What the Cross Really Demands: Will You Live the Easter Truth?
Welcome to another post on the Still in the Storm Substack.
We are in the midst of what many Christians refer to as Holy Week, the days leading up to the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
I’ve always stood in awe of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, as I’m sure many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have.
The love that He displayed for humanity is humbling and awe inspiring.
Unfortunately, I think many Christians just look at it from afar as a historical even that happened a little over 2000 years ago, having little relevance to us today save for the fact that in His one great sacrifice Christ took away the sins of all of mankind forever.
They view it more or less as an incredible event that happened which resulted in us gaining a get out of hell free card and a ticket to Heaven.
As I have considered the implications for living the Christian life here and now, the cross has loomed large, especially the one that bore the Lord at Calvary.
I have come to understand that there is something that occurred that day which is little talked about in most churches these days.
Sure we consider the fact that the crucifixion and resurrection is the single most important event in the history of Christianity as without it we couldn’t be.
There would be no Christianity and no Christians if Jesus hadn’t given Himself up to be crucified and buried, subjecting Himself to immense torture and one of the cruelest forms of death ever known to man.
In doing so, He spilled His precious blood which washed away all of our sins forever.
But, what about the sinner?
There is a debate, which I’m sure many of you are familiar with regarding whether you sin because you are a sinner first or that you are a sinner because you sin.
It is now my belief that the former is true, we sin because we are sinners.
If we are all derived from Adam, the first man, then we inherit his sinful nature as a result of the fall.
This makes us sinners, whether we sin or not.
If you accept this then you must also acknowledge that we need to deal with the sinner too and not just the sins.
When Jesus hung on that cross, He took on all sin for all time. He became sin personified.
Just take a moment to imagine the burden of what He did for us.
How did He do it though?
He came not just as God, but as a man.
You might say it’s the ultimate paradox.
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Word made flesh was incarnate as fully man and fully God.
Not a God-man, but fully man and fully God. It couldn’t be any other way.
In fact, His favorite name for Himself was Son of Man.
While Adam is called the first man, Jesus is called the last Adam.
Notice that He’s not called the second Adam. That is important.
As the last Adam, He took all of Adamic humanity and put it to death on that cross.
He’s also called the second man, which begins at the resurrection and ends in eternity.
The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 15: 45-47
God did an incredible thing on that cross and I’m not just talking about what we’ve discussed already.
Remember that in Galatians 2:20 the Apostle Paul tells us that he was crucified with Christ and that it was now no longer he who lived, but Christ who lived in him.
What did he mean by saying that he was crucified with Christ?
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1:30 for the eye-opening answer.
God has united you with Christ Jesus. - 1 Corinthians 1:30
God, the Father, has united us with Christ. He placed us in Christ on that cross.
Not us, but God. He put us in Christ. That is what Paul is referring to in Galatians.
But, wait there’s more.
Paul tells us in Romans 6 that if we joined Christ in baptism then we were united in His death. We were died and buried with Christ by baptism.
Even more, as Christ was raised from the dead so also we join Him in that new life.
Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin.
- Romans 6:2-10
How incredible is that!
When Christ was crucified as the last Adam and all that was in the first Adam was gathered up into Him we were included.
We died in him as the last Adam and we continue to live in Him as the second man.
Notice how in the scripture it is past tense. It’s already been done.
We are dead in Christ and reborn in His resurrection life.
We live by the life-giving Spirit that He gave to us when He ascended to the right hand of the Father.
This is the true meaning of Easter, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All glory to God! What an incredible, irresistible Christ we have!
Let me know what you think in the discussion below.
I hope you all have a Blessed Easter, or Resurrection Day as I like to call it.
Your brother,
Mike
P.S. What’s New with Science Defined?
I recently sent an update on some upcoming changes to Science Defined.
Go to the link below to read it:
These changes will be released in the coming weeks so, stay tuned for updates.
Do you know someone who could benefit from Still in the Storm?
If you find the information in these articles valuable, we would be grateful for your help to get it to those who could most benefit.
Just click the button below to share Still in the Storm with a friend!
Get notified when new posts go live!
Lastly, to be notified as soon as a new post is live subscribe to Still in the Storm by clicking the button below.
There would be no Christianity if Jesus was not crucified, buried, and raised from the dead. Our faith hinges on the resurrection.
I’m always a leaky faucet when it comes to Christ. I went through several tissues reading your message. It’s difficult to fathom the kind of torture He endured. The love He has for us never ceases to amaze me & just humbles me to tears! 🙏 Thank you for you message.💕