#26 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: OUTCOMES OF THE CROSS

     When we look at the cross, our tendency is to focus on the price Christ paid for the forgiveness of our sin. While forgiveness was an important result of the crucifixion, it was not the only outcome. The cross changed the whole context of our world–it was the beginning of a new covenant which, when fully implemented, will completely destroy the kingdom of evil. Understanding the fullness of just what Christ accomplished is important mainly because we have a job to do here in our world.

     First, let’s look at the outcomes of the cross for Christ himself. While he was ministering with his disciples, he mentioned several times that he was going to be killed and that he would be raised from the dead on the third day (example–Matthew 17:23). Christ knew, going into the crucifixion, that his death was going to be temporary. As Hebrews 12:2 tells us, Christ endured the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before him. Let me repeat that, Christ gave his life temporarily because of the joy that was set before him. After doing the most difficult thing any human being has or will ever be asked to do–knowingly letting go of his oneness with God–Christ received joy. What were the results that brought Christ joy? First, the knowledge that he singlehandedly destroyed Satan’s power to keep the human race from cleaving to God. Second, his reunion with his Father and the re-establishment of their oneness. Third, his position on the right hand of God, a position that Satan had coveted before he chose to let go of God. Fourth, the right to give gifts to human beings to enable them to overcome the kingdom of evil (Ephesians 4:8). And, finally, the promise that his enemies would be put under his feet (I Corinthians 15:25). So, the outcomes of the cross for Christ can be summed up in one word–joy!

     Next, let’s consider the outcomes of the cross for Satan and his kingdom. In I Corinthians 2:7-8, Paul stated that if the princes of this world (indicating the kingdom of evil) had known the plan that God and Christ had worked out, they would not have crucified Christ. Satan and his kingdom had no idea of what was going on behind the scenes of the crucifixion. At the moment that they were rejoicing because they thought they had thwarted the power of God’s love by crucifying His son, the foundation of their reign on earth was knocked out from under them. When Christ became sin and sin died along with Christ, they suffered a major defeat–no longer was there a wall between God and the human race. The only “advantage” they had  left was the fact that each individual still had a choice between life and death (Deuteronomy 30: 15-20). Satan had to put another plan into motion; as long as he and his minions could convince people that the wall was still there,  that there were too many obstacles between them and God,  that God didn’t care about them, or  that God didn’t even exist, he still stood a good chance of wiping the human race off the face of the earth. So,after Christ was resurrected, Satan immediately began to sow seeds of deceit in order to blunt the power of Christ’s death (Matthew 28:11-15).

     Finally, let’s think about the outcomes of the cross for the human race. For this part of our discussion, I’m going to distinguish between the people that had died before the cross and those who have come after the cross. Matthew 27:52-53 tells us that as Christ died, not only was the veil of the temple ripped in two from top to bottom, but also the graves were open and many bodies of the saints arose to appear to many people after Christ’s resurrection. Remember a couple of posts ago when I explained that the dividing wall between God and the human race extended into death and that Paradise was “next” to Hades? Well, when Christ obliterated the dividing wall through his death and then was resurrected, Paradise moved to the third heaven (II Corinthians 12:2-4). That move was what Paul called “leading captivity captive” (Ephesians 4:8). So, those who had served God until their deaths were finally reunited with Him.

     Now, as far as those people who have come after the cross are concerned, Christ’s death on the cross has given the human race the right and the way to overcome the kingdom of evil. Now, a valid question arises–if Christ destroyed Satan’s power, then why is evil abounding in our world and why have believers continued to die? The simple answer is that Satan has succeeded in nurturing deception in our world and that we believers have not known how to turn the potential energy of Christ’s death into kinetic energy that will bring the fullness of the new covenant to pass.  In other words, after 2000 years of Satan’s lies, we still have not fully accessed the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that we need from God to put Christ’s enemies under his feet and to defeat the last enemy of all–death (I Corinthians 15:24-26). That is about to change!

     In the next series of posts, we are going to discuss the process of becoming sons of God (which includes men and women).  As Romans 8:19 (NASB) states, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” This revealing of the sons of God will facilitate the complete obliteration of Satan and his kingdom of evil. And this can come none too soon!

     As always, please feel free to comment and be respectful.

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, January 10th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ

#25 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: HIS TRIUMPHANT CRUCIFIXION PART 2

     Many Christians see Christ’s crucifixion in terms of his death purchasing the forgiveness of our sins. The transaction for forgiveness did happen on the cross, but it happened fairly early on in the day. Luke was the only one of the Gospel writers who recorded the words that dealt with the unbelief that had enslaved the human race since Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden. Listen to Christ’s words found in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Christ hit the nail on the head. From the time that Adam and Eve were conned into letting go of God–they did not know what they were doing–to the crucifixion, the human race was separated from the truth of God’s absolute love by the dividing wall Satan had constructed through his deception. All the sin, all the evil that the human race has participated in, came because humans did not understand God’s absolute love and thus, did not understand their own actions.

