only need a faith
that is merely in profession and not in action.
But JESUS has plainly declared:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;
but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils?
and in thy name done many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” [01] Matthew 7:21-23.
Paul described the daily struggles of the true Christian thus:
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,
but one receiveth the prize?
So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery
is temperate in all things.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown;
but we an incorruptible…
I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway.” [07] I Corinthians 9:24, 25, 27.
Believing that once you make the profession of faith,
you can no longer be lost,
is believing that the Lord took away
the most sacred right that He ever gave to us: free will.
However, He does want us to know
that He will finish the work that He began in us:
“being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of JESUS Christ.” [11] Philippians 1:6.
“He that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved.” [01] Matthew 24:13.
We can be sure
that as long as we continue to follow after the Lord JESUS,
He will keep guiding, upholding
and never letting go of the hands that put on Him in trust.
III. Bible prophecies identifying who the Messiah will be.
There are hundreds of prophecies in the Bible about the Christ,
given beforehand to help us identify
who this promised Savior of the world will be.
Statistically, what are the odds of someone actually fulfilling all of them?
Mathematics and Astronomy Professor Peter W. Stoner, Westmont College,
had calculated the probability of one man fulfilling the major prophecies about the Messiah.
The estimates were conducted by 12 different classes (about 600 university students).
The students carefully weighed all the factors,
discussed each prophecy,
and examined the various circumstances
which might indicate that men had conspired together to fulfill a particular prophecy.
They made their estimates so conservative
that there was finally unanimous agreement
even among the most skeptical students.
Then the professor took their estimates
and made them even more conservative.
He also encouraged other skeptics or scientists to make their own estimates
to see if his conclusions were more than fair.
Finally, he submitted his figures for review
to a committee of the American Scientific Affiliation.
Upon examination, they verified that his calculations
were dependable and accurate
in regard to the scientific material presented.
For example, with the prophecy in [33] Micah 5:2
which states that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem,
the professor and his students
determined the average population of Bethlehem
from the time of Micah to the present;
then they divided it by the average population of the earth
during the same time period.
They concluded that the chance of one man being born in Bethlehem
was one in 300,000.
After examining just 8 different Messianic prophecies:
1) The time of His birth ([27] Daniel 9:25).
2) He would be born in Bethlehem ([33] Micah 5:2).
3) He would be born of a virgin ([23] Isaiah 7:14).
4) He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver ([38] Zechariah 11:12).
5) He would be mocked ([19] Psalm 22:7,8).
6) He would be crucified ([04] John 3:14).
7) He would be pierced ([19] Psalm 22:16).
8) He would die with the wicked, but He would be buried with the rich ([23] Isaiah 53:9).
They arrived at the result
that the chance for one man fulfilling all 8 prophecies
was only 1 in 10^17.
That would be equivalent
to covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars two feet deep
and then expecting a blindfolded man to walk across the state
and on the very first try find the ONE coin you marked.
Add an extra 8 prophecies (a total of 16),
and the result became 1 in 10^45.
Using the same type of illustration as above,
if we were to press this many silver dollars (10^45) into a ball
and place the center of this ball where the center of our Sun is,
this silver ball’s outer edge
would be in approximately the same area as the orbit of Neptune (almost to Pluto).
One man fulfilling all 16 prophecies by sheer chance
would be like sending a blind-folded person out
to find one specific silver dollar that has been marked
and has been mixed up somewhere in this huge ball
and actually finding it the first time!
(Keep in mind that this is a three-dimensional BALL,
not a disk like our Solar System).
Professor Stoner gives us yet another illustration,
but this time, because a silver dollar, and even the atom,
would be too large for this one,
he chose to use just the electron
that orbits the nucleus of the atom.
The electron is one of the smallest particles of matter known to man.
It is so small that if you lined up 2.5 x 10^15 (2,500,000,000,000,000) single file
you would end up with a line that is only 1 inch long.
If we were going to count the electrons in this line one inch long,
and counted 250 each minute,
and if we counted day and night,
it would take us 19,000,000 YEARS
to count just the one-inch line of electrons.
Using only 48 of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled,
it was calculated that the chances of one person
fulfilling these by sheer chance
would be 1 in 10^157.
To help us understand how huge 10^157 is,
he suggested taking 10^157 electrons
and pressing them into a solid ball.
This ball, made entirely of electrons,
would pretty much fill, not just our galaxy,
but the entire known UNIVERSE.
Once again we would mark just one electron,
blindfold a man and send him out
to find that ONE ELECTRON.
And this was just the 48 prophecies professor Stoner used.
He did not even go through Alfred Edersheim’s list
of 456 Messianic prophecies.
Peter Stoner then stated: “To the extent, then,
that we know this blindfolded man
cannot pick out the marked electron,
we know that the Bible is inspired.
This is not merely evidence.
It is proof of the Bible’s inspiration by God,
proof so definite,
that the universe is not large enough to hold the evidence.”
Professor Stoner then made the comment:
“Any man who rejects Christ as the Son of God
is rejecting a fact proved perhaps more absolutely
than any other fact in the world.”
This begs an interesting question:
what about the theory of evolution?
Click “Next” to find out.