     Since Christ asked God to forgive the human race, the question becomes did God answer Christ’s prayer? Back when Christ was at the tomb of Mary and Martha’s brother, Christ spoke these words to God, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I know that thou hearest me always…” (John 11:41-42). On the basis of Christ’s assertion that led to the raising of Lazarus, we can indeed infer that God did answer Christ as he hung on the cross and that the human race was forgiven at that point.

     Somehow, the Christian faith has given the impression that we, as the “sinners,” determine whether God forgives us or not by accepting the gift of salvation. The ones who have sinned have no say in the matter of forgiveness–it is totally in the purview of the one who is sinned against. When God answered Christ’s prayer, the human race was forgiven of its unbelief , period. Through Christ’s prayer for forgiveness for the human race, God took care of the unbelief that would prohibit them from benefitting from what was about to happen next.

     Let’s look at Proverbs 12:28  again, “In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” Christ had the spirit of his Father–the spirit of righteousness–within his physical body. Because he had never let go of God, his righteousness was in full-force and it kept him from death. In fact, the only way Christ could die was if he let go of God and let go of life. That was the something that was about to happen. Let’s watch the action.

     When the time was right and he was ready to die, Christ spoke, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). At that point, Christ gave back to God the righteousness that made him the Son of God. Now, the question becomes what happened then? Remember when we talked about God creating an alternative to Himself? Since that point, only two choices have existed–life, good, love, light, and spirit or death, evil, hate, darkness, and physicality. Christ had lived his earthly life in the first choice, so if he let go of that choice, wouldn’t the second choice rush in? Or, to put in simpler terms, wouldn’t sin rush in? Listen to his cry after he gave up his righteousness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). That, my friends, was the cry of unbelief, of sin. As II Corinthians 5:21 says, the one who knew no sin became sin. God did not turn from Christ–in fact, Christ did exactly what God wanted him to do. Christ let go of God and he let go of life, good, love, light, and spirit.

     Hebrews 12:3 encourages us to “…consider him (Christ) that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself…” The one whose joy was to be one with his Father had to let go of his Father and in doing so pleased his Father. What a contradiction! Not only that, but also the one, who spoke of being the Living Water that would totally quench the thirst of the human race (John 4:14) , thirsted and was given sour vinegar to drink (John 19:28). What a contradiction!

     Now, while Christ was dying, Satan and his kingdom were watching and seeing the result of their conniving–the light of the world was being extinguished and darkness was overtaking the surroundings. Then, Christ finally physically died as he spoke the words, “It is finished,” (John 19:30), and behind Satan’s back, a tremendous noise shook the foundations of the kingdom of evil. The veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom, or to put it in the analogy I’ve been using, the dividing wall was obliterated. When Christ died, unbelief (sin) died, too! It was as if Christ took the hugest sledgehammer ever and bashed the wall into smithereens. Satan’s ability to keep the human race from cleaving to God was forever destroyed (Hebrews 2:14).

     God’s absolute love won! This is the good news–nothing stands between us and God, nothing! Through Christ, we have the right that God’s forgiveness and Christ’s triumphant crucifixion has given us–we have the right and the power to cleave to God and to have life! As we proceed on, we are going to dig into the outcomes and the benefits that Christ’s crucifixion has brought to the human race.

    As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful!

 

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, January 1st 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ

#24 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: HIS TRIUMPHANT CRUCIFIXION PART 1

     Triumphant and crucifixion don’t seem to go together, do they? As Christ’s crucifixion has been explained throughout the centuries, the focus has mostly been upon the suffering saviour of the human race who died so we might have forgiveness of sin and so we might go to Heaven when we die. Yes, the forgiveness of our sin did come as Christ died on the cross, but so much more was going on during this planned event. If we look below the surface of Christ’s death on the cross, we will see that remarkable things happened that completely changed the course of our world.

     In the first post of this series, we talked about Christ being a new creation with his inner being (the spirit of righteousness) given to him by God and his human flesh given to him by Mary. Remember what we read in Proverbs 12:28 (NKJV)–”In the way of righteousness is life. And in its pathway there is no death.” Christ was the righteousness of God which empowered him to cleave to God and to never let go, to never sin. Thus, he had the life that came from righteousness, the life without death. As we work through several of the events that comprised Christ’s crucifixion (we will be looking at the Garden of Gethsemane and the cross), we need to keep this concept of righteousness and life in mind.

     Throughout human history, many people have died unjust, unearned deaths, and sometimes those deaths have been just as horrible as (or worse than) Christ’s death. Why was Christ’s death any more significant than any of their deaths? Many people have been martyred for their faith in God, for their committment to a cause, or for both. Why was Christ’s death any more different than any of  their deaths? Let’s start in the Garden of Gethsemane and find out.

     Matthew 26: 36-46 and Mark 14:32-42 relate the same series of events in Gethsemane while Luke 22:39-46 gives a summary of the time Christ spent there. All of these accounts point to one main theme, Christ was in so much agony as he prayed to his Father that his sweat became as great drops of blood. Why would he be in this much agony–he had already known that he was going to have to die and he already had his Father’s promise that his death would be temporary. Why did he ask his Abba Father to let this cup pass from him because with God all things are possible? Something was going to happen that had never happened or would never happen to any other human being ever. Something was going to happen that required more than Christ’s strong will to please his Father, that required him to rely on the strength of his Father’s will, and that required an angel ministering that strength to him. Something was going to happen.

     Now, let’s look at what happened on the cross. In John 19:25-27, we read that Christ committed the care of his mother to his disciple John. In this action, Christ fulfilled his responsibilities to his mother as her first-born son. By choosing John, the one who understood the power of love, Christ made sure that Mary would never be mistreated. By assuring the care of Mary, Christ was in the position to let go of his physical life, but there was still much to accomplish.

     Irregardless of what various creeds have said, Christ knew he was going to Paradise when he died–that is exactly what he said to one of the thiefs who were crucified with him. Let’s pause here and see why that is so. Remember the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31? Although the rich man was in Hades, he could see Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. This is so significant. When Satan “built” the dividing wall between God and the human race, he extended it into physical death. Thus, when those who kept the sacrifices included in the law died, they did not go to be with God in Heaven; instead, they went to Paradise which was visible to those in Hades. (In the Bible, only three Old Testament people are recorded to have been in Heaven with God–Enoch and Elijah, who never died, and Moses, who actually was in God’s presence for an extended time.) Now, as the Son of Man, Christ kept the Law, therefore upon his death as a human being, he went to Paradise. While he was in Paradise, not only could he relate to those saints that were there, but he could also communicate with those who were in Hades.

     We’re going to stop here for now. In my next post, we will find out what made Christ’s death so different from any other death that ever was and ever will be. As alsways, please feel free to comment–just be respectful.

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, December 30th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ

#23 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: HIS WALK ON EARTH

     John 21:25 tells us that all the books in the world probably could not contain all that Christ accomplished during the time he spent on earth. The four gospels give us a very small sampling of what happened during his official “ministry.” Think about it–every person who interacted with Christ had a story to tell about the good that came into his or her life through that interaction. As tiny as the Bible’s sampling was, enough was written in the gospels to give us a good overview of Christ’s life as He expressed God’s absolute love to the world. For this post, we are going to, in essence, stand above the recorded action and analyze three of the overriding aspects of Christ’s walk as the Son of Man and the Son of God.

     First, most of us are familiar with the concept of Christ not ever sinning–II Corinthians 5:21 states specifically that he never knew sin. I’m sure we all understand that Christ never lied, never hurt anyone, never stole, etc., but the concept of being sin-free goes much deeper than how Christ acted. You see, the Bible tells us that sin is unbelief (John 16:9) or not holding onto God. Remember what Deuteronomy 30:20 said–cleave  to (or be one with) God for He is our life? And, remember, how Satan was able to pry Adam and Eve away from cleaving to God through a deliberate deception? When Adam and Eve let go of God (i.e. sinned), they let go of life. Now, while Christ was born with the inner man of righteousness and life, he still had to live and walk as a physical human being. Satan knew he had succeeded in causing Adam and Eve to sin, so he went after Christ big time because he was determined to keep the human race away from God. However, until the cross, no matter what Satan threw at him–from outright deceptions to personal attacks–Christ held on to God and did not ever let go! As Hebrews 4:15 says, Christ was tempted in all things, but he never sinned. So, the righteousness and life that was in Christ was greater than any temptation Satan could bring.

    Next, as Christ walked among his fellow human beings, he used the righteousness and life that was in him to overcome the loss, death, and destruction Satan was heaping on those people. What were called miracles were simply the power of righteousness and life over evil. As Christ cleaved to God, he had access to all the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that God had. Through his connection with his Father, Christ was able to effectively deal with Satan’s ploys to keep people away from God–he was able to open the door to the power of righteousness and life for those with whom he walked.

     Finally, Christ was the beginning of the transition between the Mosiac covenant and the new covenant. Remember, in Psalm 51, when David wrote of his new understanding that God did not delight in sacrifices and burnt offerings, but did delight in a broken and contrite heart? Well, when Jesus arrived on earth, the religious activities of the Hebrews were focused on those sacrifices and burnt offerings. The understanding that David received had escaped the rest of the Hebrews. Christ’s contemporaries were stuck with the concept of God as the Law-giver and Judge and with the understanding that they were responsible to keep the Law in their daily lives, even if it meant choosing against helping someone in need. 

     If we look closely at Christ’s teachings, we can see two patterns emerging. First, Christ was intent on correcting the Hebrew concept of God as the Law-giver and Judge. He repeated and repeated the reality that God is our Father and His  love for the human race is absolute. Christ turned their world upside down with his words–the religious men and women were comfortable with God as the Supreme Judge–how in the world were they suppose to relate to Him as their Father? Likewise, Christ also upset their peace with a second concept that the measure of a person’s faith was not in how he/she kept the minutest detail of the law, but the measure was to be found in how a person treated the people around him/her. Over and over, Christ hammered the point home that man was not made for the law, but the law for man. (Remember, the law was given to limit Satan’s ability to utterly destroy the human race.) To drive these concepts home, Christ even blatantly stated that what God wanted (commanded) the Hebrews and us to do is to first love Him with everything we have and then to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40). The Law could never bring this to pass, but the righteousness and life inside Christ could.

     So, through the righteousness and life that was in him, Christ was able to cleave to God and to overcome all the temptations that Satan through against him. Not only that, but Christ also was able to effectively deal with the loss, death, and destruction Satan was heaping on the human race. All the while, he was diligently tackling the misconceptions the Hebrews had about God and the measure of a person’s faith. Yet, with all that going on, Christ’s most important mission was yet to come. In my next two posts, we are going to look at the underlying story behind Christ’s crucifixion and learn just what God’s absolute love brought into being.

 

     As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful!

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, December 21st 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ

#22 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: HIS PURPOSE

     Most of us are familiar with the drill. At the end of a stirring message from the Word of God, the speaker gives an altar call by starting with the words, “If you were to die tonight (or tomorrow), do you know where you would spend eternity?…Come to Christ and make sure that when you die, you will go to Heaven…” NO!… A million times, NO!

     My friends, this gospel we have heard so often is centered on death–on what happens after we die. Christ never once said that the reason he came was so we could go to Heaven after we die. To the contrary, Christ was quite specific when he talked about God’s purpose for his existence. Listen to John 10:10 (NKJV):

 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I (Jesus Christ) have come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

In this verse, Christ equated the thief–whom we can infer is Satan–with loss, death, and destruction while he equated himself with life more abundantly. (I know some people have taken the “more abundantly” as meaning material prosperity, but that is not what Christ was talking about.) The wording of this verse implies a degree of comparison. We all know the human race has loss, death, and destruction, but do we know that Christ came that we might have life more abundantly than the loss, death, and destruction surrounding us? Hear it again, …that we might have life more abundantly than the loss, death, and destruction that the thief brings into our lives.

     You see, when the scripture tells us that today is the day of salvation, it’s not talking about giving our lives to Christ today because tomorrow might be too late. No, today is the day that God wants us to have that life more abundantly, so that we can overcome the loss, death, and destruction that is surrounding us. We do not have to wait until we die and go to Heaven to experience salvation–by the way, salvation is not the escape from hell, but the “having” of life more abundantly. And, that salvation is directed towards being freed from the loss, death, and destruction the thief has brought to the human race.

     I imagine many of you are saying, “What a fairytale!” or “That’s impossible!” at this moment. Please remember what Gabriel said to Mary, “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37) and let me share with you the logic and reasonableness of what I believe God accomplished through Christ. If this life more abundantly is real, then we owe it to ourselves and our fellow human beings to discover its depths.

     Before I close this post, I would like to share the verses that started me on the quest of understanding the life more abundantly and of making that life mine. In Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (KJV), God spoke these words:

     I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

     That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life and the length of thy days…

God’s desire has always been that humans would cleave to Him and have the life more abundantly. Satan’s ploys against the human race have not changed God’s mind at all. Even though Satan found a way to build the wall between God and humans in the Garden of Eden, God made the way for Christ to come that we might have life more abundantly. And, as Christ repeatedly said, that life more abundantly is eternal and will not end!

     As always, please feel free to comment, just keep everything respectful!

 

      @2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, December 15th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ
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